HR Workforce Solutions
By Nonprofits, For Nonprofits
Every day is Earth Day for nonprofit members of the Unemployment Services Trust (UST) who are reducing their paper trail. More than 91% of the organizations that participate in the UST program now handle the details and filing of their unemployment claims online. 68% of UST members are participating in the online unemployment claim dashboard that allows them to view claims detail related to their organization and process information requests from the state. And an additional 23% of UST members have elected secure email channels as their method of claims response, further eliminating paper waste and increasing the speed of communication.
“This green initiative is our small way of contributing toward reducing our carbon footprint, and also making life easier for our nonprofit members,” says Adam Thorn, UST’s Director of Operations.
Thorn explains, “Last year the federal government mandated that state penalties should be imposed if an employer does not respond in a timely manner to the state’s request for information on an unemployment claim. The response window is often a week or less, so being able to e-file claims information helps mitigate the risk of non-compliance and helps us be a more eco-friendly program. It’s a win-win.”
About UST: Founded by nonprofits, for nonprofits, UST is the largest unemployment trust in the nation, providing nonprofit organizations with 10 or more employees a safe, cost-effective alternative to paying state unemployment taxes. UST has partnered with 80 state and national nonprofit-based associations to teach their members about their unemployment insurance alternatives. Visit www.ChooseUST.org to learn more.
Last year the Unemployment Services Trust (UST) identified $3,532,485.26 in unemployment tax savings opportunities for more than 200 nonprofits that requested a Savings Evaluation. Additionally, UST found $1.7 million in state errors that were credited back to current participants in the UST program after state charges were carefully audited by the claims administrator.
Based on research conducted by the UST Division of Nonprofit Research last year, 1 in 4 nonprofits is unaware of the legislation that allows 501(c)(3)s to opt out of paying state unemployment taxes and instead directly reimburse the state for the dollar-for-dollar cost of benefits paid to their former employees. UST helps nonprofits determine if this alternative will save them money by analyzing their past few years of unemployment claims. Savings can be as much as 60 percent.
“This year our goal is to find more than $7 million in potential savings for nonprofits that ask us to compare UST to their state unemployment tax rate or current supported reimbursing program. Too many organizations are overpaying for their unemployment costs, and we hope to help change that by putting more unrestricted funding back into their budgets when they take advantage of the UST Program.”
For most organizations that join UST, the savings add up quickly. Steve Lepinski, Executive Director of the Washburn Center for Children in Minneapolis and a long-time UST Trustee, said, “The savings generated by UST are like a large foundation has provided millions of dollars to nonprofits across the country.”
His organization estimates that it has saved more than $100,000 on unemployment costs since joining the UST program.
About UST: Founded by nonprofits, for nonprofits, UST is the largest unemployment trust in the nation, providing nonprofit organizations with 10 or more employees a safe, cost-effective alternative to paying state unemployment taxes. UST has partnered with 80 state and national nonprofit-based associations to teach their members about their unemployment insurance alternatives.
On Thursday, February 6th, the Senate’s vote of 58 to 40 marked the end of unemployment insurance payouts for many of the long-term unemployed, including the 1.7 million Americans who had stopped receiving aid when the benefits program had originally expired this past December.
Had the proposal passed, the federal unemployment benefits program would have been extended by an additional three months, amounting to $6.4 billion. But, fearful of creating a disincentive for the long-term jobless, as well as perpetuating the federal financial deficit, the majority of Republicans voted against the bill.
While the proposal was officially dismissed, President Obama continues to search for new ways to promote equal opportunity for the long-term unemployed. In order to create an even playing field for such job candidates, many businesses have started implementing inclusive hiring practices and training programs—all in an effort to end discrimination against long-term unemployed individuals.
After promoting his hiring initiative, Obama has successfully gained the support of many big-wig companies, such as Ford Motor Co. and Apple. And although the extended benefits program has since expired, these new hiring practices can become a new symbol of hope for the long-term unemployed.
Read more about the Senate’s vote on the Democratic proposal here.
For those of us who help run the day-to-day operations of the UST program, there is a special thrill in hearing how each of our members is able to make an impact in their community through after school programs, health and human services, meal delivery programs, arts, literacy advancement efforts, animal advocacy, and so much more! We wanted to reach into our local community and get help illustrating (literally) all of the types of nonprofits UST serves. So we asked the children that participate in our local Girls, Inc. and Boys & Girls Club programs to help us by entering a calendar contest. And within a month, we received more than 100 incredible drawings!
