Furloughed workers qualify for unemployment benefits during pandemic, McMaster orders
South Carolina workers furloughed but still receiving some form of payment from employers during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic can receive unemployment benefits, Gov. Henry McMaster declared in an executive order on Wednesday.
“Every day, our primary objective is to protect South Carolinians, but we also must act to protect the state’s economy,” McMaster said in a statement. “This order does both. It allows our businesses to take care of their employees as best as they can and will help our economy recover from this unprecedented time.”
Specifically, the order allows employers to provide employees with a “voluntary payment, or series of payments” in response to being furloughed, while still preserving the workers’ eligibility for unemployment benefits.
In the order, McMaster directed the state’s Department of Employment and Workforce to consider such payments as severance pay, called “COVID-19 Support Payments.”
“Our state’s workforce and employers have never faced a crisis of this magnitude,” Sara Hazzard, President & CEO of the S.C. Manufacturers Alliance, said in a statement. “On behalf of our state’s manufacturing community and the more than 250,000 South Carolinians they employ, I want to thank Governor McMaster for issuing this Executive Order to provide flexibility for businesses to assist employees during this time of need.”
Furloughed employees who do not receive COVID-19 Support Payment remain eligible for unemployment benefits. Last week, the number of initial unemployment claims across the state neared 100,000, and the DEW paid out $10 million in benefits from March 29 to April 2.
Expanded benefits for more workers are coming to South Carolina as a result of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief act passed by Congress, including an extra $600 per week on top of state benefits.
McMaster previously ordered all non-essential businesses across the state to close, including gyms, salons, department stores and theaters. He has also issued a “home or work” order directing residents to not leave their houses except for certain essential activities, exercise or visiting family.
Confirmed cases of the coronavirus have passed 2,500 in South Carolina with 63 deaths. The 12 deaths announced Wednesday were the highest single-day count in the state since the pandemic started.
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 5:06 PM.
