Senators advance 2 unemployment bills

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina workers in part-time and seasonal jobs could receive no unemployment benefits under bills advanced Wednesday to the Senate floor, but it’s unclear how much of the Grand Strand’s seasonal workforce could be affected.

Legislators have proposed a slew of measures making it more difficult for the state’s unemployed to collect benefits.

Under the measure redefining seasonal jobs, employees for Carowinds, for example, could not claim benefits if their jobs simply expired at season’s end but could collect through season’s end if they were let go midway.

“I feel like it’s unfair for Carowinds to pay unemployment taxes for employees when the season’s over,” said Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson. “The employee knows upfront they’re taking a seasonal job.”

Legislators thought they restricted seasonal workers from drawing benefits as part of a law signed last June, which also cut the number of weeks the jobless can receive state benefits. But the way that provision was written conflicted with federal law and it was never implemented.

The goal of tweaking the law now is to clearly define a seasonal worker so that someone who works three months of the year can’t turn around and collect unemployment for the other nine months, said Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach.

“That’s not the intent of the system,” he said. “That’s the reason we are going back to adjust it.”

State and local hospitality officials were sorting through the changes Wednesday and couldn’t pinpoint how many of the seasonal workers along the Grand Strand would be affected because it’s tied to the number of weeks an employee works. One proposal said the change would only apply to employees who worked less than 26 weeks, or less than about six and a half months.

“That will have to have some clarification,” said Stephen Greene, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association. “It’s too early to know yet what that means and how that would affect our seasonal workers.”

The other bill advanced to the floor would disqualify workers seeking a part-time job. State law considers anything over 30 hours a week full-time work. While Bryant said he has a problem with it being that low, the federal government won’t allow a change to more hours.

The requirement for full-time job-seeking would revert to state law prior to 2009, when the Legislature made the change so the state could collect about $100 million from the federal government for unemployment insurance modernization.

Sue Berkowitz of the Appleseed Legal Justice Center said the measure discriminates against women who can’t work full-time because they need to care for children or elderly adults. She said the state’s showing a “lack of good faith” by changing the law to take the money, then turning around and changing back.

“There are people who can only work part-time,” she said. “Do we want to penalize them?”

Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, said it doesn’t seem fair that employers have to pay unemployment insurance premiums into the trust fund for employees, regardless of how many hours they work, but the employee couldn’t collect the benefit.

The Senate Labor Commerce and Industry Committee sent two bills opposed by the U.S. Labor Department back to a subcommittee, leaving their chances slim. One would require the unemployed to pass drug tests to collect benefits, while the other would require 16 hours of community service after five months to keep receiving benefits.

Sen. Paul Campbell, R-Goose Creek, has said his bill requiring community service will help people find jobs as they hone their skills. The intent is to match people’s skills with work that needs to be done in cash-strapped city or county governments and schools.

Leventis said he agrees with the intent, but in reality, if people are volunteering for the wrong reasons, it can create a hassle and expense for nonprofits, which may need to do background checks.

“It’s setting up a mechanism for big government that may be beyond what we absolutely intend, because now we have to keep records,” he said. “It’s an idea that, if it ever comes to fruition has got to have more detail and structure than, we think these people ought to volunteer.”

Senators received copies of a letter from the U.S. Labor Department, saying the requirement would conflict with federal law, prompting Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia, to say the whole debate is moot. He moved to squash the bill, saying it would only waste time and, if eventually passed, waste taxpayer money in another legal fight with the federal government.

The federal agency similarly weighed in on the drug-testing bill.

“I would prefer to just tell the government we’re going to do this,” said Bryant, chairman of the subcommittee that had approved both bills sent back to him.

Senators postponed discussion on a bill to bar fired workers from receiving any benefits.

Unemployed workers can receive state-approved benefits for up to 20 weeks. Federally paid benefits can then extend through 77 weeks.

The Department of Employment and Workforce paid out $50 million in unemployment benefits last fiscal year to fired workers. Their benefits are now reduced depending on the type of misconduct and severity, up to complete disqualification.

“We need that $50 million to be zero,” Bryant said.

Berkowitz has argued that disqualifying any fired worker automatically would be unfair to someone who, for example, may have missed work due to a sick child, or perhaps just couldn’t do the work despite trying.

Staff reporter Dawn Bryant contributed to this report.