Governor Ricketts Expands Unemployment Relief In Nebraska

Governor Ricketts has expanded the State’s unemployment insurance and short-time compensation (“STC”) relief since Executive Order 20-04, the first of a series of four executive orders offering relief. (For a summary of the relief granted in Executive Order 20-04, click here).

• Executive Order 20-14, issued April 2, 2020, expands the work search waivers provided in Executive Order 20-04 until August 1, 2020, and specifically grants employers relief from being charged for benefits paid to individuals eligible for unemployment benefits for COVID-19-related reasons from March 22, 2020, through August 1, 2020. 
• Executive Order 20-19, issued April 16, 2020, suspends the requirement that STC plans be approved only for contributory employers with a positive experience account balance and provides that employers whose STC plans were disapproved for this reason may submit another STC plan for approval at any time, thereby waiving the 45-day waiting period.
• Executive Order 20-22, issued April 30, 2020, retroactively amends the relief granted in Executive Order 20-04 to provide relief to claimants beginning March 15, 2020 (as opposed to March 22, 2020). This Executive Order also provides that the Department of Labor will only adjudicate the employee’s most recent separation from employment and waives the required adjudication of separations from employment within the base period (4 of the last 5 most recent quarters) for claims filed between March 15, 2020, and May 30, 2020.

For more information about Nebraska’s unemployment insurance benefits and STC program, click here.