Alberta Closes Emergency Isolation Support Benefit As CERB Applications Open

Jason Kenney promised financial support, but many Albertans couldn’t access the application.

By Melanie Woods

Albertans looking to apply for the one-time Alberta Emergency Isolation Support payment were met with grim news Monday, as the province shuttered the program to pave the way for the federal Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

Many are frustrated after spending weeks trying to get approved through the province’s online application, only to see it suddenly halted. Many applicants who say they met the requirements encountered broken links, missing web pages and denied applications despite meeting all of the requirements.

Dustin Milne, who is self-employed in audio/visual production, says he spent days trying to access the overloaded application system.

“It took six days to actually get on the website — it kept saying ‘unavailable’ or ‘won’t load’,” he told HuffPost Canada. “I finally got in and I was number 37,000 in line.”


Alberta Premier Jason Kenney initially announced the benefit March 19, and opened applications that week.

“Albertans are doing their part to keep each other safe and prevent the spread of COVID-19. We are doing ours by assisting Albertans and their families, protecting jobs and supporting workers and employers,” Kenney said.

The one-time payment of $1,146 was open to Albertans required to isolate by public health guidelines or who had to take care of a dependent who was isolating, who also had a significant decrease in income and no other source of compensation. 

According to the province, the Alberta Emergency Isolation Support program was meant to “bridge the gap” while awaiting federal financial support in the form of the CERB.

But over the past few weeks, many Albertans who went to apply for the benefit say they were faced with long wait times and denied applications for seemingly no reason. 

A stressful week

Victoria Thomson and her husband run a small plumbing business in rural central Alberta. She said she’s immunocompromised and has lost work because of the pandemic.

Thomson said the past week has been “incredibly stressful” as she’s tried repeatedly to access the funds.

“In total, it was about four days of trying with no results,” Thomson told HuffPost. “The second time I tried I did get past [the first] page, put in my application, and got, within 15 minutes, an email saying I was denied with no reason or explanation.”


Thomson said she tried again, but was unable to get an application through.

“There’s really no reason, I met all the criteria on the page,” she said. “They just made it really hard for people and just denied people arbitrarily. It’s, you know at this point in time there is just no excuse, this is downright cruel.”

Milne said he was a “prime candidate” for the benefit as someone suddenly out of work because of the pandemic, and that “every little bit helps.”

“We won’t be doing concerts and stuff, that even if this thing does ramp down by the end of summer I doubt there’s going to be any mass gatherings for the rest of the year. So I’m kind of predicting that I will not work for the rest of the year,” he said.

But like Thomson, Milne said once he finally got through the application — having to stop and restart several times — he was ultimately denied.
At this point in time there is just no excuse, this is downright cruel.Victoria Thomson

After reaching out to the government to ask why he was denied, Milne said he was told it was because the system flagged he was under 18 — which he is not.

“Clearly this is not getting interfaced by humans. Nobody’s looking at the computer system,” he said. “The computer is taking applications, doing whatever algorithm and spitting it out.”

Milne criticized the government for rolling out the benefit too quickly without building the necessary infrastructure to handle the volume of applications. As an applicant, he said it felt like the luck-of-the-draw if he would receive the support money or not.

“It seems like throwing $100,000 in a pit and whoever can grab a $5 bill gets it,” Milne said.

During an address Monday, NDP Labour critic Christina Gray acknowledged applicants’ struggles with the process.

“The UCP claimed the provincial benefits would serve as a bridge to the federal program, and nobody would fall through the cracks while waiting for federal support. But for many Albertans, it has been a bridge to nowhere,” she said.

Gray accused Kenney’s government of simply offloading the financial burden to the federal government, by shuttering the program the same day CERB applications opened.

“Well, the UCP will point to the federal program as the solution,” she said. “We know that the federal program has been delayed and been able to get money out to people and won’t be enough for many Albertans to make ends meet, and still doesn’t include all people.”

The CERB has come under fire in recent days, after a report suggested up to a third of in-need Canadians would not actually qualify for it. On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said support was coming for those left out, but did not provide details. 

Twice as generous as anticipated”

During Monday’s daily COVID-19 briefing, Kenney addressed the criticism of the benefit, acknowledging that the system was not designed for the number of applications that came in.

“We had some technical problems with the website,” he said. “So when we go back and learn lessons from this period, we’’ll obviously have to invest more in expanding the capacity of the provincial government website to handle 10's of thousands of concurrent applications.”
Kenney said the government actually handed out more money than the $50 million the province planned to. According to the provincial government, over 79,596 Albertans successfully received payments totaling around $91.7 million as part of the program.

ACTUALLY IT COMES TO $88.7 MILLION WHO POCKETED THE EXTRA $3 MILLION

In Q1 2020, Alberta's population reached 4.41 million, up 77,378 or 1.8% from Q1 2019. 
SO IN KENNEY TYPE BROAD TERMS THESE NEW ARRIVALS OFFSET THOSE APPLYING, STATISTICALLY SPEAKING FOR A NET SUM GAIN OF NOTHING
It seems like throwing $100,000 in a pit and whoever can grab a $5 bill gets it.
Dustin Milne
 WHILE THE REST OF MILLIONS OF ALBERTANS WATCHED KENNEY GIVE OUR TAX DOLLARS TO BIG OIL WHILE CRYING HAVOC AND UNLEASHING THE DOGS OF AUSTERITY ON EDUCATION WORKERS, DOCTORS AND NURSES

He said Service Alberta will be going back through applications in the coming days to reassess some applications and distribute extra money, bringing the total to $106 million.

