Punching In: Unemployment Funding Decision Confronts DOL Chief

Monday morning musings for workplace watchers

Walsh’s Unemployment Decision | Federal Contractor Enforcement Challenge

Ben Penn: The U.S. Labor Department faces a decision that will reveal the Biden administration’s willingness to have the federal government step up its role in paying unemployment benefits to laid-off workers, rather than let states shoulder most of the load.

The department, which oversees the federal-state jobless-aid system, must determine how it will distribute $2 billion in unemployment insurance administrative funding that Congress provided in the American Rescue Plan.

The decision has taken on an added dimension amid pressure from worker advocates and Sen. Bernie ...