EAST ORANGE, NJ — Ten weeks into hosting weekly virtual town hall meetings regarding coronavirus, East Orange Mayor Ted Green welcomed New Jersey Department of Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo and Assemblyman Thomas Giblin, who represents the 34th Legislative District, as last week’s special guests on Thursday, May 21.
Eager to help callers with their troubles and concerns about unemployment, Asaro-Angelo’s mainly focused on giving an update on the unemployment process.
“Today, we announced the highest unemployment rate ever for the state since beginning to take records of this in 1976,” Asaro-Angelo said. “It’s even crazier thinking that just nine months ago, we had the lowest unemployment rate ever in the state. As of right now, we’ve had 1.1 million people file for unemployment since March 15. We had a 160-percent increase in claims that week alone, which is an enormous number.
“So, for the folks who are out there waiting, I want to say that I completely empathize with all of you,” he continued. “I know the biggest frustration, besides not getting a deposit or a bank card, is the fact that it’s hard getting through on the phone. We’re working on that every single day to improve but the most important thing about that, as the governor said, while there might be some delay, every single person will get every single penny they’re eligible for.”
Asaro-Angelo explained to viewers what residents are eligible for in terms of unemployment payments.
“Last year in New Jersey, we had the highest percentage of payment to folks who filed for unemployment, and that’s something we’re very proud of,” he said. “That means for all the folks who filed for unemployment, 80 percent were eligible and got payment. That was the highest of any other state in the country. So, 20 percent are not eligible for regular unemployment insurance for one reason or another.
“With the federal CARES Act, about two months ago now, that provided supplemental benefits for folks who might not otherwise be eligible, that’s what’s called the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance,” he continued. “Those are for folks who are ineligible for regular unemployment. If you’re a worker in New Jersey, you have a W-2 paystub; that means that you and your employer are paying into our unemployment trust fund, which is an insurance program that all of us own essentially as payroll taxpayers and employers.
“So, when you go out for unemployment, you have paid into the system. Then when you have eligibility requirements based on how much you’ve paid in, how long you’ve been working, it’s not something that’s automatic,” he added. “Most folks know this, but with 1.1 million filers, so many people have never filed for unemployment before in their lives and it gets conflated with the stimulus package and its money coming automatically to everyone. With that being said, we want as many people as possible to get benefits.
Asaro-Angelo also talked about two new programs.
“So, there’s the 80 percent that are normally eligible for regular unemployment insurance and there’s that 20 percent,” he said. “Most of that 20 percent of folks will be eligible for what’s called a Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which is a brand new federal program for self-employed people, independent contractors, for folks who are not eligible for regular unemployment, who didn’t have enough wages, maybe they didn’t work enough to be eligible in the UI system, maybe they had a voluntary quit at some point, or some other reason why they aren’t eligible for UI.
“That is a whole, brand new program, and it took us a few weeks to get that running,” he continued. “We couldn’t just insert that population into the regular UI payment system, because the regular UI payment system was for the premium payers, which are the people who have been paying into it and the employers who’ve been paying into it. We began working on that system three weeks ago.”
According to Asaro-Angelo, another big problem is that people new to the process may not realize that they need to recertify their claim each week to be eligible for payment.
“Every week, we have thousands of people who are coming back to certify and get their benefits and then answer one of the questions wrong, which puts them at a setback in which they need to talk with someone the next week. That’s been our biggest thorn for benefit collectors for sure. Now, we’re educating the public online with step-by-step guidance on our website,” he said.
“The other program that was passed was the Pandemic Extended Unemployment Compensation, which is the extended benefits,” he continued. “For folks who’ve exhausted benefits, either recently or as of July of last year, as of this week, they will start being notified. If you were on UI in the past but have exhausted your benefits, you will be getting emails from us this week or in the upcoming weeks. Every single person will get every penny they deserve.”
Aside from speaking about the emergency sponsored bill pertaining to renter and homeowner assistance, Giblin wanted to assure residents that they will be helped.
“What we’re dealing with is an unprecedented number of people who’ve filed for unemployment — a number of 1.1 million speaks for itself,” Giblin said. “We receive these different requests, we refer them to the state, we try to keep up with all of the different contacts, so we have an answer back for the individual. We’re here to service you, if any of you viewers want to contact my legislative office, please do so at 973-779-3125.
“We’re here to serve you. I can’t promise you a positive answer about every inquiry, but certainly, we’ll do our best,” he continued. “We’ll reach out, develop a file on every caller and get back to the caller in a usual amount of time and try to help them with their particular request.”
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