“So, the program turned out to be twice as large twice and generous as anticipated,” Kenney said.  BULLSHIT

YOU KNOW FOR A PARTY THAT ONLY CHANGED IT'S NAME BUT RULED ALBERTA FOR 44 YEARS THIS IS NOT THEIR FIRST TIME TO THE RODEO

But for Milne and Thomson, it’s too late. Both said they’re part of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who applied for the CERB Monday, and found the application quick and easy to navigate.

“The website wasn’t even slow,” Milne said.



Melanie WoodsAssociate Editor, HuffPost Canada

Opposition Parties Reach Deal With Feds Over $73-Billion Wage Subsidy Bill
The Liberals’ wage subsidy bill is up for debate as Parliament reconvenes Saturday.

IT WAS THE NDP THAT GOT THE CERB INCREASED FROM LIBERALS 10% TO 75% OF WAGES THOUGH FOR SOME SCROOGE EMPLOYERS EVEN THAT WAS NOT ENOUGH

Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The Trudeau government has struck a deal with opposition parties to swiftly approve a massive $73-billion wage subsidy program aimed at helping businesses and workers survive the economic ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Passage of legislation needed to implement the program was assured Saturday after Conservatives dropped their attempt to tie the bill to the longer-term question of how Parliament should function in the midst of a national health crisis.

At a morning news conference just hours before the House of Commons met for a rare emergency sitting on the Easter long weekend, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said his party had agreed to support passage of the bill and to continue discussions on the future of Parliament later.

Under the bill, which is expected to pass the Commons and the Senate and receive royal assent later Saturday, the federal government will pay companies 75 per cent of the first $58,700 normally earned by employees, up to $847 per week for up to 12 weeks. The subsidy is retroactive to March 15 and will be available to companies that lost 15 per cent of their revenue in March or 30 per cent in April or May.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the money will begin to flow within two to five weeks, with the government working to get it started in the shortest possible time.

Scheer said that Conservatives had won some improvements to the bill over the past week of negotiations and that their support for the wage subsidy was never dependent on settling the matter of how or when Parliament should sit going forward.

That said, Scheer argued that the work of opposition parties to improve the legislation demonstrates how important it is to have the Commons sitting regularly so that the government can be held to account.

“This shows that during times of crisis, Parliament needs to play its role,” he said.

Scheer reiterated his party’s contention that the Commons should sit — with reduced numbers — four days a week.

This shows that during times of crisis, Parliament needs to play its role.Andrew Scheer

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has argued that in-person sittings present a health risk for Commons clerks, administrators, security and cleaners who’d have to come to work at a time when all Canadians are being urged to stay home to curb the spread of the deadly virus. He’s also argued that small sittings — like Saturday’s sitting of just 32 MPs who are primarily within driving distance of the capital — would shut out MPs from all corners of the country.

Trudeau’s Liberals have been promoting the idea of virtual sittings of Parliament. Commons Speaker Anthony Rota has instructed Commons administration to consult with experts about the logistics and technology required for virtual sittings, with the goal of having them up and running within four weeks.

But Scheer said: “We can’t wait that long.”

He suggested that in-person sittings should be held until virtual sittings can be implemented.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he’s open to discussing either virtual sittings or “limited” in-person sittings. But Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said he would never agree to regular, in-person sittings.

ADRIAN WYLD/CPNDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks at a caucus
 meeting in Ottawa on Jan. 22, 2020.

For the past couple of weeks, the Commons finance and health committees have been meeting weekly via teleconference. As part of the deal to speedily pass the wage subsidy bill, government House leader Pablo Rodriguez said more committees — industry, government operations, human resources and procedure and House affairs — will also begin virtual meetings.

The latter committee will be specifically tasked with exploring the best ways for the Commons to function in the weeks ahead. It is to report back by May 15.

“We have to be creative,” Rodriguez said.

“On one hand, we can’t tell Canadians, ‘Stay home because that’s the way to fight this (pandemic)’ and then come here every day and meet.”

In the motion seeking unanimous consent to speed the bill through the Commons, the government also promised to implement measures “without delay” to fill some of the gaps left by the $2,000-per-month Canada Emergency Response Benefit and any other existing or proposed programs to ensure financial support for Canadians who don’t currently qualify for assistance — including students, owner-operators and those earning modest incomes from part-time work, royalties and honoraria.

RELATED
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It also promised to ensure essential workers who are earning low wages will receive additional support.

As well, it promised partially non-repayable loans for small and medium-sized businesses to help them cover fixed costs, such as rent.

The NDP and Bloc Quebecois both claimed credit for getting those additional promises in writing.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh urged Trudeau to go further and drop all the eligibility criteria for the emergency benefit. However, the prime minister did not specifically respond to that suggestion.

Trudeau, who has addressed the nation daily at briefings outside his home for 26 days, spoke instead Saturday in the Commons, where he delivered a Churchillian speech invoking the heroic battles fought by Canadian troops in the First and Second World Wars.
And for them, and for their grandchildren, we will endure, we will persevere and we will prevail.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau


“This is not a war. That doesn’t make this fight any less destructive, any less dangerous but there is no front line marked with barbed wire, no soldiers to be deployed across the ocean, no enemy combatants to defeat,” he said.

“Instead, the front line is everywhere. In our homes, in our hospitals and care centres, in our grocery stores and pharmacies, at our truck stops and gas stations. And the people who work in these places are our modern day heroes.”

Trudeau said the last members of the “greatest generation” who lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War are now the elderly most at risk of dying from COVID-19. And he said all Canadians now have a duty to protect them.

“And for them, and for their grandchildren, we will endure, we will persevere and we will prevail.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2020.

How To Apply For CERB, Canada’s New $2,000 Emergency Response Benefit

If you've lost your job because of COVID-19, this is another option alongside EI.

By Melanie Woods


If you lost your job or cannot work because of the COVID-19 pandemic, more help is on the way.

