COVID-19 unemployment benefits available to Massachusetts employees on 'standby status'

Massachusetts, like other states, has been moving and changing rapidly to handle COVID-19 and employee-related issues. Since March, the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) has been operating under new guidelines and regulations.

First wave of change

On March 18, the Massachusetts Legislature passed emergency legislation waiving the one-week waiting period "for any person making a claim for unemployment benefits who has become separated from work as a result of any circumstance relating to or resulting from the outbreak of the 2019 novel Coronavirus or 'COVID-19' or the effects of the Governor's March 10, 2020 declaration of a state of emergency." The waiver applies to any claim filed on or after March 10, 2020, and won't expire until 90 days after the state of emergency has been lifted.

On the same day, the DUA released guidance about Massachusetts unemployment benefits indicating employees can collect if they:

• Are quarantined because of an order by a civil authority or medical professional; and
• Leave their employment to offset a reasonable risk of exposure or infection or to care for a family member and either don't intend or aren't allowed to return to work.

The new rules, however, aren't limited to employees who have been quarantined or may have been exposed to the virus. The guidance indicates those whose workplaces have been "shut down" even temporarily because of the COVID-19 emergency also can collect unemployment.

Second wave