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The Illinois Department of Employment Security is finally implementing a so-called work-share program — first authorized under a 2015 law — that could have saved anywhere from 43,600 to 123,900 jobs statewide during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to research from the University of Illinois and Illinois Economic Policy Institute.
Work-share laws, also known as short-time compensation, allow companies to avoid mass layoffs by reducing workers’ hours so they’re still employed, while also allowing them to receive partial unemployment benefits. The concept is popular in European countries and more than two dozen other states have work-share programs.
While Illinois has had such a law on the books for nearly seven years, work-share was never actually implemented during former Gov. Bruce Rauner’s term or the first half of Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration. But the state’s employment agency is belatedly making good on the program — just as the state’s economy has reopened from all COVID restrictions. To help with the endeavor, the U.S. Department of Labor last week announced Illinois will receive a $4.2 million grant from the federal government.
But work-share will come too late for the thousands of Illinois workers laid off permanently during the pandemic, losing wages, healthcare benefits tied to their employment and sometimes getting divorced from the workforce completely.
“It’s really frustrating, it’s disappointing,” State Sen. Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) said. “State government failed its workers, failed its employees by not implementing this seven years ago.”
* Sun-Times…
A few days after the Fourth of July in 2018, Zay Manning was shot outside his neighborhood corner store in Bronzeville — the one he grew up going to for a bottle of lemonade and a bag of hot fries.
He was 19 and loved helping his younger brother produce music — picking out beats, tweaking the sound one bar at a time.
The one bullet that hit him nearly killed him.
During his hospital stay, police officers and doctors told him about the Illinois’ Crime Victim Compensation Program, which uses state and federal dollars to reimburse victims of violent crime and their families for injury-related expenses. Manning applied, hoping to recoup some of the costs of his medical bills and replace clothing destroyed and bloodied in the shooting. But he found the program difficult and confusing as he also was navigating back-to-back hospital visits.
“It was a lot of documentation I didn’t really understand,” Manning says. “I got discouraged.”
More than a year after submitting his claim, Manning faces a similar situation as most of the program’s applicants.
He hasn’t gotten a single penny of compensation.
The nearly 50-year-old government program that’s supposed to help ease the blow of being a crime victim largely isn’t doing that, an investigation by The Trace has found.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 9:04 am
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Is there anymore to say about pritzkers failure with ides? Fortunately for him he has more positives going for him to make voters forget about ides. As its said here, governors own
.and ides is his.
Comment by Snookered Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 9:17 am
@Snookered - please explain, what is Pritzker’s “failure with ides”. No snark, I don’t understand your post.
To the post, maybe an immediate eligibility for Medicaid in these situations would bridge the gap, at least for those who are in lower income ranges.
Comment by froganon Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 9:33 am
=“It’s really frustrating, it’s disappointing,” State Sen. Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) said. “State government failed its workers, failed its employees by not implementing this seven years ago.”=
The government that he is a part of? Where was his action in 2015?
=Is there anymore to say about pritzkers failure with ides?=
Yes, he has not made much headway, but this bill goes back to 2015 and at least it was put into place by Pritzker. The other guy couldn’t give a hoot about the little people.
Comment by JS Mill Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 9:35 am
=== Where was his action in 2015?===
He sponsored the bill. Sheesh.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 9:38 am
=He sponsored the bill. Sheesh.=
My bad.
Comment by JS Mill Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 10:06 am
“The nearly 50-year-old government program that’s supposed to help ease the blow of being a crime victim largely isn’t doing that…” The last time I was on the IL Attorney General’s website looking for an internal search box function, which did not exist, I saw some info. about the victim fund. I assume that is supposed to be administered by the IL AG?
Perhaps it has withered away from disuse, like the “Public Integrity Bureau.” I would ask Kwame Raoul about this, but he ran out of the room the last time I saw him at City Club luncheon in October 2019.
Comment by Payback Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 10:32 am
My beef is with Democratic legislators passing pieces of legislation to fix major issues, like the two programs discussed in this post, without a follow-through to make sure the responsible agencies are actually implementing them. This should be something the agencies are pestered with every year around budget time and pressed about what specific resources are missing to implement the programs.
Progressive ideals mean nothing without the administration to implement them. Our state government is severely behind on this front.
Comment by NIU Grad Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 10:46 am
“Please explain, what is Pritzker’s failure at ides”.
This has got to be snark.
Comment by Back to the Future Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 10:51 am
- froganon - Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 9:33 am:
@Snookered - please explain, what is Pritzker’s “failure with ides”. No snark, I don’t understand your post.
To the post, maybe an immediate eligibility for Medicaid in these situations would bridge the gap, at least for those who are in lower income ranges.
If you need to ask then there’s no point in explaining. Something is very wrong at ides that reared its ugly head during coved under jb and is not close to be resolved…for a year and a half. ..thats failure
Comment by Snookered Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 11:06 am
===that reared its ugly head during===
… the Rauner administration and continued and has been seen during the Pritzker administration
Ya don’t need the anger of partisanship. You’d be surprised being honest to things makes truths.. truthful.
Like LaSalle, the IDES issues here are on the governor, there’s a sense it’s not getting steady, let alone the truth it’s not better.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jul 9, 21 @ 11:15 am