Unemployment Insurance

Maryland may be one of the wealthiest states in the nation, but its unemployment benefits rank near the bottom, and should be upgraded immediately, concludes a new study by the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute. Some business leaders and state officials, however, said the study is seriously flawed, and that Maryland actually offers one of the best jobless-benefits packages in the nation. But that's not what the new study found, said Patrick Lester, the author of the study, which is entitled: "Maryland Unemployment Insurance: Underfunded and Out of Date."

THE dividends of the 1990s expansion look less fabulous than they used to, but at least we still have this: Unemployment is 6 percent, which is not much higher, after an extended economic slumber, than the lowest unemployment rate in the 1980s boom. Or is it? Now economists are questioning this part of the story, too. A huge increase in people collecting disability payments from the Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration suggests that millions who would otherwise be listed as jobless have merely shifted from the unemployment rosters to the public disability dole.

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. - For 13 years, Amy Altman worked at the JPS Apparel Fabrics plant here, and wound up earning $9.50 an hour. With production grinding toward a halt early last year, she began working one week on and one off, and on the off weeks she collected a $224 unemployment check. When the plant closed on Aug. 1, letting 346 workers go, the checks continued. But in October, they stopped. Her eligibility, limited to six months, had expired. Creditors phoned. "When would I pay?" she recalls them asking.

Labor-management relations in the airline industry, rocky before Sept. 11, have grown rancorous, with unions enraged at what they say are moves by several carriers to use the national emergency to deny pay or benefits to workers idled as air travel stalls. American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp., said yesterday that the airline's finances had been hurt so badly by the terrorist attacks that it could not afford to pay severance benefits to the thousands of workers it planned to lay off. Union officials quickly criticized American, asserting that the least the airline could do after Congress approved a bailout was to make good on its commitments to its workers.

Beginning Wednesday, it will no longer be necessary, or possible, to file an unemployment insurance claim at the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation's Westminster office at 125 Airport Drive. All unemployment insurance matters except appeal hearings will be done by telephone or by mail at P.O. Box 9756, Towson 21284-9756. The change was made to simplify the process, said Gail Owen, a department spokeswoman. Carroll County residents can call 410-853-1600 or 1-877-293-4125 to file a claim for unemployment insurance benefits from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Insurance bureau aide for state will field questions The Maryland Insurance Administration wants to help consumers with insurance concerns. A representative from the state agency will be at the state comptroller's office in Westminster from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. No appointments are required. Anyone with a question about insurance coverage or who needs help in filing a complaint, can see the agency's representative. The comptroller's office is at 532 Baltimore Blvd., Suite 306 of the Westminster Professional Center.

THE UNITED STATES does not have a proud history with respect to family leave policy. On the eve of World War II, it was one of only three industrialized countries that had not adopted any policy to address the needs of working families. It took four decades before the first family leave bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Colorado Democrat Patricia Schroeder and another eight years before it passed and was signed into law by President Clinton in 1993. Between 1985 and 1993, about 27 states had adopted some version of a leave policy.

Maryland's second-highest court has ruled that Giant Food Inc. truck drivers and other workers who participated in a one-month strike against the company two years ago can collect unemployment insurance.The Court of Special Appeals ruled that an employer's operations as a whole must be considered in deciding whether a "stoppage of work" has occurred.Giant estimated that the strike, which began in December 1996, cost it about $3.9 million to replace goods that it ordinarily manufactured. Sales dropped almost 15 percent during the strike.

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.