When can unemployed workers refuse a job offer? Biden wants to clear that up

By StockHastix On Jan 23, 2021

</ifQrame></div><p></p> <ul> <li>President Joe Biden issued an executive order Friday to clarify when workers can refuse a job offer yet continue receiving unemployment benefits.</li> <li>The issue has been murky during the Covid pandemic.</li> <li>State law allows workers to refuse work if conditions are unsafe, but their rules vary. The Trump administration didn’t set a federal standard.</li> </ul> <p></p> <div class="group"> <p>President Joe Biden ordered federal labor officials on Friday to clarify when unemployed workers can refuse a job offer and continue to collect jobless benefits.</p> <p>A work refusal generally shuts off jobless benefits for recipients. But the law allows them to refuse unsuitable work — in instances of unsafe work conditions, for example — and continue to receive aid.</p> <div style="height:100%" class="lazyload-placeholder"></div> <p>There’s been confusion in the pandemic era as to how such rules apply and when Americans can reasonably refuse a job offer. That may apply to safety concerns like mask-wearing, social distancing and disinfecting surfaces at stores, manufacturing plants and offices, for example.</p> <p>Biden asked the U.S. Labor Department to “to consider clarifying that workers who refuse unsafe working conditions can still receive unemployment insurance,” according to an executive order signed Friday.</p> <p><strong>More from Personal Finance:</strong><br />How to apply for the $25 billion in rental assistance<br />Biden is boosting food benefits even more for the most vulnerable<br />These colleges went to remote learning but hiked tuition anyway</p> <p>Doing so will help ensure unemployed Americans don’t have to choose between paying bills and keeping their families safe from Covid-19, according to the order.</p> <p>The directive will be most impactful for frontline workers and communities of color, according to worker advocates. They’ve suffered a disproportionate number of layoffs since March and are at greater risk of contracting Covid-19.</p> <div style="height:100%" class="lazyload-placeholder"></div> <p>“I think this is really ensuring there’s a federal standard for this program, and that states cannot run roughshod over the safety-risk element of unemployment insurance,” said George Wentworth, senior counsel at the National Employment Law Project and a former official at the Connecticut Department of Labor.</p> <p>Around 16 million Americans were collecting unemployment benefits as of early January, according to Labor Department data. That number will likely grow in coming weeks.</p> </div> <p></p> <div role="button" tabindex="0" id="Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-106828340" class="PlaceHolder-wrapper" data-vilynx-id="7000173764" data-test="VideoPlaceHolder"> <div class="InlineVideo-videoEmbed" id="InlineVideo-0" data-test="InlineVideo"> <div class="InlineVideo-wrapper"> <div style="height:100%" class="lazyload-placeholder"></div> <div class="InlineVideo-videoFooter"> <div class="InlineVideo-videoDurationContainer"><span class="InlineVideo-videoLabel">VIDEO</span><span class="InlineVideo-videoDurationWithLeading0">2:47</span><span class="InlineVideo-videoDuration InlineVideo-videoLabel">02:47</span></div> <div class="InlineVideo-title">Biden to sign executive orders to boost food benefits, workers’ rights as part of Covid relief push</div> <div class="InlineVideo-section">Squawk Box</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="PlaceHolder-endCard PlaceHolder-inactive"></div> </div> <p></p> <div class="group"> <p>States set different rules as to what constitutes suitable work when a job offer is made. Trump administration labor officials deferred to state law rather than set a national standard.</p> <p>“We don’t want workers coming back to unsafe work places,” Eugene Scalia, head of the U.S. Labor Department under President Donald Trump, said during a Senate unemployment hearing in June.</p> <p>However, safety standards are generally covered by state law, Scalia said at the time.</p> <p>Republican lawmakers were especially concerned about a higher prevalence of refusing job offers in the spring and summer when unemployed workers received a $600 weekly supplement to benefits. Subsequent research didn’t show evidence of that dynamic having occurred in the broad economy.</p> <p>Some state governors may have also confused workers as to their rights by making black-and-white statements during the pandemic, Wentworth said.</p> </div> <p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/22/biden-wants-to-end-confusion-over-when-unemployed-workers-can-refuse-a-job.html">Source </a></p><div class="stock-160" style="text-align: center; " id="stock-1336222721"><iframe src="https://cdn.plus500.com/Media/Buttons/Responsive/57113/index.html?set=Buy_Sell_Buttons&language=EN&country=GB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.plus500.co.uk%2F%3Fid%3D128619%26pl%3D2&isRW=1" width="160" height="70" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none">