Unemployment Benefits

With her unemployment benefits about to run out, Lisa Williams was pleading for help. She stood outside the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington with many other people in the same fix and demonstrated for extended benefits.The 28-year-old Baltimore woman had worked on the census for the U.S. Department of Commerce and before that had held a job with the YWCA. Now, no one seemed to be lhiring. Ms. Williamas, who is single, wondered how she'd make ends meet."Frankly, I really don't know," she said.

Although at a 15-year high, Maryland's December unemployment rate of 5.8 percent remains well below the national average, and considering the severity of the recession, the biggest surprise is how favorable the state's jobless numbers looked until just four months ago. But the Free State is no more immune to national economic trends than any other. Recently announced layoffs suggest things are going to get worse. And other statistics, including tax revenue, have set record drops. Somewhat lost in this reporting, however, is another trend: Cash-strapped employers are forcing workers to go from full-time to part-time employment . Such underemployment has been rising markedly since at least late 2007.

General Motors Corp. has lost another scrimmage with the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation over the payment of unemployment benefits to workers at its Baltimore van assembly plant.A three-member appeals board of the department ruled yesterday against the automaker's request that workers at its Baltimore plant repay one week in unemployment benefits they received last year.About 2,900 hourly workers at the plant received unemployment benefits last summer when the factory was closed for 10 weeks as a result of strikes at GM parts plants in Flint, Mich.

The state Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that more than 1,300 workers who participated or assisted in a one-month strike against Giant Food Inc. were not entitled to unemployment insurance.In an opinion reversing two lower court rulings, the state's highest court ruled that, because the strike constituted a "stoppage of work," workers were disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits.The decision marks a victory for Giant, the Landover-based subsidiary of Royal Ahold NV, the Netherlands-based international food retailer.

PARIS -- Thousands of demonstrators and jobless workers poured down the Boulevard du Temple in eastern Paris yesterday, chanting slogans warning the left-wing French government to do more for France's 3 million unemployed people or be thrown out of office, as its conservative predecessor was."I've been without work for four years, and welfare is no longer enough for me to feed my family on," said Rodriguez Dominguez, 45, a construction laborer who said his benefit was the equivalent of $365 a month.

General Motors Corp. wants Maryland to halt payments of unemployment benefits to about 3,000 union workers at its Southeast Baltimore van assembly plant who were laid off last month as a result of strikes at two GM parts plants in Flint, Mich.The local development comes as GM is indicating that it may drop some low-profit cars if United Auto Workers' strikes continue into August.The No. 1 automaker had asked the state Office of Unemployment Insurance to either reconsider its June 12 decision to pay the benefits to the laid-off workers at the Broening Highway plant or it will appeal to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board.

PARIS -- In the latter part of the 18th century, Americans stitched together 13 colonies as a common market with a common currency, and formed a country. It was not an easy deal. Many historians think that a majority of colonists would have preferred to remain loyal to the English crown.When the Constitution was written, a huge argument erupted between the small states and the large states: Was it fair that tiny Delaware and huge Pennsylvania would each have two senators? The issue of slavery was unresolvable.

Six former Baltimore County employees who took early retirement last year and worked briefly after that -- some of them for the county -- later collected a total of about $2,900 in unemployment benefits.Although state officials say the retirees are entitled to that money, the payments have startled County Council members set to approve a budget transfer to cover the costs tonight. They say the payments exploit a loophole in the complex web of county and state personnel laws."I don't think they should be entitled to it," said Councilman Stephen G. Sam Moxley, a Catonsville Democrat.

The Annapolis Police Department is changing the way it patrols the city, assigning officers to long-term community beats rather than rotating them among neighborhoods.The new plan, which starts this month, allows patrol units to work much the same way the city's community policing units already operate, Capt. John W. Wright said this week. Annapolis is following the lead of cities such as Baltimore, which have restructured their patrol forces to foster better neighborhood relations, he said.

WASHINGTON -- In the face of huge layoffs at companies like Sears Roebuck, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney, the Clinton administration is preparing to extend the unemployment benefits of the 1.7 million Americans now receiving them, Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich said yesterday."

