Jim Frederick is seeing government bureaucracy up close for the first time, something he never wanted to do.
After quitting a job in the Biden administration in January, he applied for unemployment benefits more than a month ago. The advantages are just getting started.
Frederick has provided the unemployment office in Washington, D.C. with paystubs, wage statements, and other papers. He has been put on hold four times for at least forty-five minutes in order to speak with personnel. He said each employee as “incredibly helpful,” however they only promised to resolve the claim “soon” rather than by a specific date.
He believes the delay stems from the inability to confirm the pay he received after four years as principal deputy assistant secretary of labor at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the Labor Department. A person may occasionally lose their eligibility for unemployment benefits due to resignations; but, Frederick was informed before to his departure that he would be eligible for benefits following an administration change.
This delay appears to be 99% bureaucratic, in my opinion. “I don’t hold anyone at D.C. Unemployment accountable,” Frederick remarked. “The system is just a mess.”
Frederick resigned his position prior to the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency kicking in. However, as DOGE purges government payrolls, he is among the several government employees who are now attempting to apply for unemployment benefits. According to a representative of a union that represents federal workers, many of those people, like Frederick, have been experiencing difficulties getting their unemployment benefits, MarketWatch said.
In the first week of March, 1,580 federal employees applied for unemployment benefits, according to preliminary jobless claims released Thursday. That is four times as many government employees as were filing for unemployment benefits the previous year.
Lawsuits against the layoffs are one of the reasons why early unemployment claims by government employees are still comparatively low, according to some experts. A federal judge in San Francisco ordered hundreds of laid-off employees to be reinstated on Thursday. On the same day, a federal judge in Maryland issued a temporary restraining order that would allow probationary employees who had been fired from 18 agencies to return to their employment. According to court documents, the Justice Department is appealing both rulings.
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However, experts pointed out that more sacked government employees will apply for unemployment benefits. By October, an estimated 500,000 government jobs might be eliminated, according to economists. State unemployment agencies would be under pressure due to the magnitude and pace of the DOGE-driven cuts, and more applicants will have to wait longer for benefits, they warned.
There may be wider economic effects from the delays. In this economy, going without income is difficult due to high prices and longer average periods of unemployment.
“You are left to see the gradual depletion of your bank account. Jonathan Curry, who was among the more than 7,000 probationary employees let go by the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce last month, said, “It’s stressful.” Curry had previously worked for the Internal Revenue Service. Curry, 35, had three weeks left until his one-year probationary period ended. He filed for unemployment insurance over three weeks ago.
According to the Office of Unemployment Compensation in Washington, D.C., processing a claim may take up to 21 days. Given the amount of federal employees currently without jobs in D.C., Curry is skeptical that he will receive a response to his application that quickly. Of course, the approximately 2 million government employees in the United States are spread across every state and abroad.
Benefits would ease Curry’s mind at the moment, but he hopes to return to work as soon as possible. “You kind of feel like you’re tossed in the ocean and left to flounder a little bit,” he stated.
The federal government’s human resources departments are “completely overburdened.”
Applying for unemployment benefits presents a special bureaucratic hurdle for federal employees. Unemployment Compensation for government Employees is a specific program with unique regulations and documentation that provides unemployment compensation to government employees.
Benefit determinations are accelerated by the fact that many private-sector businesses notify state employment offices on a regular basis about who is on their payrolls and what they are paid. However, these state offices do not receive regular updates from the federal government.
According to Andrew Stettner, director of economy and jobs at the left-leaning think tank Century Foundation, unemployed government employees must wait longer to verify their employment and compensation than workers in the private sector. “Verification is more challenging. Stettner stated, “It means it takes longer.”
According to Jacqueline Simon, public-policy director at the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents 800,000 federal and D.C. government employees, human-resources offices within the federal government are “utterly overwhelmed,” and many fired government workers are unable to access their employment records because they are abruptly being shut out of their computers.
When an employee’s termination letter notes poor performance but the applicant contests the claim, state unemployment offices must also look into the matter and assess eligibility, Simon said. Workers are having to refute the government’s “false allegations” of subpar performance, which is taking time, she added. “It undermines the purpose of unemployment insurance if they can’t get access to it,” she said.
In the San Francisco case, the AFGE was among the unions advocating for the reinstatement of sacked government employees. The union claims that fired probationary employees in the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior, Energy, Defense, and Treasury are covered by Judge William Alsup’s preliminary injunction.
According to court documents, the Justice Department is appealing Alsup’s decision. A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Justice Department.
About 20 states filed lawsuits against the government last week, claiming that the Trump administration’s widespread layoffs violate rules requiring companies to provide early notice of significant employment reductions.
The complaint contends that the state agencies that handle unemployment claims are being burdened by the huge federal layoffs. The case, filed in federal court in Maryland, stated that “the consequences will be far-reaching, affecting countless individuals who depend on swift resolutions to sustain their livelihoods.”
Judge James Bredar of the Maryland District Court was informed by federal attorneys that the administration was exempt from providing advance notice since the terminations were made on an individual basis and were contingent on an employee’s performance.
“On the record before the court, this isn’t true,” Bredar wrote on Thursday. Employees weren’t given personalized evaluations. All of them were simply let go. collectively.
On Valentine’s Day, Avery Lentz, a former government employee, lost his job in the National Park Service, which he loved. His supervisor had given his job the ratings of “fully successful” and “exceed[ing] expectations.” But according to his notice of termination, he wasn’t up to par.
Even though he had not yet gotten certain documents from his previous employer, Lentz claimed for unemployment benefits in Virginia. He told MarketWatch that he had a ticking clock in his mind because his rent was due in a few weeks. Soon after, Virginia’s web portal denied him benefits and denied Lentz’s appeal as well.
An “SF-8” and a “SF-50,” which are personnel notices required by Virginia’s system, must be submitted by federal employees, a VEC representative said. According to the spokesman, in the absence of these, there can be an initial financial denial that is not appealable.
According to the spokesperson, an employer’s allegation of subpar performance in Virginia does not usually disqualify an employee from receiving unemployment benefits; nonetheless, the claims must be examined.
Lentz intended to visit the unemployment office in person to find out what he needed to do to proceed with his benefits application. Fortunately for him, though, he recently started a new career as a paralegal, so he no longer needs to.
But there might have been more hassles if he had sought to reapply for jobless benefits. This week, Lentz said that he had yet to obtain his final federal work records.
The wider effects on fired federal employees of postponed unemployment benefits
Michele Evermore, a senior fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance, says there are reasons why the official unemployment figures for federal employees are low at the moment.
She said that rather of being officially fired, some employees might be on administrative leave as a result of the DOGE downsizing. While their layoffs are being challenged in court, other people might be delaying their unemployment applications. Others might be holding off on filing until they’ve received their severance money. (The regulations differ, but according to Evermore, it’s “very advisable” in certain states to wait for all of your previous employer’s compensation before filing for unemployment insurance.)
In general, the back pay should be included in the first check, according to Evermore, who recommended waiting applicants to keep certifying their unemployment status on a weekly basis. She also advised government employees who are worried about losing their jobs to print out their pay stubs for the previous 18 months.
Evermore is concerned about the benefit delays that are already occurring for government employees who have been discharged. The waiting applicant may experience a cash flow crisis as a result of these delays, and the overall economy may face difficulties during this uncertain period. She pointed out that a job seeker without benefits has no money to spend on products and services.