On Wednesday, the federal government passed a $107-billion emergency package, which included the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) designed to support people economically impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“The hard truth is people are out of work because of this crisis and worried about what comes next. So I want you to know that we’ll be there to help you. Our government is doing everything we can to be there for you,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.


The new benefit allows people to claim $2,000 a month for up to four months in emergency support. But how does it work? And do you qualify?
What is the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)?

The government previously announced two benefits in response to the pandemic. One was for those directly impacted by COVID-19 or caring for someone impacted by it, and one for people who lost their job as a result of the pandemic, but did not qualify for EI.

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit announced Wednesday is an amalgamation of those two benefits.

The benefit is $2,000 a month for up to four months, directly paid to Canadians impacted by COVID-19, whether you are not working because you are sick, or you’ve been laid off or lost work hours because of the pandemic.
Who qualifies?

The CERB covers Canadians who have lost their job, are sick, quarantined, or taking care of someone who is sick with COVID-19, as well as working parents who must stay home without pay to care for children because of school or daycare closures.

It also applies to anyone who was laid off and qualifies for EI. But unlike EI, it also applies to people who don’t, such as freelancers, contractors and people still technically employed but no longer receiving income due to the pandemic.

To qualify, applicants must have had $5,000 in employment income, self-employment income, or maternity or parental leave benefits for 2019 or in the 12-month period preceding the day they make the application.

So basically, it’s designed to fill any gaps left by existing income support programs when it comes to people who’ve lost work because of COVID-19.

What makes this different than employment insurance (EI)?

The EI system couldn’t handle the huge influx it experienced last week. Trudeau noted during his daily address Wednesday that nearly a million Canadians applied for EI in the past week, more than 10 times the previous one-week high.

“The EI system was not designed to process the unprecedented high volume of applications received in the past week. Given this situation, all Canadians who have ceased working due to COVID-19, whether they are EI-eligible or not, would be able to receive the CERB to ensure they have timely access to the income support they need,” said the government in a news release.

If you are already receiving EI regular and sickness benefits, you will continue to receive your benefits and should not apply to the CERB. If your EI benefits end before October 3, 2020, you can apply for the CERB after your benefits end.

Canadians who are eligible for EI regular and sickness benefits would still be able to access their normal EI benefits, if still unemployed, after the 16-week period covered by the CERB.

For a refresher on how to apply for EI if you lost your job because of coronavirus, click here.
How do you apply?

Trudeau said on April 5, that Monday April 6 is the first day people who are out of work because of COVID-19 can go online to apply.

Only those born in January, February and March can apply Monday. The rest of the months will go in order in groups of three on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before it opens to everyone on Friday.

Trudeau says the government is doing everything it can to prevent the system from crashing.

You’ll be able to apply through the CRA MyAccount secure portal, your secure My Service Canada Account or over the phone.

If you’ve already applied for EI and your application hasn’t been processed yet, you’ll automatically be applied for the CERB instead.
When can you expect your first payment?

Trudeau says it will take three to five days for the money to arrive by direct deposit or 10 days by mail.

The CERB will be paid out in a $2,000 lump sum every four weeks, for up to 16 weeks.

EDMONTON
Workers May Face Pay Cuts With Coronavirus Federal Wage Subsidy

One business told its employees they'll only get 75 per cent of their usual wage.

By Althia Raj


ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Minister of Finance Bill Morneau responds to a question
during a news conference in Ottawa on March 27, 2020.


OTTAWA— An Edmonton man says he and his colleagues were told this week that they will have to take a 25 per cent cut on their next paycheques because the federal government won’t subsidize the rest of their wages. 

“It just blindsided us,” the man told HuffPost Canada by phone. “I thought that didn’t sound right.”

The worker, who asked for anonymity for fear of career repercussions, said no one at the plumbing company he works for has been laid off. No one, as far as he knows, was in line to be cut from the company payroll because of the COVID-19 crisis, but sales have declined by what he estimates to be at least 15 per cent, as few people want plumbers and other technicians entering their homes unless there is an emergency.

“[We] were just flabbergasted yesterday,” the man said. “It was a bit of a shocker driving home. Right off your plate — gone. And the reasoning was, the federal government is only going to pay 75 per cent, so we’ll keep you employed, but that’s going to be your salary from now on. Which I think is wrong, I think they misinterpreted that. The interpretation should be, yeah the federal government is going to give you 75 and you top it off to make it whole...”

“I thought that was wrong. And I still believe it’s wrong,” he said.

Parliament is expected to pass legislation on Saturday establishing a $73-billion program called the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. For employers who have seen at least a 15 per cent drop in revenue, the subsidy will provide payments worth 75 per cent of an employee’s pre-crisis weekly pay up to a maximum of $847 a week for up to 12 weeks.

The program was designed, according to the federal government, to prevent further job losses, encourage companies to rehire workers previously laid off as a result of COVID-19, and help Canadian companies resume normal operations when the crisis is over.

It wasn’t designed, however, for companies to use it as an excuse to cut their workers’ salaries and pay nothing towards their employees’ incomes.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Thursday encouraged employers to “do all they can to top up their employees’ pay to 100 per cent of pre-crisis pay levels.

“We all need to do our part to help each other through this challenge,” he said.

The Edmonton man, whose wife has already been laid off because of the coronavirus pandemic and government shutdowns, said he worries what the decrease in salary will mean for his insurance benefits if he is injured on the job, or, if he gets laid off, how it might affect his employment insurance.

Alberta isn’t the land of economic opportunity it once was, and he took a pay cut to take this job. Now, he’s scared.

“I can’t go out to someplace and apply for a job.”

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He’s also concerned for his colleagues, many of whom were already just scraping by.

“I watched the wind taken right out of them. They can’t say anything. They have no place to go. If something happened to them today, they would be absolutely zero.”