The only problem is there are only 12 months in a year! So after a difficult selection process, we presented each of the winners with awards, and threw all of the participants a pizza party. Said Tristan from the Boys & Girls Club of Carpinteria to the local newspaper, “I was really excited I won because I never thought I was that good at drawing.” His entry in the Museums category is the winning image for May.
Founded by nonprofits, for nonprofits, UST is the largest unemployment trust in the nation, providing nonprofit organizations with 10 or more employees a safe, cost-effective alternative to paying state unemployment taxes. Since 501(c)(3) organizations are federally allowed to opt out of paying into the state unemployment tax pool and can instead reimburse the state only as they incur unemployment claims, UST member organizations can take advantage of this savings benefit while also being protected through their UST account reserve and expert claims management. And now through ThinkHR, they will also benefit from live HR advice when they need it.
ThinkHR Live now provides UST members with access to a live phone HR hotline with written follow-up on complex issues or researched matters, usually within 24 hours. All hotline representatives are certified professionals in human resources, and help employers to stay in compliance – an important part of any organization’s human resources practices.
In addition, ThinkHR offers downloadable HR templates with forms, documents, tools and checklists for every HR department; a job description builder and salary benchmarking tools; 200+ online employee training and compliance courses for both management and employees; and bi-weekly legislative and HR e-newsletters.
Over the first 8 weeks of membership, UST members will also receive a weekly email from ThinkHR with account tips and features to help them get the most out of their account.
Every year UST provides its members with new educational content and support. Often focusing on unemployment costs, unemployment claim management methods, HR-related procedures and case studies, UST’s informative materials and dedicated partner services like ThinkHR are designed to help nonprofits save money and build greater resiliency. Visit www.ChooseUST.org/ThinkHR to learn more.
The South Central Behavioral Health Network (SCBHN) is made up of 39 mental health and substance abuse programs that are funded by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Focusing on programs that benefit the homeless and addicted populations served by member agencies, SCBHN runs multiple programs that offer addiction counseling and support, job training, and grants for consumer-run projects.
It also operates a very successful program which allows homeless people to move into sober living houses and provides them with case managers.
Each year, the SCBHN houses more than 130 people, and their programs focus on helping people successfully stand on their own two feet. Believing that those who have already experienced the success of conquering addiction and homelessness provide the best examples to those still struggling, SCBHN provides those connections and helps make sure that peer counselors are always available.
A very unique program, SCBHN began as a membership organization for the substance abuse and mental health organizations in the area surrounding New Haven, CT. Now providing direct services to clients of their membership agencies, SCBHN faces a challenge because they have committed themselves to hiring peers to help those they serve. For them, this means that they have committed to hiring two part-time peers for each position, instead of one full-time entry level employee who had never experienced the hardships of homelessness, substance abuse, or mental health concerns. In the last few years, SCBHN has been “hurt around the edges” as donors for their homeless programs dropped out, which forced them to cut back on the number of people they can serve, even as the population grew.
Needing to save money and feeling that self-insuring is far too risky for the majority of nonprofits, SCBHN joined UST and was able to see an immediate decrease in their annual rates.
“What’s the downside of joining UST?” asked Executive Director Edward Mattison. “I certainly confess that I didn’t pay any attention to unemployment before it became important, but the Trust is less expensive than staying with the state and it’s far less risky than trying to self- insure.”
Mattison’s sentiment proved to be extremely true when SCBHN was forced to dismiss an employee who clients alleged was stealing money from them. After dismissal, the employee filed for unemployment benefits claiming she deserved them for her work at the agency, but SCBHN felt that she had harmed clients and should not receive benefits. “The claims staff has [always] been very helpful for us in prepping us for claims interviews and hearings,” said Mattison.
Solution
Working with their claim monitor and hearing representative to figure out how to best approach the situation, what documentation to provide for the hearing, and who should be interviewed, SCBHN was able to win the claim early on.
“I’m not a person who wants to deny people their rights, but the idea that someone who was allegedly stealing from clients should receive benefits made me very angry,” said Mattison.
