Editor's note: This is the second story in a seven-part series about aging in Athens and the concerns of soon-to-retired baby boomers.
Two state legislators plan to introduce bills to change a law that prohibits some elderly employees from receiving unemployment compensation if they are drawing on Social Security.
State Sen. Joy Padgett, R-Coshocton, and Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, are working to create companion bills to alter a restriction known as 100 percent Social Security offset. The offset prohibits workers from getting unemployment pay if the amount of weekly Social Security they receive is higher than the unemployment check. While some states have partial offsets, Ohio is the only state in which the full amount of unemployment can be offset by Social Security. Padgett said the issue first came to her attention when she was contacted by Norma Addis, a 75-year-old who works as a basket sales associate for the Longaberger Company.
Addis, who for several years has been seasonally laid off during the winter, said she draws on her Social Security and has been denied unemployment during layoffs for several years. Longaberger continues to pay into her unemployment, though she never sees the check, which she estimates would be more than $700 for the duration of her time off each year.
That's a small amount
but it means a lot Addis said. I love my job but the reason I went to work was because I've been wedded twice
and my Social Security is not enough to take care of all my expenses.
The Zanesville woman's situation echoes that of about 2,360 workers affected annually by the Social Security offset, according to Policy Matters Ohio, a legislation advocacy group in Cleveland.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services estimates that a repeal of the offset would cost about $12.4 million, and the AARP puts the cost closer to $13 million.
But Padgett said she is realistic and understands a full repeal is less likely than reducing the restriction to a partial offset.
My view is
I don't care if I'm retired or drawing any kind of pension that I have earned
the senator said. Why should you not get the same benefits that everyone else gets when you're laid off?
The offset was required by federal legislation in the 1980s and then was transferred to state control, said Zach Schiller, a research director at Policy Matters Ohio. Since then, 40 states have eliminated the offsets, including Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and nine others maintain 50 percent offsets.
This is the kind of thing that sideswipes people
Schiller said, explaining that the offset was created based on the idea that laid-off workers were double-dipping in government funds if they received Social Security.
Addis criticizes that idea. How wrong is that? she said. It has nothing to do with your employment. Nothing.
Schiller said Rep. Seitz was well received when he spoke in favor of changing the offset during a meeting last week of the Unemployment Compensation Advisory Council, which recommends legislation to the governor and the General Assembly.
For Addis, who has written letters to the governor and various government officials for several years, the attention of legislators has been long due.
I thought it was very unfair because older people are going to work because they don't make enough from their Social Security to live on and have a life
she said. I just think they're now beginning to listen.
17
Archives
