Florida bill would cut benefits for public employees
Florida is facing significant deficits due to public employee benefits, but lawmakers in the panhandle are working to curb the problem. According to the Orlando Sun-Sentinel, the state's legislature is crafting a bill that will slash the amount of benefits and cut the amount of time each employee will be covered.
The paper reports that the bill, as constituted, will reduce benefits to 20 weeks of coverage - down from 26 weeks. Additionally, employees who engage in personal "misconduct" will lose access to benefits. The long-term unemployed will receive no advantage. The bill states that workers must accept positions that offer at least 80 percent of their previous pay or match their unemployment benefits once a person has been unemployed for more than 12 weeks.
"The cuts proposed in Florida are by far the harshest of anywhere I've seen in the country," George Wentworth, a lawyer for a national advocacy group for the unemployed, told the Sun-Sentinel.
Even the smallest state in the union is being forced to make cuts. According to the Providence Journal, the Rhode Island legislature is trying to find a way to reduce costs in order to pay currently owed retirement benefits.
The paper reports that the bill, as constituted, will reduce benefits to 20 weeks of coverage - down from 26 weeks. Additionally, employees who engage in personal "misconduct" will lose access to benefits. The long-term unemployed will receive no advantage. The bill states that workers must accept positions that offer at least 80 percent of their previous pay or match their unemployment benefits once a person has been unemployed for more than 12 weeks.
"The cuts proposed in Florida are by far the harshest of anywhere I've seen in the country," George Wentworth, a lawyer for a national advocacy group for the unemployed, told the Sun-Sentinel.
Even the smallest state in the union is being forced to make cuts. According to the Providence Journal, the Rhode Island legislature is trying to find a way to reduce costs in order to pay currently owed retirement benefits.
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