Five-month-old Hailey plays with a rattle at her parents’ apartment in Moscow, Idaho. Her parents are taking part in Washington state’s new leave program. (Credit: Lauren Paterson / NWPB) Listen […]Read More
The amount of fraudulent payments of unemployment benefits distributed in Washington state during the height of the coronavirus pandemic was likely higher than the $647 million identified by the Washington state Employment Security Department, according to a new set of reports released by the state auditor’s office Tuesday.Read More
A bill that increases the minimum weekly benefit for unemployed workers during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and prevents a dramatic increase in unemployment taxes paid by businesses was signed into law Monday by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.Read More
A data breach may have exposed the personal information of 1.6 million residents who filed for unemployment last year, as well as other information from state agencies and local governments, Washington state Auditor Pat McCarthy said Monday.Read More
Ahmad Ghabboun, 31, and his wife, who was laid off from the beauty department of Nordstrom’s, relied on their combined unemployment benefits to cover their $1,800 rent, the $200 monthly payment on Ghabboun’s car, and various bills, not to mention the costs of preparing for their first child: Ghabboun’s wife was six months pregnant when he received the alert claiming he Read More
Frustration with long delays in getting jobless benefits is boiling over into a lawsuit against the Washington State Employment Security Department. Attorneys representing two laid off workers and the nonprofit Unemployment Law Project filed the case directly with the state Supreme Court on Friday.Read More
At the request of a powerful Democratic state senator who warned of “foreign intrusion,” Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) on Sunday temporarily suspended public, online access to the personal financial statements of elected officials, candidates and other public officials.Read More
Impostors have used the stolen information of tens of thousands of people in Washington to fraudulently receive hundreds of millions of dollars in unemployment benefits, the head of the state’s Employment Security Department said Thursday.Read More
There are hundreds of thousands of additional jobless workers waiting in the wings to file claims, including part-time and gig economy workers and self-employed who qualify under expanded federal benefits. But they are temporarily frozen out. The wait for overloaded unemployment systems to catch up is leaving some of them frustrated or anxious.Read More
Last March, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced the resignation of one of his longest-serving cabinet members, Employment Security Department head Dale Peinecke. But as it turned out, Peinecke continued to run his agency while working remotely for two more months. He then took paid leave until the end of June when he turned 65—and could retire.Read More
