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2 senators ask Biden to reconsider 2nd PUA interpretation
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Posted on Feb 09 2021
The CNMI Senate Democratic Party minority has sought the assistance of U.S. President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in urging the U.S. Department of Labor to reconsider its interpretation that workers with reduced hours are not qualified for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation.
In a letter to Biden last Friday, Sens. Edith E. Deleon Guerrero (D-Saipan) and Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) said the latest guidance from U.S. Labor is that workers with reduced hours cannot avail of PUA or PFUC under the Continued Assistance to Unemployed Workers Act of 2020 that was signed into law last Dec. 27, unlike the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
Deleon Guerrero and Manglona said they are working with Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (MP-Ind), who, like Guam Delegate Michael San Nicolas, continues to take the position that workers on reduced hours are impacted by business closures and should continue to avail of PUA.
The senators said that, according to both Sablan and San Nicolas, it certainly was not the intent of U.S. Congress to eliminate these workers from receiving unemployment benefits. They said thousands of laid off and furloughed workers in the CNMI will be affected by this latest guidance from U.S. Labor.
Deleon Guerrero and Manglona said unlike many states, the CNMI does not have unemployment programs for its workers.
With reduced and minimal wages coming in, the people of the CNMI are struggling to make ends meet, the senators said.
Citing that PUA is the only unemployment assistance available and the program will be ending soon, the senators pleaded with Biden to assist the people of the CNMI by reinstating the PUA and PFUC benefits to workers with reduced hours.
Deleon Guerrero and Manglona said the Continued Assistance to Unemployed Workers Act of 2020 is just an extension of the CARES Act, under which unemployed workers will receive a weekly benefit of up to $345 under the PUA until March 14, 2021, and an additional $300 a week in FPUC.
CNMI Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente informed Sablan in a letter last Wednesday that, with U.S. Labor’s recent guidance, thousands of laid-off and furloughed workers in both the private and public sector may not qualify to receive the second PUA.
