COVID-19: News and Updates |
| Special #40 - May 28, 2020 |
| Articles and Updates Today
- Georgia Reports Highest Unemployment Rate on Record MAY 21, 2020
- ¶47,004 Final rule allows retirement plan administrators to provide plan disclosures electronically — AGENCY REGULATION, May 28, 2020
- HRDive: 'It's going to be a long road': Mental health benefits' place in a pandemic AUTHOR Pamela DeLoatch PUBLISHED May 28, 2020
- HRDive: Employees working from home may present a threat to cybersecurity AUTHOR Aman Kidwai
PUBLISHED May 28, 2020
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| | | Georgia Reports Highest Unemployment Rate on Record
MAY 21, 2020
Atlanta, GA - The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced today an April preliminary unemployment rate of 11.9 percent. The number of unemployed increased from 342,601 to 581,820. April's numbers represent the highest one-month recorded increase and also the highest total unemployment on record. Georgia's April 2020 number of unemployed is more than 80,000 higher than the height of the Great Recession of 2009-2010.
"This is the highest unemployment rate on record, eclipsing the previous high of 10.6 percent that occurred in December 2010," said Commissioner Mark Butler. "However, the cause of this high unemployment rate differs greatly from that of the previous record, and I have no doubt that we will recover just as quickly and get back to our record lows once again."
Jobs were down 492,100 (-10.7 percent) over the month of April to 4,126,500, the lowest level since April 2014. The leisure and hospitality sector, which includes the food services and drinking places and accommodation sectors, accounted for 206,700 of the job loss, 42 percent of the total.
Commissioner Butler said, "The surge in initial claims in accommodation and food services, retail trade, health care, manufacturing, and administrative and support services accounted for two-thirds of all initial claims processed."
The GDOL announced it has issued over $3.1 billion in combined state and federal unemployment benefits in the past nine weeks. Since the middle of March (week ending March 21, 2020), GDOL has processed 2,018,096 regular initial unemployment claims, more than the last five years combined (1.7 million). Of these claims, 855,088 were valid as the claimant had earned enough reported wages to receive benefits. 651,000 Georgians (86 percent of all those filing for unemployment) have already received their first payment. Of the remaining unpaid claims, many are still in the claims process awaiting eligibility determination. This also includes claims where duplicate claims have been filed, identification has been requested, excessive weekly earnings have been reported, or child support stops have been issued. These claims require additional handling and the GDOL is working diligently to address many of these stops.
Last week, the GDOL issued over $55 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) payments to individuals who are self-employed, gig workers, 1099 independent contractors, employees of churches, employees of non-profits, or those with limited work history who do not qualify for state unemployment benefits. 132,888 PUA applications were processed and were eligible for payment. Over 25,000 applications have been processed, but have still not requested a payment. Applicants must request a payment each week to be issued benefits.
GDOL processed 177,731 regular state UI claims last week, a decrease of 65,000 from the week prior. These claims totaled $187,412,786 in benefits for the week and totaled $927,514,749 over the past nine weeks. Of the weekly total, 132,191 were employer filed claims, seventy five percent of all claims. The number of initial unemployment claims filed throughout the United States was 2.4 million last week, a decrease of 249,000 from the previous week's revised level.
In addition, the total federal funds issued for the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, or FPUC, totaled over $545 million last week. Over the past nine weeks, the GDOL has issued over $2.1 billion in FPUC federal funds. FPUC provides an additional $600 weekly payment to any individual eligible for any of the unemployment compensation programs - state and federal.
As of last week, the Georgia Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund Balance was $1,795,322,812, down $752 million, or 30 percent, from the balance of $2,547,476,454 for week ending March 24.
At this time, the GDOL career centers are remaining closed to the public. All online services are still available as the staff continues to answer phones, return emails, and assist applicants. The GDOL will open offices to the public as soon as social distancing can be effectively implemented to protect both staff and customers.
The GDOL is also continuing to work with employers to get Georgians back to work. Employers have been contacting the GDOL with job opportunities that are critical during this crisis - some in the workplace and others that can be done from home. Today, over 97,000 jobs are listed online at EmployGeorgia.com for Georgians to access. The GDOL offers online resources for finding a job, building a resume, and assisting with other reemployment needs.
