Unemployment Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Workers At 2 Allegheny Wood Products Mills Could Get A Reprieve

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia last week approved the sale of sawmills in Randolph and Greenbrier counties to a Pennsylvania flooring company.

Workers at two Allegheny Wood Products sawmills could get a reprieve after a federal judge approved the sale of those operations.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia last week approved the sale of sawmills in Randolph and Greenbrier counties to a Pennsylvania flooring company.

AHF will purchase the two sites from a court-appointed receiver for $7.5 million.

Allegheny Wood Products shuttered its operations in late February. In early March, United Bank, of Fairfax, Virginia, filed a lawsuit against the company, seeking $40.5 million in damages for unpaid principal and interest.

The sale could benefit only a fraction of the 900 Allegheny Wood Products workers who lost their jobs in February.

A worker in Mercer County filed a lawsuit in federal court last month, seeking class action status, alleging the company failed to provide 60 days notice before laying off workers.

Such warnings are required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN.

Unemployment Benefits Now Capped, Even If Inflation Rises

Under a new law, West Virginia’s maximum unemployment benefit rate will no longer adjust as inflation rises. Also, unemployed residents must prove they’re seeking a job at least four times a week to receive benefits.

A controversial new law will soon limit how much money residents can receive through state unemployment benefits.

Beginning in July, residents can collect a maximum of $622 per week from West Virginia’s unemployment trust fund. That figure cannot be adjusted, even if inflation rates rise like they did in 2022.

Most residents already receive less than the new maximum. On average, the state provides benefit recipients $420 per week, the Associated Press previously reported.

But critics of the new law worry that capping benefit rates could exacerbate hardship in periods of economic downturn, especially among low-income and blue-collar residents.

On March 9 — the last day of the West Virginia Legislature’s 2024 regular session — Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia, expressed as much on the House floor.

“We are hamstringing people who are at the worst time of their lives,” he said. “There’s going to be a mess on our hands in less than 10 years, once inflation takes its toll.”

Inflation rates are down nationally from their peak in 2022. But they still remain above levels before the surge, as well as the target set by the Federal Reserve.

Currently, the state updates its benefit rates annually based on labor data that takes broader economic circumstances into account, like the average weekly wage in West Virginia.

However, that process will be removed under the new law, which passed in the final hours of this year’s regular session.

During the session, proponents of the bill expressed concerns about overspending state unemployment funds. The final bill was pared down from initial, more sweeping drafts of legislation that would have cut benefits far more drastically.

Speaking in favor of an earlier bill also addressing unemployment benefit spending, Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said the legislation would help preserve access to unemployment benefits in years to come.

“If we do not do something now to go in and fix this unemployment fund, what’s going to happen is unemployment services will become unavailable in the future,” he said in February. “That’s just a matter of math.”

Gov. Jim Justice declined to veto or sign off on the final bill, allowing it to become law automatically Thursday. As of Friday, he had not explained his decision publicly.

Opponents of the bill, however, were outspoken about their concerns throughout this year’s legislative session.

In February, Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said lawmakers backing the bill should have sought more input from labor unions and business owners, especially as layoffs and labor tensions mounted statewide.

Josh Sword, president of the West Virginia AFL-CIO, told West Virginia Public Broadcasting he agreed.

“The best way to get good policy is to bring all impacted parties to the table,” Sword said in February. “That absolutely did not happen.”

Republican lawmakers like Sen. Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha, said they would use the final remaining weeks of the session to clue labor leaders into discussions. But, since its passage, Sword has maintained his disapproval of the law.

Beyond capping benefit rates, the new law also poses additional requirements for benefit recipients. Recipients now must prove they have taken steps to find a job on a weekly basis.

These requirements — and the new maximum rate — will take effect statewide on July 1, alongside the start of a new fiscal year for the state.

West Virginia Legislature Ends Session With Pay Raises, Tax Cut And Failure Of Social Issue Bills

West Virginia’s Republican-dominated state Legislature on Saturday concluded a 60-day session marked by budget disputes and controversial social issue bills that advanced but ultimately didn’t go anywhere.

