Community Corner
Federal Shutdown Spares the Unemployment Line
Federal employees affected by shutdown can apply for benefits.
By Michael Dinan
Responding to questions about unemployment benefits during the federal government shutdown, CT Labor Commissioner Sharon Palmer said that people currently collecting unemployment benefits will continue to receive payments.
“We are open for business and employees from our unemployment insurance unit are on the job to process payments and respond to inquiries,” Palmer said in a release.
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Palmer noted that federal government employees who may be newly unemployed as a result of the shutdown can also file a claim. In these cases, the following guidelines should be observed:
To initiate a claim federal employees may call the applicable TeleBenefits phone number (numbers by location can be found on the Labor Department’s website) or start their online claim by visiting the agency’s unemployment website(federal claims will need to be completed by phone with a TeleBenefits Customer Service Representative).
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Federal claims are filed with the state where federal wages are assigned. For example:
In most cases, if a federal employee has their residence in Connecticut, but their last official duty station (current job) is in California for example, they would file with the State of California.
In most cases, if a federal employee has their residence in California, but their last official duty station (current job) is in Connecticut, for example, they would file with the State of Connecticut.
Because federal employers do not report wage information to state labor departments (all other public and private employers do report this information), when the Connecticut Labor Department receives a claim application from a federal employee, CTDOL must always request wage and separation information from the federal employer before it can determine if the employee is eligible, and based on the stated salary, what the weekly benefit amount will be.
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