Summary
Looking to save on operational expenses, SCBHN learned about UST and the benefits of joining a Trust. Being offered substantial savings which allowed them to put more money back into their homeless programs, SCBHN finds UST to be important to their mission because, in part, they are protected from high state rates and can get help in defending themselves against fraudulent or inappropriate unemployment claims.
In the case of the fraudulent claim, claims representatives were able to help SCBHN collect all the necessary information for the unemployment hearing they had requested. Organizing statements, testimony, and the evidence, their representative was able to help SCBHN successfully defend themselves against the claim and save their homeless clients from being offered fewer services. UST’s claims administrator then went on to help SCBHN set up stronger documentation systems to prevent any future issues with employees who harm clients.
The system is far from perfect though.
For instance, the system is intrinsically flawed for many nonprofit employers who face little to no job-turnover and who remain a part of their state system. Featured in a recent report, the North Carolina UI system has provided one of the strongest examples of why eligible 501(c)(3)’s should consider opting out of their state UI system, as allowed by federal law.
After borrowing more than $2.4 billion from the federal government to meet their UI responsibilities after their UI Trust Fund became insolvent during the Great Recession, North Carolina has begun leveraging their high interest payments on state UI participants.
Like many states which were unable to meet their UI obligations, the burden of reimbursing the federal government for the full loans falls on all employers within the state, whether or not any of their former employees are currently collecting unemployment benefits.
No state reached insolvency overnight though.
Long before the recent recession, states resisted “indexing” or raising their unemployment taxes from year to year. Things were good, the economy was stable — why should they make adjustments? But while employers enjoyed low taxes, in the long run they were being set up for a much bigger fall in the future. And that’s when the Great Recession hit. Not only had states failed to maintain an adequate UI cushion, employers would be double-hit by the recession in having to lay off workers to cut costs, and then pay higher unemployment taxes as a result. According to a 2010 Government Accountability Office report, “Long-standing UI tax policies and practices in many states over 3 decades have eroded trust fund reserves, leaving states in a weak position prior to the recent recession.” Not that states weren’t warned. Even in North Carolina, the Budget and Tax Center reports that it “conducted a thorough analysis of the unemployment insurance system in March 2007, before the start of the Great Recession, warning of the long-term unsustainability of the system as implemented and suggesting reforms.”
More than ever, systems today must be built that can better weather economic downturns and large, prolonged layoffs. Adequate funding levels must be re-attained so that states rely less on the federal government for funding support to meet benefit payments. A system must also be built which maintains its ability to support the economy with wage-replacement levels that are adequate in supporting workers seeking work.
While innovative programs must continue to be introduced to help place jobseekers in new positions, an overhaul of many state UI systems would better support nonprofit employers who remain in their state tax-rated UI system whether they are too small to opt out, or if they feel safer in the state system.
However, because 501(c)(3)s have the exclusive right to opt out of their state UI system in favor of becoming a reimbursing employer that pays directly for former employees’ UI costs, many already experience a greater savings because they aren’t paying for the state’s interest on federal loans, or subsidizing larger employers’ UI costs.
Employers added 313,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1 percent making the number of people unemployed the same at 6.7 million.
In February, the number of long-term unemployed was essentially unchanged at 1.4 million which accounts for 20.7 percent of people that are currently unemployed. Overall, the number of long-term unemployed has been down by 369,000 for 2018. With the civilian labor force rising to 806,000, the labor force participation rate also increased by 0.3 percentage point to 60.4 percent in February.
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons—referred to as involuntary part-time workers was changed slightly at 5.2 million. Also, these individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were only working part time due to their hours being cut or not being able to find jobs that offer full-time employment. In addition, the 1.6 million people that were marginally attached to the labor force only changed slightly compared to the year prior. With these individuals not being part of the labor force, they had either been available for work or looking for employment for the past 12 months.
The U.S. economy added over 50,000 jobs in construction, retail trade, professional and business services while Manufacturing increased by 31,000 jobs. Major industries like, wholesale trade, leisure and hospitality, and government showed little change over the course of the month. In February, average hourly earnings rose by 4 cents to $26.75, following a 7-cent gain in January. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 68 cents/2.6 percent. The average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 6 cents to $22.40 in February.
This month’s job report highlights a winning combination of a large increase in job creation and a growing workforce revealing strength in our economy. In addition, the modest wage growth defused concerns that competition for workers was driving up salaries and igniting inflation.
