Page 20 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2021 BHRC | FROM PAGE 19 vote brings us one step closer towards fulfilling that mission.” (A “Yes” vote is for the bill.) Rep. Joseph McGonagle Yes Sen. Sal DiDomenico Yes COVID-19 EMERGENCY SICK LEAVE AND UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE CHANGES (H 3771) House 157-0, Senate 400, approved and sent to Gov. Baker a bill that would provide qualified workers with up to five days of paid leave for COVID-related emergencies including workers who are sick with the virus, under a quarantine order, recovering from receiving a vaccine or caring for a family member ill with the virus. The measure is also designed to relieve employers this spring from expensive unexpected unemployment system costs. Many businesses were shocked when they saw their first-quarter unemployment contribution bills and found the solvency assessment rate had jumped from 0.58 percent in 2020 to 9.23 percent in 2021, raising costs in many cases by hundreds or thousands of dollars. Under the proposal, the state would shift all COVID-related unemployment claims from the solvency fund into a new COVID claims fund and the solvency fund would revert to its original function. Employers, who fund the state’s jobless aid system, will still be on the hook in the long term, and a COVID-related assessment on businesses will kick into effect for 2021 and 2022. “In order for us to fully recover from the pandemic, all Massachusetts workers need access to emergency paid sick time if they are sick with COVID-19, quarantined or need to care for a sick family member,” said Deb Fastino, Executive Director of the Coalition for Social Justice and a member of the Raise Up Massachusetts Steering Committee. “Many essential frontline workers need paid sick time so they can recover from the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine.” “Massachusetts workers and businesses share the same goal of restoring jobs lost during the COVID pandemic and getting back to work,” said Steve Tolman, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “By spreading this year’s solvency assessment over the next two decades using already authorized borrowing, the House took the necessary step at this time to enable that continued economic recovery. Moving forward, it is critical that we take a hard look at the way we fund our Unemployment Insurance system to ensure that costs are fairly spread out across businesses; that we build substantial reserves during good economic times in order to weather the bad without relying on costly borrowing; and that workers can continue to count on UI benefits as an economic lifeline to provide for their families and boost the Massachusetts economy.” “The unemployment benefits crisis was directly caused by Gov. Baker’s shutdown of the state’s economy and the Legislature’s failure to act,” said Chip Ford, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation. “The federal government provided relief with its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), but the House chose not to use those funds to mitigate the burden the state imposed on employers. It is unconscionable for the state to further abuse devastated businesses when federal funds have been made available to alleviate that pain.” “This proposal is a good step to help provide employers immediate unemployment insurance tax relief, but it is not a long-term solution,” said National Federation of Independent Business’s (NFIB) Massachusetts State Director Christopher Carlozzi. “The state forced businesses to close their doors and rollback operations resulting in widespread layoffs. Because of this, employers alone should not be left to shoulder the entire UI tax burden and policymakers must use some of the billions of dollars in federal aid to help replenish the UI trust fund like so many other states have done.” “This legislation is an important stopgap step to prevent up to 1,600 percent immediate tax increases for Massachusetts employers,” said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. “It will amortize the multi-billion-dollar COVID-related claims over 20 years, spreading out, but not eliminating the pain. Still there needs to be a shared responsibility with the government to cover some of the UI Trust Fund debt. The orders, restrictions, messaging, emergency benefits and fraudulent claims were related to government actions, not that of employers. So there still needs to be a determination on how much of the federal relief dollars under either the CARES Act or ARPA will be the government’s responsibility for the debt of approximately $4 billion. Massachusetts will be receiving $4.5 billion under the ARPA. Most other states have used federal COVID relief dollars to reduce the overall UI tax hit for their employers, and Massachusetts must support their small businesses and employers in a similar way.” (A “Yes” vote is for the bill.) Rep. Joseph McGonagle Yes Sen. Sal DiDomenico Yes EXCLUDE MUNICIPAL WORKERS (H 3771) BHRC | SEE PAGE 30
21 Publizr Home