From the point of view of businesses, the Catch-22 of unemployment insurance has always been this: When the economy is at its worst, they are taxed the most. Mark down 2009 as offering no exception to that particular rule. Based on calculations set today, Maryland is poised to raise unemployment insurance premiums to the maximum rate allowed by law in order to replenish a trust fund badly depleted by unemployment claims. In this, neither Gov. Martin O'Malley nor his Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation has any choice.

TIP 20 If you lose your job, file for benefits as soon as possible If you lose your job, you may be eligible for unemployment benefits. Last month, Maryland's unemployment rate jumped to a 15-year high of 5.8 percent. File for jobless benefits as quickly as possible so that the state can determine your eligibility, says Thomas Wendel, executive director for Maryland's office of unemployment insurance. You can file by phone or online. "If you've been fired, or you quit, or it's a lack of work, we will try to determine whether under the law we could pay benefits or not," Wendel said, noting each case is unique.

Although at a 15-year high, Maryland's December unemployment rate of 5.8 percent remains well below the national average, and considering the severity of the recession, the biggest surprise is how favorable the state's jobless numbers looked until just four months ago. But the Free State is no more immune to national economic trends than any other. Recently announced layoffs suggest things are going to get worse. And other statistics, including tax revenue, have set record drops. Somewhat lost in this reporting, however, is another trend: Cash-strapped employers are forcing workers to go from full-time to part-time employment . Such underemployment has been rising markedly since at least late 2007.

Gov. Martin O'Malley wants to expand unemployment benefits to part-time workers and allow state unions to collect fees from employees not in a bargaining group - two labor items in his legislative package unveiled yesterday. In a session that has the General Assembly grappling with a $2 billion shortfall, few of the governor's two dozen initiatives cost money. Among the proposals are an effort to repeal the death penalty, legislation to prevent the Maryland State Police from spying on peaceful protest groups and a pair of bills to take guns away from people who are the subject of protective orders.

The nation's financial picture grew darker yesterday, marked by breathtaking numbers: a quarter-trillion-dollar budget deficit for a single month, a half-million new applications for unemployment benefits and wild swings on Wall Street that briefly pushed the Dow Jones industrial average below 8,000. Wall Street eventually rallied to post its third-best point gain ever, but the volatility of a weak economy remains a concern among investors. Analysts predicted that a steady drumbeat of gloomy statistics would only get worse in coming months as the country endures what could be the worst downturn since the severe 1981-1982 recession.

The race for the White House has become a contest of economic prowess - who has the best plan to ease the nation's financial crisis and help average Americans in distress. The latest proposals from Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are intended to appease - and woo - voters who fear losing their jobs, homes and life's savings. Both attempt to balance the massive rescue plan in place for Wall Street with a menu of targeted relief for Main Street. There is good and bad in each, but the relief may be marginal and the long-term economic impact dubious.

Unemployment remained at 4 percent last month in Maryland as employers added 4,000 jobs, a gain that came entirely from government agencies. Though some industries added to payrolls in June, employment in the private sector as a whole dropped by 500 jobs from May but rose by 4,500 on the government side, the Labor Department said yesterday. The numbers, which are preliminary, are adjusted in an effort to account for seasonal variations in hiring and layoffs. Nationwide, employers cut 62,000 jobs in June, the sixth straight month of losses as the housing slump and the credit crisis have undermined the economy.

Numbers-- New claims filed for unemployment benefits last week dropped by 10,000 to 302,000, the Labor Department reported.

IMAGINE WALKING into your office, as always, and discovering that your desk has been cleaned out; your department is shuttered and locked; or you have 30 minutes to collect your belongings and leave. Would you be able to cope with unemployment? Companies are hiring - unemployment stood at 5 percent in July, down from more than 6 percent two years ago - but the job market is less than robust. And there's always the risk that your employer will defy statistics: Technology giant Hewlett-Packard Co., for instance, announced last month that it would eliminate about 10 percent of its full-time work force.

Q: Are there certain situations when the government or employers can deny a former employee's ability to apply for and collect unemployment? Does it make a difference if the employee was discharged for cause vs. laid off? Can you collect unemployment if you voluntarily resign? Does it make a difference if it's a private company vs. the public sector? Are bank employees treated differently? T.D., Reisterstown A: Most private and public employers in Maryland, except the federal government, are covered by Maryland's division of unemployment insurance law. Some types of employers are specifically exempt, but banks are not among them.