LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) has announced that several emergency regulations passed during the pandemic to keep unemployed Nevadan’s safe, expired on June 19.
With the expiration of the emergency regulations and the decrease in Nevada’s unemployment rate, the eligibility requirements for unemployment will go back to what they were pre-pandemic. Unemployment has always been a temporary bridge to help those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, return to the workforce.
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The emergency regulations allowed DETR to process claims without adjudicating Deductible Income issues, Next to Last Employer Separation and Able and Available status. With the expiration of the regulations three changes may affect claimant eligibility or benefits:
Deductible Income – Normally, unemployment benefits are reduced by the amount of severance, pension (with certain exceptions), sick or annual leave payouts that a claimant received after separating from their employer. This has always been a UI requirement that was relaxed during the pandemic.
Next to Last Employer Separation – DETR has always reviewed to see if a claimant separated from their last employer for cause or quit without good cause. If they had been with their most recent employer less than 16 weeks, this review will again also apply to their next to last employer.
Able and Available – All UI claimants must be able and available to seek and accept full-time work to continue to be eligible for unemployment benefits. This requirement was waived while business operations were limited due to COVID; it is once again required to be eligible.
DETR Director Elisa Cafferata says those regulations were suspended due to the sheer number of claims during the height of the pandemic.
“Several of these regulations were put in place for us to process claims more quickly," she said.
There are no changes for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claimants.
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Cyara Neel, an unemployment applicant and founder of the Unemployment Nevada Information and Help Facebook group, isn’t surprised by the agency’s shift as Nevada continues to reopen.
“I think they’ve just been building up to it, step by step, to slowly get everybody off of unemployment.”
Neel says unemployment applicants should continue to be on top of their claims and make sure questions are answered precisely. She says securing a job as soon as possible will help and the extra $300 from the federal government is set to expire in a few months.
“Going back to work right now is definitely going to be your best option. All the extra stuff is going to be ending in September anyways," she said.
Claimants who need individual help with work search activities including resume building, job referrals, or information on job fairs/hiring events are encouraged to fill out the JobConnect web form found at NevadaJobConnect.com.
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