Changes to Unemployment Insurance since COVID-19

On March 17, 2020, Governor Roy Cooper entered an Executive Order to address certain COVID-19 related issues. As part of this Executive Order, the Governor directed the Department of Commerce and the Division of Employment Security (DES) to ensure that individuals (whether working full-time or part-time) who have lost their jobs or had their work hours reduced because of the COVID-19 situation are eligible for unemployment benefits. The Executive Order specifically addresses:

• Individuals who have been separated from employment;
• Individuals who have had their work hours reduced; and
• Individuals who cannot work due to a medical condition, or are under direct quarantine orders, as a result of COVID-19.

The changes to unemployment insurance include the following:

First, the DES is directed to “interpret flexibly or waive, as appropriate, the following:”

1. The one-week waiting period for unemployment benefits;
2. The ability to work and be available to work requirements
3. The work search requirements;
4. The actively seeking work requirements; and
5. The “lack of work” requirement of the partially unemployed provisions of G.S. 96-15.01(b)(2)(a).

Notwithstanding the DES’s ability to waive or show flexibility with the requirements above, an individual must still otherwise qualify for unemployment benefits. The four criteria an individual must satisfy to be eligible for unemployment benefits in North Carolina are: (a) the individual is unemployed due to no fault of his/her own (this is a determination made by DES-based upon information provided by the individual and their last employer); (b) he/she must be considered monetarily eligible (earned sufficient wages to establish a claim); (c) he/she must be physically able, available¹ and actively seeking work, and (d) he/she must register for work with the state’s job service office.²

For employees who are paid unemployment benefits for reasons related to COVID-19, the  Department of Commerce will not allocate the charges for those benefits to the employers’ accounts. To ensure non-charging occurs properly, employers responding to requests for separation information should indicate that the separation was due to COVID-19.

These changes remain in effect for as long as the March 10, 2020 declaration of a State of Emergency regarding COVID-19 is in place.

¹ According to the DES website, an individual filing for unemployment who is in required quarantine due to COVID-19 will be considered able and available to work as long as the individual did not remove himself/herself from the labor market.

² Per the DES website, if an individual is out of work due to COVID-19, he/she does not have to conduct a work search while filing for unemployment.