Information on filing an unemployment claim, details on how employers can file partial claims, and resources for other reemployment assistance can be found on the agency's webpage at dol.georgia.gov. |
| | | | ¶47,004 Final rule allows retirement plan administrators to provide plan disclosures electronically — AGENCY REGULATION,
May 28, 2020 from GEA's HR answers now
In a final rule, the Department of Labor is adopting a new, additional safe harbor for employee benefit plan administrators to use electronic media as a default to furnish information to participants and beneficiaries of plans subject to ERISA. The rule allows plan administrators who satisfy certain conditions to provide participants and beneficiaries with a notice that certain disclosures will be made available on a website or to furnish disclosures via email. Those who prefer to receive disclosures on paper can request paper copies of disclosures and opt out of electronic delivery entirely, according to the final rule notice scheduled for publication in the Federal Register May 27.
The DOL anticipates that the final rule will enhance the effectiveness of ERISA disclosures and significantly reduce the costs and burden associated with furnishing many of the recurring and most costly disclosures. In addition to benefiting workers, the rule will immediately assist employers and the retirement plan industry as they face various economic challenges due to the COVID-19 emergency, including logistical and other impediments to compliance with ERISA’s disclosure requirements.
The final rule follows a proposed rule published by DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) on October 23, 2019. Plan sponsors and fiduciaries, plan service and investment providers, retirement plan and participant representatives, and other interested parties submitted several hundred written comments to the proposal, according to the DOL.
"Notice and access" model. The final rule allows retirement plan administrators to furnish certain required disclosures using the proposed "notice-and-access" model. Retirement plan administrators also have the option of using email to send disclosures directly to participants. To do so, administrators must notify plan participants about the online disclosures, provide information on how to access the disclosures, and inform participants of their right to request paper or opt out completely.
The final rule also includes additional protections for retirement savers, such as accessibility and readability standards for online disclosures and system checks for invalid electronic addresses.
$3.2 billion savings. The DOL said that by permitting private sector employers to deliver disclosures to plan participants primarily electronically, the final rule will reduce printing, mailing, and related plan costs by an estimated $3.2 billion over the next decade. The rule will also make disclosures more readily accessible and useful for participants but still preserve the rights of those who prefer paper disclosures.
Effective date. The final rule is both effective and applicable 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
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| | | Employees working from home may present a threat to cybersecurity AUTHOR Aman Kidwai PUBLISHED May 28, 2020
Dive Brief:
• Employees working remotely are behaving in ways that make the company more susceptible to breaches, a May 28 study from Tessian said. And a separate study from Bitglass found that employers are ill-prepared to meet the enhanced cybersecurity needs that come with expanding remote work policies.
• Tessian found that 48% of employees are less likely to follow safe data practices at home, and that 52% believe they can get away with riskier behavior. Over half said that security policies inhibit productivity, with younger workers more likely to feel that way. Survey respondents said they were less likely to follow safe data practices because they were using different devices, experiencing distractions at home and overall feeling less oversight from IT.
• While most IT leaders trust their employees to do the right thing at home, 84% of IT respondents in the Tessian survey said data loss prevention is more challenging when employees are working remotely. The Bitglass survey of IT professionals found that companies are not able to do enough to expand and improve secure access to company systems. It found that 65% of organizations enabled personal devices for access to managed applications and named file sharing, web or SaaS applications, and video conferencing as the application types IT pros are most concerned with.
Dive Insight:
• Data security was a high-priority risk before the coronavirus, and it may become a larger issue now given that many employers are planning to keep remote work going after shutdowns end. HR departments may not be ready for this reality; a survey from November 2019 found that HR managers were not well-equipped to handle these threats.
• Of course, as employers rushed to enable remote work across the month of March, it created a profound cybersecurity risk, as The International Association of IT Asset Managers noted. Now that this period of emergency measures is over, HR leaders may need to strive for greater awareness of data security and risk-prevention practices among their workforces. The Tessian survey noted that frequency of training does not directly correlate to less risky employee behavior, even though 61% of organizations performed training at least every six months.
