The Michigan State Capitol building. | Wikimedia Commons/smpage09/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License/cropped
The Michigan State Capitol building. | Wikimedia Commons/smpage09/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License/cropped
As the coronavirus impact leads to more than half a million unemployment claims in the state, Rep. Eric Leutheuser (R-District 58) asks for caution regarding the state of emergency.
Lawmakers extended Michigan's state of emergency through May 1. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wanted to extend the emergency declaration through mid-June, but Leutheuser said that was not an option for him.
"I could not in good faith support extending emergency gubernatorial powers all the way into mid-June," Leutheuser said in a press release. "We simply don’t know what the situation will look like a few weeks from now, let alone 10 weeks from now."
Rep. Eric Leutheuser (R-District 58)
Leutheuser said he supports extending the stay-at-home order in shorter windows to adjust to the ever-changing health crisis as COVID-19 continues to spread across the state.
"Our priority continues to be the health of our residents and doing what we can to lessen the spread of this virus,” Leutheuser said in the release. "We will emerge from this pandemic, and we must be ready to restart our economy and reclaim our way of life as quickly as possible when that time comes.”
The staff of Michigan Works has joined the Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency to assist with answering incoming calls about the ever-growing number of unemployment claims that have exploded over the past few weeks, the Sturgis Journal reports.
“We will not be making monetary decisions, but entering data and answering calls," Jakki Bungart-Bibb, manager for SouthWest Michigan Works for Branch, Calhoun, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph counties, told the Sturgis Journal.
The requirement to confirm a person is actively looking for work in order to continue receiving unemployment benefits has been removed, so Michigan Works employees are now able to assist UIA, according to the Sturgis Journal.
UIA has received at least 816,000 claims and the demand is expected to increase due to eligibility for independent contractors, low-wage workers and self-employed workers for federal benefits, according to the Sturgis Journal.
Bungart-Bibb told Sturgis Journal that he expected unemployment to increase to 15% by the end of April.
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