UST maintains a secure site. This means that information we obtain from you in the process of enrolling is protected and cannot be viewed by others. Information about your agency is provided to our various service providers once you enroll in UST for the purpose of providing you with the best possible service. Your information will never be sold or rented to other entities that are not affiliated with UST. Agencies that are actively enrolled in UST are listed for review by other agencies, UST’s sponsors and potential participants, but no information specific to your agency can be reviewed by anyone not affiliated with UST and not otherwise engaged in providing services to you except as required by law or valid legal process.
Your use of this site and the provision of basic information constitute your consent for UST to use the information supplied.
UST may collect generic information about overall website traffic, and use other analytical information and tools to help us improve our website and provide the best possible information and service. As you browse UST’s website, cookies may also be placed on your computer so that we can better understand what information our visitors are most interested in, and to help direct you to other relevant information. These cookies do not collect personal information such as your name, email, postal address or phone number. To opt out of some of these cookies, click here. If you are a Twitter user, and prefer not to have Twitter ad content tailored to you, learn more here.
Further, our website may contain links to other sites. Anytime you connect to another website, their respective privacy policy will apply and UST is not responsible for the privacy practices of others.
This Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use for our site is subject to change.
UST maintains a secure site. This means that information we obtain from you in the process of enrolling is protected and cannot be viewed by others. Information about your agency is provided to our various service providers once you enroll in UST for the purpose of providing you with the best possible service. Your information will never be sold or rented to other entities that are not affiliated with UST. Agencies that are actively enrolled in UST are listed for review by other agencies, UST’s sponsors and potential participants, but no information specific to your agency can be reviewed by anyone not affiliated with UST and not otherwise engaged in providing services to you except as required by law or valid legal process.
Your use of this site and the provision of basic information constitute your consent for UST to use the information supplied.
UST may collect generic information about overall website traffic, and use other analytical information and tools to help us improve our website and provide the best possible information and service. As you browse UST’s website, cookies may also be placed on your computer so that we can better understand what information our visitors are most interested in, and to help direct you to other relevant information. These cookies do not collect personal information such as your name, email, postal address or phone number. To opt out of some of these cookies, click here. If you are a Twitter user, and prefer not to have Twitter ad content tailored to you, learn more here.
Further, our website may contain links to other sites. Anytime you connect to another website, their respective privacy policy will apply and UST is not responsible for the privacy practices of others.
This Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use for our site is subject to change.
The relationship between HSC and UST will allow many more 501(c)(3) organizations to learn how to lower the cost of unemployment at their organization by opting out of the state unemployment insurance tax system and implementing best practices. By paying only the dollar-for-dollar cost of unemployment benefits awarded to former employees, organizations that join UST lower their average claims cost to just $2,287 per claim versus the national average of $5,174 per claim.
“Not only will this new partnership result in potential savings for HSC members,” explained Judy Zangwill, Executive Director of Sunnyside Community Services, who sits on the Board of Directors at HSC and is also a UST Trustee, “but there are also additional benefits in terms of gaining access to the ThinkHR hotline and training, and getting 100% representation at all unemployment claim hearings when an organization joins UST.”
“As a Trust member I knew that UST helps nonprofit organizations from the time an employee initially files for unemployment benefits to the end of the claims experience. But as a UST Trustee I have even greater insight into the program and can see that it’s not only efficient for members, it’s also a well-run organization that provides increased value for its 80 Affinity Partners.”
About the Human Services Council: HSC strengthens the not-for-profit human services sector’s ability to improve the lives of New Yorkers in need through networking, advocacy, research, media education and by acting collectively to establish greater balance between organizations and government. As a membership association HSC has long been at the forefront of enacting positive changes to outdated, bureaucratic governmental systems that human services providers must navigate to help those in need. In service to their members, HSC seeks to reduce regulatory burdens while strengthening accountability—with the overall goal of producing better outcomes for clients. Their efforts enhance public recognition of the sector, improve its financial stability, and have a long-term positive impact on the well-being of New Yorkers in need. For more information, visit humanservicescouncil.org.
About UST: Founded by nonprofits, for nonprofits, UST is the largest unemployment trust in the nation, providing nonprofit organizations with 10 or more employees a safe, cost-effective alternative to paying state unemployment taxes. UST has partnered with 80 state and national nonprofit-based associations to teach their members about their unemployment insurance alternatives. Visit www.ChooseUST.org to learn more.