Lawmakers conferenced behind closed doors Saturday to reach an agreement on a budget just under $5 billion, bills that would cut unemployment benefits, a Social Security tax cut and a 5 percent raise for teachers and other state workers, among other legislation. Those proposals now head to the desk of Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who is expected to sign them.

The Social Security cut and pay raises were passed after the budget process was thrown into chaos this week when lawmakers learned Justice’s office was in negotiations with the federal government over a potential $465 million COVID-19 funding clawback.

Lawmakers debated several iterations of the budget before coming to a final decision, leaving out a number of priority items including a tax credit to make child care more affordable for families and money for a new agriculture lab at West Virginia State University.

Lawmakers intend to meet for a special session to review those items in May, when the situation with the U.S. Department of Education is clearer, the legislative leadership said.

Lawmakers additionally passed bills Saturday to allow the sale of raw milk with a warning label about the increased risk of foodborne illness and allow virtual public school students and private school students to opt out of mandatory vaccines.

Another successful bill would give public school teachers the option to teach intelligent design, the theory holding that certain features of life forms are so complex they can best be explained by an origin from an intelligent higher power, not an undirected process such as natural selection. Intelligent design is overwhelmingly regarded as a religious belief by the scientific community and not a scientific theory.

Social issues dominated most of the conversation during the session, but many did not cross the finish line.

As the clock approached a midnight Sunday deadline to pass bills, Democratic Del. Mike Pushkin dragged out discussion on a proposed constitutional amendment that would have been placed on the ballot to prohibit non-U.S. citizens from voting in West Virginia elections, which is already illegal.

“I just don’t think it’s necessary to change the constitution that’s already in state code, something that isn’t taking place. It’s hard enough to get our citizens to vote,” Pushkin said, checking his watch.

“I would encourage all citizens to vote. Think of who you’re voting for when you cast that ballot,” said Pushkin, one of 11 Democrats in the 100-member House, just as time ran out.

Earlier in the session, the House of Delegates passed a bill to make schools, public libraries and museums criminally liable for distributing or displaying “obscene” materials to children. The Senate never took up that bill or failed bills passed by the House that would have restricted healthcare for transgender adolescents and allow teachers and other school staff with certain training to carry guns on school campuses.

The Senate passed a bill that would have made a video on fetal development produced by an anti-abortion group required viewing in public schools, but the measure failed to advance in the House.

Time also ran out Saturday for House lawmakers to vote on final passage of a “Women’s Bill of Rights,” which was almost sure to pass. Democrats labeled the proposal a dystopian bill that would give women no additional rights while enabling the GOP to suppress transgender people.

The legislation said “equal” does not mean “same” or “identical” with respect to equality of the sexes. The proposed wording in state statutes and official public policies would define a person’s sex as determined at birth without allowing substitutions of gender equity terms. The bill also would establish that certain single-sex environments, such as athletics, locker rooms and bathrooms, are not discriminatory.

The bill was championed by Republican women in the Legislature, including Del. Kathie Hess Crouse, who said “radical feminists” have “sought a world in which men and women are treated exactly the same in every single circumstance, regardless of physical differences.”

“The Women’s Bill of Rights aims to halt this radical agenda,” she said, speaking on the floor in support of the legislation.

The unemployment bill, which was rushed through the legislative process in the final days of session after hours of debate, left some lawmakers confused, even those who chose to support it.

The bill would increase work search requirements for unemployed people receiving benefits and freeze the rates those individuals are paid at the current maximum of $622 a week, instead of a system adjusting with inflation. People also would be able to work part-time while receiving unemployment and searching for full-time work. Current average benefits are around $420 a week.

The bill was a compromise from an earlier version of the legislation that would have reduced the number of allowable weeks for unemployment benefits from 26 to 24 and started benefits at 70% of the recipient’s average weekly wage before losing work and reducing benefits over the amount of time the person is out of work without getting a new job.

