We also request that DOL hold field hearings to facilitate evaluation and input from the states, whose laws and UI programs will be affected by the proposal. Letter from UI Working Group to Hon. This is simply wrong. It also is a direct violation of a longstanding and successful policy enacted during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Unemployment compensation laws protect workers who lose their jobs when an employer no longer has work available.
Family leave is for workers who have jobs but choose to take time off for personal medical reasons.
We believe burdening the unemployment compensation trust fund with family leave benefits will financially and administratively jeopardize the unemployment compensation system and those whom it sustains. During the past two years, Department of Labor officials have been outspoken in expressing concern that states have failed to adequately replenish their unemployment compensation funds, during the present strong economy.