• On top of personal device risk and the threat of malware, the Bitglass survey highlighted proper equipment as the biggest impediment to scaling security for remote workers. This challenge is also compounded by talent shortages which exist in cybersecurity, even as the position grows more important to the business function.
• HR leaders should be wary of the strain these changes and heightened risks have put on IT teams. Burnout is a problem regardless of function, but those in IT have carried significant burdens as employers move further into the world of remote work.
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| 'It's going to be a long road': Mental health benefits' place in a pandemic
"We have the opportunity now to really hone the message to let people know that mental health help is available," one source said.
Even employees who have stayed physically healthy during the novel coronavirus pandemic may still be struggling with the fear and uncertainty brought on by the global health crisis. It can take a toll on workers' mental health, experts say, and although those effects may be more difficult to see, some companies are stepping up to recognize and address them.
The pandemic's mental health toll
When the nation shut down to reduce the coronavirus spread, life as most people knew it changed dramatically. Some employees continued their regular jobs as front-line or essential workers, knowing they had a higher chance of exposure to the virus. Others made the abrupt transition to working remotely. Still more were laid off or furloughed.
And as work situations shifted, personal responsibilities changed, too. Some workers' caretaking duties skyrocketed as day cares, schools and other institutions closed. Isolated from co-workers, friends and family, employees faced fear and uncertainty about their finances, their health and the health of loved ones.
It's not surprising, then, that the stress is adding up. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) examined the relationship between COVID-19 and mental health in a recent study. It found that two-thirds of employees said they feel depressive symptoms sometimes, with 22-35% reporting they face these symptoms often.
For workers who entered the pandemic with pre-existing depression or anxiety, their mental health situation likely deteriorated, Renee Schneider, vice president of clinical quality at mental health benefits provider Lyra Health, told HR Dive in an interview. When Lyra asked providers how clients were faring, nearly 60% said their clients were experiencing a worsening of symptoms, with higher levels of depression and anxiety than a few months ago, she said.
While this increase is concerning, it's not unexpected given the ramifications of the crisis, she said. What surprised her was the 33% increase in clients who reported having either suicidal thoughts or self-harm, she said.
An under-the-radar need
Even before the pandemic, employers were increasingly focused on workforce wellness. A 2019 study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion found that nearly half (46.1%) of U.S. worksites with ten or more employees offered some wellness benefits. But a pandemic may pull employers' attention away, said Amber Clayton, director of SHRM's Knowledge Center. "They're focused on reopening businesses, recalling staff and making sure the facilities are safe for workers, vendors, and customers," she said.
And, as businesses reopen, a return to in-office work could trigger more mental health-related issues, said Clayton. "It may pop up when people don't come to work or don't come back to work because of fear. It's going to be a long road because there's a lot that they're dealing with right now," she said.
How to address mental health now
Some employers have upped the mental health support they provide to help employees with the effects of COVID-19 now. For example:
Companies can reach out to their employee assistance programs and review their health insurance to see if they can add more options for support, Clayton said. They can also look at what state and local programs offer, she said.
In the meantime, leaders will want to look out for employees who exhibit signs of worsening mental health conditions. That can be difficult to do, especially when employees work remotely, and a change in behavior may not be as apparent as when the employee is in the office. But if an employee who previously functioned at a high level is no longer doing so — missing meetings or deadlines, is unprepared, is withdrawing from online social interaction, or is often emotionally upset — they may need extra support, Schneider said.
"I hope employers have been communicating all along in terms of mental health and looking at [seeking help] as an act of courage," Schneider said. As workers return to the office, employers and employees may expect life to return to normal. However, additional stressors of child care, job security, safety and financial concerns may increase, she said; "We have the opportunity now to really hone the message to let people know that mental health help is available."
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| | | Georgia Department of Public Health COVID-19 Daily Status Report For: 05/28/2020
These data represent confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported to the Georgia Department of Public Health as of 05/28/2020 12:22:57. A confirmed case is defined as a person who has tested positive for 2019 novel coronavirus. (Total tests 523,359)
COVID-19 Confirmed Cases: Total 44.932 Hospitalized 7,746 Deaths 1,957
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Georgia Employers' Association |
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