Supporters say they were concerned about the long-term solvency of the state’s unemployment fund. But Del. Democratic Del. Shawn Fluharty said the bill sends a bad message.

“Here we are just year in and year out finding ways to chip away at who actually built this state: the blue collar worker,” Fluharty said.

The Social Security tax cut bill follows a law signed in 2019 that cut income tax on Social Security benefits over three years for the state’s lowest earners, defined as those making less than $100,000 filing jointly and $50,000 for a single person.

The proposal approved by the Legislature Saturday would eliminate the tax for everyone else, also over a three-year period. The tax would be cut by 35 percent this year, retroactive to Jan. 1, and 65 percent in 2025. The tax would be phased out completely by 2026.

Senate Changes, Passes Bill To Reduce Unemployment Benefits

The engrossed bill that passed the Senate shaves two weeks of the current 26 weeks of unemployment benefits available to workers who have lost their job due through no fault of their own. It increases the initial benefit to up to $712 per week, or 70 percent of the original wage, for the first four weeks of unemployment. That’s up from $624 per week, and 65 percent of the wage. However after those first four weeks, the benefit decreases by 5 percent of the original wage, or max benefit.

Updated: 02/29/2024 5:13pm

The Senate passed a bill that would reduce overall unemployment benefits but increase initial benefits.

Senate Bills 840 and 841 would have steeply cut unemployment benefits. Those bills were combined and amended- and for the most part gutted with a new amendment.

The amended bill that passed the Senate shaves two weeks off of the current 26 weeks of unemployment benefits available to workers who have lost their job due through no fault of their own. The bill would also allow people to work part time while receiving unemployment. They would receive reduced benefits while working.

Under this amended bill the benefits are front loaded, and taper off as time goes on. It increases the initial benefit to up to $712 per week, or 70 percent of the original wage, for the first four weeks of unemployment. That’s up from $624 per week, and 65 percent of the wage. However after those first four weeks, the benefit decreases by 5 percent of the original wage, or max benefit.

For example, on week five, the benefit would be 65 percent, and on the ninth week it would be 60 percent. On week 20 through week 24, the last weeks of the available benefit, unemployed people would receive 45 percent of their original benefit.

The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy said that the average time an unemployed person collects benefits in the state is 13 weeks.

Sen. Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha, said that this bill would benefit the average unemployed person, because they would collect that initial larger benefit.

The bill also requires that employers contribute more to the unemployment insurance fund.

“The average wage of those on the unemployed base is roughly $35,000,” Nelson said. “And so currently, over that 14 week period, they would receive $5,166. Under the proposed method, they would receive $5,991 to an increase of $800.”

However, Josh Sword, West Virginia AFL-CIO president, said the bill would cost some West Virginians who use the full duration of the benefit thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits.

“As it stands now, compared to the bill that was adopted in the Senate last night,” Sword said. “We know that individuals are going to receive about $4,000 less in benefits than they would today. So that’s concerning.”

The original bills would have reduced the maximum benefit to $550 per week and reduced the duration based on the current unemployment rate. It would reduce the benefits duration down to 12 weeks based on the current unemployment rate of 4.3 percent.

The 28 page amendment, which significantly changed the bill, was introduced on the floor 30 minutes before the bill was voted on.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said he understands the need for the bill but wanted more time to work out the details and bring stakeholders like business and labor unions to the table to talk about the bill.

“Don’t think it should be done in the 11th hour. I think it’s bad, bad government to do this,” Caputo said.

He said this sends a horrible message to the working people of West Virginia and the nearly 2,000 people who are slated to lose their jobs from layoffs from the closures of Allegany Woods and Cleveland Cliffs.

Sword agreed, and said he would have liked the AFL-CIO to have been involved in the drafting of legislation that would affect workers in the state.

“The best way to get good policy is to bring all impacted parties to the table,” Sword said. “And come up with a good common sense solution that makes sense for everybody. That absolutely did not happen. And that’s part of the reason that we don’t know what’s in it because we weren’t at the table trying to put something together.”