The most generous interpretation, he said, is that his employer doesn’t understand the program. In the back of his mind, however, he wonders if his employer is using the federal program as a way of skipping out on their responsibilities. 

I watched the wind taken right out of them. They can’t say anything. They have no place to go.

Edmonton worker

Instead of helping him, the program is hurting, he said, because it gives his employer an excuse to pay him less.

Asked Friday about this practice, Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos said businesses are expected to meet their own obligations.

“We do hope and would expect that employers would add another 25 per cent so that full wages will be paid, but we are understanding that not all businesses will be able to fill the gap between the 75 per cent and the 100 per cent,” the minister said.

The Edmonton man hopes that when the crisis is over he and his colleagues will see their salaries return to what they once were.

“But that’s probably not going to happen,” he said.

WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED THAT AN EDMONTON EMPLOYER IS A DICK

ENCOURAGED AS THEY ARE BY KENNEY AND HIS ENDING OF ALBERTA

PAYMENTS TELLING US TO GO ASK THE FEDS FOR HELP

Is The CERB Basically An Interest-Free Loan Anyone Can Apply For?

The answer seems to depend on who you ask.

By Althia Raj

OTTAWA — Like thousands of Canadians, René Baron is wondering whether to apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit — quick, needed cash — even though he knows he doesn’t qualify for it.

The 38-year-old full-time student is finishing the third year of his bachelor’s degree in sociology and law at Concordia University in Montreal.

Last year, he spent the summer working at a restaurant, earning just under $5,000 — the cut-off to qualify for CERB. During the rest of the year, Baron lived off of a training allowance he received as an Indigenous student, but he can’t legally claim it as income.

RENE BARON
René Baron is in a bind: the full-time student doesn't make enough to apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, and he's too old and too late to apply to benefit from the Summer Jobs program.

On Friday, Carla Qualtrough, the minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion, confirmed that the CERB is being sent to anyone who applies for it.

When asked by HuffPost Canada whether Canadians who have lost income but don’t qualify for any government assistance should apply and use the money as an interest-free loan, Qualtrough sidestepped the query.

Although the CERB is intended for people who have lost all of their income because of COVID-19, Qualtrough said that, in the spirit of efficiency, the roll-out of the program was designed to pay people rapidly, then check whether they actually qualified.

But in the “upcoming weeks or at tax time next year,” she said, the federal government will be reconciling accounts “to make sure people didn’t game the system or fraudulently claim something that wasn’t true.”

A senior Liberal official told HuffPost Canada that Canadians in need can apply for the CERB without any penalties.

There will be “no fines” for misuse, the official said. The Canada Revenue Agency will send notification to people who have either received too much money or were not eligible for the payments that they have a certain amount of time to pay the money back without penalty, he said.

THE CANADIAN PRESS
Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Minister Carla Qualtrough speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Thurs. March 26, 2020.

For Baron, that qualification isn’t very assuring.

“It still makes me feel uneasy to apply for it, because I know based on the criteria I shouldn’t apply for it,” he said by phone Friday.

Qualtrough, in fact, stated during the ministers’ press conference that the government was asking people to be honest, “to truthfully state if they stopped working because of COVID.”

“People are more concerned about being overly honest in Canada ... you know, our fraud levels just aren’t high,” she said, pointing to use of other government programs.

Another MP, however, Toronto Liberal Adam Vaughan is encouraging people who don’t qualify for CERB to apply anyway, saying they should not “overreact and impose strict literal interpretations” on its qualifications.

Baron wonders whether he’s just sitting out money he should be claiming. He questions whether other groups, such as inmates from correctional facilities who have just been released from jail in Ontario to avoid the spread of COVID-19, will receive payments through the CERB. “Because how are you going to have income if you are just released from prison?” He said.

Watch: Here’s What You Should Have On Hand To Apply For The CERB. Story continues below.

“I asked myself, Should I apply for this $2,000 knowing that I’m not eligible and that I will have to pay it back? Or should I wait to see if [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau makes an amendment to the eligibility tool and lets students apply? And even if he does, will I have to pay it back if I’m later found to be eligible, like in a month and I apply for it right now, would I still need to pay it back?

“There are a lot of questions about that that I have.”

Baron said he called the Canada Revenue Agency, which told him to call his band, because the federal government had announced funds for First Nations. Baron said his band told him they hadn’t received any money.

He called 1-800-O-Canada, where he was told they had no information about aid for students and he should “keep watching the news every day to find something out.”
NDP pushing for guaranteed basic income during pandemic

This week, Trudeau announced help for students through the Canada Summer Jobs program, but Baron is too old to qualify and the application was due back in February.

“If you’re an adult going back to school, if you’re doing your master’s — I mean there are a lot of over-30 students, thousands of them. We don’t qualify for the summer jobs program.”

Baron said he has looked for jobs — grocery stores, pharmacies — and there is nothing out there. He’s also scared and doesn’t want to get sick.

He’s also frustrated with the government and doesn’t understand why money couldn’t just be sent to everybody.

The NDP has been pushing for a guaranteed basic income of $2,000 to be sent to every adult monthly during the crisis. Kim Moody, of Moodys Gartner Tax Law LLP, also told MPs on the Finance committee Thursday he believes money should have been sent out to everyone who needs it, and the government’s focus is placed on how to claw it back from those who don’t.

So far, the Liberals have announced more than nine different versions of programs affecting people and businesses impacted by COVID-19.




CANADA.CA
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit page on the Canada.ca website advises applicants who may have received two payments in error on next steps.

“[This] is such an extraordinary situation that you’re putting people in a position where they have to make a choice that they know is wrong,” Baron told HuffPost.

“I may apply for it and pay it back through my taxes in subsequent years because I have no other options right now. I have to pay my rent, I have to pay my bills like everybody else … There are no other options really.”

