Bill to give unemployed longer to pursue job training
A bill that would give unemployed workers longer to enroll in a workforce training program before their benefits expire was among about 20 bills considered by the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development on Tuesday.
The bill (H 1714 and S 969) filed by Rep. Kenneth Gordon and Sen. Kenneth Donnelly would extend the deadline for people participating in industrial or vocational training program to file for an extension of unemployment benefits from the fifteenth week of unemployment to the twentieth week.
"These are not people who have been spending their lives gaining benefits. These are people who worked for years and decades through no fault of their own their jobs collapsed and when they try to navigate a difficult system under tremendous stress, why should there be an obstacle for them to get re-trained and support our economy?" Anne Myerson, executive director of YMCA Greater Boston's education and training programs, said. "I really can't think of any reason. This is a very small change to help more people who are trying to help themselves."
Kim Fox, a Canton resident who said she worked as a switchboard operator at Liberty Mutual for 30 years before her job was outsourced and she was laid off, told the committee about how she was not aware of the 15-week deadline, missed it and had to hire a lawyer to fight the Department of Unemployment Assistance to try to recoup her benefits.
"You should not need a lawyer to get benefits that are supposed to be there to help people get training to get a job," she said.
Also testifying in support of the bills Tuesday were the AFL-CIO, Greater Boston Legal Services, Jewish Vocational Services and Chinese Progressive Association.
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