RICHMOND, Va., May 18 (UPI) — Some people recently laid-off from religious institutions in Virginia said they were shocked to find the state does not offer them unemployment benefits.
Carol Bronson, who was laid off from her secretarial job at Temple Emanuel synagogue in Virginia Beach, said she was told her unemployment claim was denied because the tax exemptions for religious organizations under Virginia law include an exemption from paying unemployment taxes, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Monday.
“I had no idea that there would not be any benefits for me after leaving my job,” she said.
Rabbi Howard Mandell of Temple Emanuel said the synagogue was unaware of the Virginia tax law at the time of the layoff.
Jane Dembert, who worked for 17 years at the Christ and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Norfolk, most recently as director of communications, said she was also surprised to have her unemployment claim denied after she was laid-off earlier this year.
Coleman Walsh, chief administrative law judge with the state employment commission, said most people he has spoken to were unaware that faith-based groups are exempt from unemployment taxes.
The Catholic Diocese of Richmond has a voluntary self-insurance arrangement with the state that allows laid-off workers to file for unemployment. If the claim is accepted, the state bills the diocese for the amount of the benefits collected by the recipient.
Whatever…………..if we can give social security to illegal aliens and import the trash of the World to mess up our country and send all the money overseas, including foreign to China – still! Then why not give our own people unemployment..irrespective of religion. I bet if they had been part of a Muslim sect they would have gotten the unemployment, probably several checks under several different names, because every Mullah arrested has had five or six different social security numbers when arrested………
Whatever………….
Traaxx
When a church extends it’s self to be more than a preacher and congregation with a meeting place, it is no longer a church but a business and should pay the same taxes as other businesses.
If the building is so large it requires other than the minster to clean and maintain, it’s not a church, but a scam.
#15 Benjamin describes things like they are in Canada. The unemployment thing is NOT a tax, it is a mandatory insurance scheme. Fusion is also correct; it is a federal not a provincial program(me) in Canada.
I can understand churches being exempt from taxes such as income taxes, but I do not understand them being exempt from the unemployment scheme, which should relate to all employees equally, regardless of cree…
I’ve never worked in a state that required workers to “pay in” to any unemployment insurance program. The employer did that, (though, of course any cost would affect the amount available to pay wages- sort of the worker paying through the back door?).
Anyway, nothing is stopping nonprofits from paying it voluntarily or setting up some other system to help x-workers. Seems like churches,especially, should take the lead here. It’s a shame some don’t. It ought to be a crime when they don’t tell applicants up front.