Qualtrough announced Friday that 5.62 million Canadians have already applied for the CERB and five million claims have been processed.

She noted, however, that some have received funds they shouldn’t have — two $2,000 payments — that were likely sent to those who, unsure which one they qualified for, applied for both employment insurance and the CERB.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. We’re on it. We’re sorting it out,” she said. She urged people not to call Service Canada to flag the error, saying the government will be in touch to ask for the money back and ensure no one gets more than the $8,000 over four months they are entitled to.

That means, she added, “if you got an additional extra payment this month, you must budget accordingly

OSHA SURE HAS BEEN QUIET 
Trump Administration Tells Employers Not To Worry About Recording COVID-19 Cases

GUESS THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO

Only health care facilities and select other employers will have to figure out if infections happened at work. Safety advocates are beside themselves.

By Dave Jamieson, HuffPost US

The Trump administration announced Friday afternoon that employers outside of the health care industry generally won’t be required to record coronavirus cases among their workers, a decision that left some workplace safety advocates incredulous.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is classified as a recordable illness, meaning employers would have to notify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration when an employee gets sick from an exposure at work. But the nation’s top workplace safety agency now says the majority of U.S. employers won’t have to try to determine whether employees’ infections happened in the workplace unless it’s obvious.

“OSHA is kidding, right?” tweeted David Michaels, who helmed OSHA throughout the presidency of Barack Obama.

It is not a joke. OSHA, which is part of the Labor Department, released an enforcement memo Friday spelling out the recording rules.

Employers in health care, emergency response and corrections would have to inform the agency when they become aware of a COVID-19 case that probably resulted from work. But other entities would not have to do so unless there was “objective evidence” that the transmission was work-related, or there was evidence “reasonably available to the employer” ― for example, if a whole slew of people who work right next to each other got sick.

The rationale: Those employers outside of health care “may have difficulty making determinations about whether workers who contracted COVID-19 did so due to exposures at work,” the memo stated.But if employers don’t have to try to figure out whether a transmission happened in the workplace, it could leave both them and the government in the dark about emerging hotspots in places like retail stores or meatpacking plants.

“So all you infected bus drivers, grocery store clerks, poultry processors ― you didn’t get it at work,” tweeted Jordan Barab, a former OSHA official now with the House Committee on Education and Labor.

The announcement is part of an ongoing fight between the Trump administration and occupational safety experts who say OSHA is failing to fulfill its obligations under the president. Employer record keeping has been a key issue in that spat. Early in his presidency, Donald Trump loosened the recording requirements employers must follow, a move critics said would make it easier for companies to fudge their data and hide their injuries.

So, #OSHA says the employers outside of health care no longer have to determine whether employees' COVID infections may be work-related. So all you infected bus drivers, grocery store clerks, poultry processors -- you didn't get it at work. https://t.co/3kjXjx7gaM— Jordan Barab (@jbarab) April 10, 2020

Safety advocates say recording injuries and illnesses like COVID-19 helps officials discover growing hazards and shape sound public policy to address them. The Labor Department, under Trump and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, has portrayed those kinds of employer obligations as burdensome red tape.

In its memo on COVID-19 recording, OSHA said that by not enforcing the requirement on most employers, the agency would “help employers focus their response efforts on implementing good hygiene practices in their workplaces, and otherwise mitigating COVID-19’s effects, rather than on making difficult [work-related] decisions in circumstances where there is community transmission.”

The Labor Department and OSHA in particular have drawn a lot of heat for their response to the coronavirus pandemic. Labor unions have been asking Scalia to issue an emergency standard for infectious disease, which would would give health care facilities clear, enforceable standards to protect their workers during the pandemic.

Scalia hasn’t done that. Instead, OSHA has created a new poster for employers with tips on preventing infections, and tweaked the rules around respirators to help employers deal with a shortage.

A Labor Department spokesperson defended the agency’s work responding to the outbreak, saying in an email to HuffPost Friday that it had taken “swift and direct action to protect America’s workers.”

SEE  
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=OSHA

SON OF SCOTUS JUSTICE SCALAWAG
Trump’s Labor Secretary Scalia condemned for ‘despicable’ efforts to roll back unemployment benefits, paid leave in coronavirus stimulus

WHICH EXPLAINS HIS BEING AN ANTI WORKER BOTTOM FEEDER 

THE FRUIT DOES NOT FALL FAR FROM THE POISONED TREE

 April 11, 2020 By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams- Commentary

From his guidance rolling back paid leave benefits to his attempt to limit who qualifies for beefed up unemployment insurance, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia’s implementation of the multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package is coming under fire from Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups who say the former corporate lawyer’s handling of the new law favors businesses over people in desperate need of assistance.

Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, “has used his department’s authority over new laws enacted by Congress to limit who qualifies for joblessness assistance and to make it easier for small businesses not to pay family leave benefits,” the Washington Post reported Friday.

In a tweet late Friday, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) pointed to the unprecedented surge in jobless claims over the past month and ripped Scalia’s “despicable” management of the CARES Act, which temporarily expands relief for the unemployed.

“Because of COVID-19, more than 16 million Americans have submitted unemployment claims in the past three weeks, but Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is using his authority to limit who qualifies for assistance,” Cohen wrote. “This is despicable. We are in the midst of a pandemic!”

While criticizing the stimulus package—which President Donald Trump signed into law late last month—as far too business-friendly overall, progressives have cautiously applauded the law’s across-the-board expansion of unemployment benefits by $600 for a period of four months.

But lawmakers have voiced alarm at the Labor Department’s lack of urgency in rolling out the benefits and, as the Post reported, Scalia issued guidance earlier this week that aims to “make it more difficult for gig workers such as Uber and Lyft drivers to get benefits.”

Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, ripped the department’s guidance in a series of tweets:

The Trump-Scalia Dept of Labor released new regulatory guidance for the new pandemic #unemployment assistance (PUA) program passed by Congress in the #CARESAct, and it’s criminally narrow. https://t.co/A8FwrrX13A
— AndrewStettner (@pelhamprog) April 6, 2020

While the program will cover #gigeconomy workers, it only extends to those who are “forced to suspend operations” because of #COVID19, leaving those who could still turn their apps on—even if they can’t find work—in a grey area.
— AndrewStettner (@pelhamprog) April 6, 2020

Earlier this month, as Common Dreams reported, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) slammed Scalia for quietly scaling back the already inadequate paid leave provisions in the CARES Act and creating “gratuitous loopholes” for companies to deny benefits to their employees.

“The Trump administration is twisting the law to allow employers to shirk their responsibility and is significantly narrowing which workers are eligible for paid leave,” Murray said in a statement. “This simply can’t stand. This guidance needs to be rewritten so workers get the leave they are guaranteed under the law.”

The Post reported that under the Labor Department’s newly issued rules, “businesses that deny workers paid leave don’t have to send the government any paperwork justifying why. The Labor Department’s guidance asks companies to ‘retain such records for its own files,’ a contrast with the heavy documentation required from gig workers who must prove they were affected by the coronavirus outbreak to get aid.”

Scalia has not been shy in offering his opinion on the stimulus law’s expansion of benefits.

“Unemployment is not the preferred outcome when government stay-at-home orders force temporary business shutdowns,” Scalia wrote earlier this week in a Fox Business op-ed with Jovita Carranza, the head of the Small Business Administration. “We want workers to have work, not to become dependent on the unemployment system.” 

Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute, called Scalia’s warning about unemployment dependency in the midst of a global pandemic “an absolute disgrace.”

This is outrageous. The Secretary of Labor suggesting that what we really need to worry about right now—when we have shut down huge portions of the economy and thrown millions out of work—is workers becoming *dependent on the unemployment system* is an absolute disgrace. pic.twitter.com/IpMdBoFX30
— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) April 6, 2020

As New York magazine’s Eric Levitz put it Friday, “Trump’s Labor Department has been working diligently to ensure that no U.S. worker has it too easy in the middle of a pandemic and burgeoning economic depression.”

FIRST DAUGHTER VS FIRST SON IN LAW AND MINISTER OF EVERYTHING
Chelsea Clinton blasts Jared Kushner for taking lead role on Coronavirus Task Force as she says despite teaching courses on global health even she is not qualified to do the job

Chelsea tweeted Friday: 'I'm not qualified to lead a national #covid19 effort'

Former First Daughter spoke of her Public Health masters and how she wrote a doctoral dissertation on efforts to tackle AIDS pandemic but still wasn't up to it

Hillary and Bill Clinton's daughter added that she co-authored a book on global health governance and teaches MPH courses on health systems & global health

Jared Kushner spoke at the Coronavirus Task Force Briefing on Thursday

Chelsea didn't mention him by name in the tweets but replied to one social media user who criticized Trump's decision to give a role to his son-in-law 

Asked to imagine if Chelsea's parents did the same, she replied: 'My imagination doesn't stretch that far'

By LEAH SIMPSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM PUBLISHED: 6 April 2020

Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton has seemingly criticized Jared Kushner's involvement in the efforts to combat COVID-19, saying that even with her experience in public health, she wouldn't be qualified to take on a role in the Coronavirus Task Force.

Donald Trump's son-in-law addressed the country during a briefing Thursday – alongside Vice President Mike Pence, response coordinator for White House Coronavirus Task Force Deborah Birx, Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, and Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro.

But Chelsea – who lived in the White House from 1993 to 2001 – appeared to take aim at Kushner, senior advisor to the president, in a series of tweets the following day.

'(Keep thinking: I've a Masters in Public Health; wrote my doctoral dissertation on global efforts to tackle AIDS pandemic; co-authored a book on global health governance; teach MPH courses on health systems & global health & I'm not qualified to lead a national #covid19 effort.),' she tweeted.
Jared Kushner, advisor and son-in-law to US President

 Donald Trump, speaks at a coronavirus task force 

briefing at the White House, Washington, DC, on Thursday. 

Chelsea Clinton tweeted Friday: 'I'm not qualified

 to lead a national #covid19 effort'

The former First Daughter tweeted about how she received her masters in Public Health and wrote a doctoral dissertation on global efforts to tackle AIDS pandemic but wasn't up to leading the pandemic response

Kushner's prior experience is in real estate development, investment and newspaper publishing.

Since he started his term in office, Trump has been criticized for making his children, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr., advisers.

Chelsea was only a child when her father Bill Clinton led the country.

But after one social media user suggested Republicans would not have accepted it if First Lady Hillary won the 2016 election and did the same with Chelsea and her husband Marc Mexvinsky, she appeared to confirm she was referring to Kushner in her previous tweet.

'Imagine Hillary Clinton in the White House putting Chelsea Clinton's husband, Mark, in charge of handling the COVID-19 situation,' the Twitter user wrote. 'And when Mark briefed the country, he always praised her. 'Republicans would go insane, but not if the conflict of interest benefits them.'

Chelsea retweeted the message and commented: 'My imagination doesn't stretch that far.'

On Friday she appeared to further criticize Trump's decision making following the coronavirus outbreak when she retweeted Sen. Brian Schatz's (D-Hawaii) message that 'we are seeing preventable mass deaths in the United States'.

Hillary Clinton celebrates with her husband, former President Bill 

Clinton (rear), and their daughter Chelsea Clinton (R) at her caucus

 night rally in Des Moines, Iowa on February 1, 2016

Left, Chelsea Clinton and her husband Marc 

Mezvinsky are pictured September 26, 2019. 