Nelson says the bill, that was put together privately over the course of three days, does include a few errors.

“One of the unfortunate things that does happen when we’re here at this speed at the end. This is not a final product, this goes over to the house. There’ll be additional discussions, and I’m gonna have more discussions with Senator Caputo and labor and others because we want the best product going forward. And that’s what we have,” Nelson said.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include Sen. Eric Nelson, and AFL-CIO President Josh Sword.

A Conversation With New Mountaineer Area Council Boy Scout Chair Amy Garbrick, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, the Mountaineer Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America serves 12 counties in north central West Virginia. On Feb. 8, the council appointed the first woman to serve as its governing board president. Jack Walker spoke with new president Amy Garbrick about her scouting background and gender inclusivity in scouting since the Boy Scouts became co-ed in 2019.

On this West Virginia Morning, the Mountaineer Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America serves 12 counties in north central West Virginia. On Feb. 8, the council appointed the first woman to serve as its governing board president. Jack Walker spoke with new president Amy Garbrick about her scouting background and gender inclusivity in scouting since the Boy Scouts became co-ed in 2019.

Also, in this show, West Virginia, like most of the country, is enjoying record setting low unemployment numbers after the coronavirus pandemic. For The Legislature Today, Briana Heaney sat down with Josh Sword, president of West Virginia’s AFL-CIO union, and Del. Clay Riley, R-Harrison, to discuss two bills that would reduce unemployment benefits in the state.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Eric Douglas is our news director and producer.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

Bill That Greatly Reduces Unemployment Benefits Advances

Senate Bill 840 would reduce the maximum amount to $550 dollars a week.

Senate Bill 841 reduces the duration of benefits. It works on a tiered system based on statewide unemployment numbers. If the statewide unemployment number is under 5 percent — which it currently is — then the maximum benefit duration would be 12 weeks, cutting it down by more than half.

The Senate advanced two bills Monday that would lower unemployment benefits for out of work West Virginians.

Currently people can receive 26 weeks of benefits, and a maximum weekly benefit of $624 if they lose their job through no fault of their own; meaning they were separated from their jobs due to a lack of available work.

Senate Bill 840 would reduce the maximum amount to $550 dollars a week.

The maximum benefit under the bill is 20 weeks if there is a severe recession with an unemployment rate of 9 percent.

Sponsor of Senate Bill 840, Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said this bill is to help secure the longevity of the unemployment fund.

“This preserves our unemployment fund for the future,” Tarr said. “If we do not do something now, to go in and fix this unemployment fund, what’s going to happen is unemployment services will become unavailable in the future. That’s just a matter of math.”

However Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy says that the fund is healthier than ever.

“Our unemployment fund is at one of the highest balances ever on record,” Allen said.

On Saturday, in the Senate Finance Committee, Jeff Green from WorkForce West Virginia testified that currently the fund could sustain a 10 percent unemployment rate in the state for 91 weeks before all the funds were exhausted.

Allen says that the state has not seen a recession like that in more than 30 years.

“The last time West Virginia had an unemployment rate over 10 percent in a sustained period was more than 30 years ago in 1992,” Allen said.

This all comes shortly after Allegheny Wood Products announced it was closing and laying off hundreds of workers, and the Cleveland-Cliffs tin mill laid off 900 workers last month.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, objected to the bills being advanced.

“This is a bill that reduces unemployment benefits across the state with the recent happenings,” Marion. “And the news that we’ve heard in Weirton, and in the wood products plant. I think it’s a horrible time to do this. Mr. President.”

Allen said that West Virginia is an economically diverse state, and while the statewide unemployment rate is currently 3.8 percent that doesn’t account for differences between localities like the southern coalfields and the eastern panhandle.

“You know, the picture in the southern coalfields as compared with Monongalia is very different,” Allen said. “So essentially, these population centers that are doing well, in terms of the number of jobs available would dictate how many weeks of unemployment everybody in the state would be eligible for, even though folks in more rural parts of the state with fewer job opportunities, are seeing a very different economic landscape job opportunity landscape.”