MINORITY bloc Sens. Paul A. Manglona and Edith Deleon Guerrero have asked President Joe Biden to instruct the U.S. Department of Labor to reconsider its decision to exclude workers with reduced hours from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation programs.
In a joint letter to Biden, the senators noted that based on the latest guidance from U.S. Labor, workers with reduced hours are not eligible for PUA and FPUC.
Manglona and Deleon Guerrero told the president that they are working with U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan who, they said, also believes that workers whose hours were reduced should be eligible for Covid-19 relief assistance.
The senators said they agree with the congressman that it was not the intent of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or CARES Act to eliminate these workers from receiving Covid-19-related unemployment benefits.
“Thousands of laid off and furloughed workers in the CNMI are impacted by this latest guidance from USDOL,” the senators said. “Unlike many states, the CNMI does not have unemployment programs for its workers. With reduced hours and minimal wages coming in, [the] people of the CNMI are struggling to make ends meet. [Since] PUA is the only unemployment assistance available and the program will be ending soon, we are pleading with you to assist the people of the CNMI by reinstating the PUA and FPUC benefits to workers with reduced hours,” Manglona and Deleon Guerrero said.