Senior Advisers to the President, Ivanka Trump and

 Jared Kushner, listen as Donald Trump speaks at 

 rally in Manchester, New Hampshire on February 10

Asked to imagine if Hillary Clinton had done the same had she won the White House, she replied: 'My imagination doesn't stretch that far'




On Friday she appeared to further criticize Trump's decision making following the coronavirus outbreak when she retweeted Sen. Brian Schatz's (D-Hawaii) message that 'we are seeing preventable mass deaths in the United States'

Above shows the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the US and how they have escalated since January

As the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 9,500 Americans since the end of January, Chelsea has criticized Trump's handling of the crisis.

On Tuesday she retweeted a reporter who said it was 'breathtaking' how the White House's briefing room slide listed a projected 100,000 to 240,000 deaths from coronavirus as 'goals of community mitigation'.

Chelsea added that there had been 'multiple failures-to test every suspected case, to isolate confirmed cases, to contact trace, to adequately prepare & protect our health workers'.

'President @realDonaldTrump didn't cause #covid19 but people are dying because of his failure in public health, leadership & humanity,' Chelsea continued.

A week prior she blasted Trump on Twitter after he said that if states want the federal government to be a good partner to them in fighting coronavirus, 'they have to treat us well'.

'YOU ARE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Not some states,' she commented on the tweet which contained a video of Trump's utterance. 'Not just of the people who voted for you. Not just of the people who are American citizens (2020 census). THE UNITED STATES. It's never too late to start acting like it.'

Tuesday, Chelsea Clinton criticized Trump as she said there had been 'multiple failures - to test every suspected case, to isolate confirmed cases, to contact trace, to adequately prepare & protect our health workers'

Last month Chelsea Clinton blasted the president for treating some states more favorably in the fight against COVID-19

Rare look at stockpile handouts shows which states got ventilators, masks amid coronavirus

Dinah Voyles Pulver and Erin Mansfield, USA TODAY•April 10, 2020

Report shows stockpile handouts of personal protective equipment, masks amid coronavirus


More than half the nearly 8,000 ventilators the federal stockpile sent to states to fight the coronavirus pandemic went to New York, while the rest were split among 14 other states and territories, a report from the federal government shows.

The report was released Wednesday by the U.S. House Oversight Committee amid criticism from its chairwoman that states with the biggest COVID-19 problems didn’t get enough supplies.

It gives the nation its closest look yet at how the Strategic National Stockpile distributed much-needed ventilators, N95 respirators, surgical masks and other protective equipment across the country since the pandemic began.

The stockpile, which is operated within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, distributed the ventilators based on requests from areas with high case counts.

New York received 4,400 ventilators. The remaining 3,520 went to places like New Jersey, Washington, Michigan, Illinois and Florida.

Shipments of other personal protective equipment — like masks, gloves, face shields and gowns — were allocated on a per capita basis after hospitals reported critical shortages. States with the fewest cases of coronavirus got the biggest per capita distributions of supplies, a USA TODAY Network analysis found.

Alaska and Wyoming, for example, each received more than 70,000 of the N95 respirator masks thought to be the best protection for medical workers, the report shows. Neither state had more than 230 cases by Thursday, according to the latest figures by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s more than 300 respirators for each COVID-19 patient.

Meanwhile, the state of New York — with upwards of 150,000 people testing positive and hospitals desperate for supplies — received just seven N95 masks per coronavirus patient.

New York had more cases than 40 other states combined, Thursday’s CDC data showed. Those states got a total of more than 7.6 million N95 masks, while New York received around 1.1 million. New York City alone had requested double that number from the stockpile.

Maria Leta, who works in kitchen services at Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla, was among nurses and staff members who called for adequate protective equipment during a protest outside Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla April 9, 2020. 

Nurses also called for more ventilators, adequate staffing, and better ventilation and HEPA filters for all COVID-19 areas in the hospital.More

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly begged the federal government for more supplies, estimating his state would need 30,000 ventilators. U.S. President Trump has questioned that number.

"We’ll need what we need," Cuomo said at a briefing last week. "I have no desire to acquire more ventilators than we need."

Although the pandemic sparked the demand for medical supplies, hospitals can use them to treat all patients, not just those infected with the coronavirus.

In total, the federal government sent the following supplies to U.S. states and territories between mid-March and early April:


11.7 million N95 masks


26.5 million surgical masks


5.3 million face shields


4.4 million surgical gowns


22.6 million gloves


7,920 ventilators

The numbers of what was actually distributed have raised fears among stakeholders that states and medical providers will continue to face shortages of critical equipment to keep patients and medical workers alive.

The distributions depleted about 90% of the stockpile’s supplies of personal protective equipment. The remaining 10% is reserved for the protection of federal workers.

“It appears that the administration is leaving states to fend for themselves, to scour the open market for these scarce supplies, and to compete with each other and federal agencies in a chaotic, free-for-all bidding war,” New York Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said in a statement Wednesday.

Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency distributed supplies in the “most equitable way possible for a nationwide response taking into account population and need for areas of high transmission,” said a department official who declined to be identified without authorization.

Efforts to procure additional supplies are underway, according to Health and Human Services, which received $16 billion in the federal coronavirus relief plan to restock critical supplies including masks, respirators and pharmaceuticals.

The department has awarded contracts to buy another 600 million N95 respirators over the next 18 months and has ordered additional ventilators and protective suits.
First-of-its-kind peek at stockpile

This is the first time such an accounting of the stockpile has been made publicly available. Even members of Congress have struggled to obtain such a list.

Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who chairs a House appropriations committee subcommittee overseeing the stockpile’s annual budget, said she tried for weeks to get a list of supplies available from and distributed by the stockpile.

