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Governor withdraws plan for furlough days for older ASG workers

Undemployment form used by Hawaii Dept. of Labor
This gives them access to PUA and FPUC benefits, if qualified
fili@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In a June 7th memorandum, Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga has revised ASG policies to facilitate access of the benefits in two federal income assistance programs for ASG workers who were furloughed, lost jobs and had reduced working hours as a result of the COVID-19 emergency declaration.

The governor’s new directive to cabinet members is the result of recent changes  in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC).

The directive, supersedes the governor’s June 1st memo, which provides eligibility guidelines for workers who qualify for the PUA and FPUC programs, created by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Securities (CARES) Act and provide financial relief to individuals whose employment was affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the June 7th memo, the governor explained that government workers age 60-years and older will return to work and will not be furloughed for two days as directed under the June 1st memo.

Instead this age-group of workers will adopt the same 50%/50% total workforce format based on the discretion of the director, the governor said.

According to the governor, Human Resources Department (DHR) will soon be issuing the revised eligibility guidelines for all government employees who might qualify for this assistance program. All interested ASG employees who wish to be considered for the PUA and FPUC benefits are to fill out applications provided by DHR.

The governor points out that employees of ASG semi-autonomous agencies are also eligible provided that the PUA and FPUC terms and conditions are satisfied, and they must also fill out applications if management elects to participate in the program.

Lolo made clear that DHR, in collaboration with the Attorney General’s Office, will thoroughly explain the specifics of the PUA and FPUC programs to ensure that directors fully understand the impact and implications of these two programs on respective agencies.

The governor last month designated ASG-DHR as the agency to administer the two federally funded financial assistance programs for both public and private sector workers, whose jobs were impacted by the COVID-19 declaration.

The governor announced last month that the US Department of Labor (USDOL) has approved American Samoa’s application under the Employment & Training Administration — awarding $16.26 million through the CARES Act of 2020 to administer the Unemployment Insurance programs for American Samoa.