Instead she learned about the list from a USA TODAY Network reporter on Wednesday.

“It has been an unending series of stonewalling, obfuscation and essentially not a willingness to give us any report about what’s happening,” said DeLauro, a Democrat.

What’s in the stockpile and where it’s going should be “very simple questions,” DeLauro said. “I don’t want you to give me proprietary information. Tell us what you have and what you needed and where it’s going. These are very simple questions.”

In late-March, hospitals across the country were running out of the crucial respirators and other supplies they needed not only to protect staff while treating coronavirus patients, but also to protect other patients with infectious diseases, immune disorders, undergoing chemotherapy or being treated in an emergency room.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo shows how bag valve masks can help patients suffering from respiratory problems due to coronavirus, but they are less effective than ventilators. He spoke during a press conference in the Red Room at the State Capitol in Albany on Saturday, March 28, 2020.

Supplies had plummeted nationwide, in part because companies had shipped supplies to other countries hit first by coronavirus and in part because imports dropped as manufacturers in China were hit by the coronavirus. Meanwhile demand skyrocketed as countries across the globe scrambled to stock up.

That’s when the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology surveyed more than 1,100 health care facilities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. More than 20% reported having no N95 respirators and another 28% said they were almost out. The survey also noted shortages of face shields and other masks.

Ann Marie Pettis, the association’s president elect, said the flow of supplies had “not functioned how one would expect and how it needed to function.”

“When this is over, it’s going to be a huge focus,” she said. “We really need to get to the bottom of how we could have improved that."
Funding woes

In addition to DeLauro, Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, a Republican, also expressed concern this week about the stockpile’s available supplies and distribution. Both serve on the subcommittee on labor, health and human services, education and related services.

“We need to have a rational way to distribute limited resources in times of crisis,” Cole said. “Americans are actually pretty good in a crisis but it would help to have more of a system in place.”

The pandemic has raised the question of what’s in the stockpile and whether it was enough, Cole said, adding that the issue “needs to get more attention at all levels.”

Consistent increases to the stockpile’s budget over the past five years have been completely bi-partisan, he said.

The stockpile’s budget reached a high of $596 million in 2010, then dropped year after year until reaching a low of $477 million in 2013. Much of the funding was restored the following year, but the budget stayed flat at about $575 million through 2018 – the same year it was transferred from the CDC to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

The 2020 budget appropriation was $705 million.

“There is never enough money there for everything,” said Deborah Levy, chair of epidemiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, who oversaw the stockpile as acting division director under the CDC in 2013-2014, in an interview with the USA TODAY Network last week.

“You need to decide what the threat is, what the cost is, what can be negotiated with companies,” Levy said at the time.

Both Cole and DeLauro said they have questions about the distributions to the states.

DeLauro said one of her constituents had called her Wednesday — one of the many expressing fear about the inadequate supply of personal protective equipment. This time it was a local fire chief asking if he could “just vent,” she said.

“He said ‘I can’t get any of this protective equipment, and my people are going in and out of facilities,’” DeLauro said. He told her he was at his “wit’s end.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rare look at stockpile shows which states got supplies amid COVID

Instacart customers are baiting workers by enticing them with hefty tips and then removing the money once an order is complete

Bethany Biron

2 hours ago

Instacart

Instacart employees said customers have been tip baiting to entice them to make deliveries, promising large tips only to remove the funds retroactively once orders are complete.

"It's very demoralizing," Instacart employee Annaliisa Arambula told CNN Business. "When you know that it's somebody who's just doing it to game the system and to get their order when they want it, it's really frustrating."

Instacart workers had originally asked for tip protections during a strike for increased protections and hazard pay in late March.
As grocery stores and online delivery services struggle to respond to overwhelming consumer demand during the coronavirus, customers are turning to ruthless methods.

Instacart employees said customers are enticing them with hefty tips, only to retroactively remove them for the order, leading to an influx of canceled or reduced tips in recent weeks. As reported by CNN Business, an employee in Portland, Oregon said she was "flabbergasted" after the $55 she was slated to receive in tips from an order suddenly disappeared, leaving her earnings at just $8.95 from Instacart's batch payment fee.

"It's very demoralizing," Annaliisa Arambula, the Portland Instacart employee, told CNN. "I don't pretend to be a hero, like a nurse in a hospital ... but I literally am exposing myself [to coronavirus] and when I return home, exposing my own family to the possibility of transmitting this disease. When you know that it's somebody who's just doing it to game the system and to get their order when they want it, it's really frustrating."

The tip baiting comes after Instacart employees staged a strike in late March calling for adequate safety gear to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, hazard pay of an additional $5 per order, and an automatic 10% tip, among other requests.

In response, Instacart executives said they would provide precautions like hand sanitizer and claimed it would use a customers' last tip as the default on new orders — efforts Instacart workers said was not enough.

"Workers should not be risking their lives for pocket change," Instacart workers said in a statement at the time. "Setting the tip amount to whatever a customer had previously tipped is ridiculous, because most previous customers would have tipped a different (lesser) amount back when things were more normal. This will, in all likelihood, provide no meaningful benefit to Shoppers."

Instacart workers have had to contend with challenging conditions, as empty store shelves and limited availability have created difficulty in completing orders. Employees have also had to juggle high volumes of orders with mass amounts of items, as homebound Americans look to stock up on essentials.

While Instacart told users in an email to "please consider tipping above and beyond to reflect the extra effort of your shopper," the company hasn't established any efforts to prevent tip baiting. A spokesperson told CNN that tips are determined by customers, but declined to comment on canceled tips.

"We always say: No matter what, never trust a tip," an employee in Pennsylvania told CNN.

Instacart had not yet responded to a request for comment.