Pennsylvania UC System Must Be Rebuilt Strategically After the Pandemic and Benefits Modernization

Traditionally, Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation (UC) system was simple and effective. An unemployed worker went to an “unemployment office,” filed a claim, and got about the business of finding a new job. Along with declining administrative funding, that system started to erode at the beginning of this century. First, the local offices were replaced by centralized…

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PA Workers Have the Right to See Their Personnel Files

Under the Pennsylvania Personnel Files Act, 43 P.S. §§ 1321 – 1324, Pennsylvania workers have the right to view files held by their employers that contains information about themselves.   Who is covered by the law? The Personnel Files Act applies to all employers in Pennsylvania, including state, local, and county governments. All workers who…

CLS logo, header reading The Clean Slate Screening Project: A Case Study in Scaling Up Record Clearing & Advocacy

The Clean Slate Screening Project: A Case Study

Legal services providers are frequently presented with the challenge of communicating complicated and evolving legal advice to large numbers of constituents. The Clean Slate Screening Project (CSSP), developed by Philadelphia-based Community Legal Services (CLS) in partnership with the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), was conceived as a solution to that predicament when in 2018, the state…

ID.me presents barriers to unemployment insurance and other government benefits

During the pandemic, ID.me, a company providing digital identity credentials that promised to screen out fraudulent claims but “leave no identity behind,” emerged as a potential savior against rampant unemployment benefit fraud.  Since then, ID.me’s influence has increased, as numerous federal departments and scores of states have signed on for its services, including in the…

Green background with black text reading: How the Pandemic Response Has Failed Young People & What We Need to Thrive

Report: How the Pandemic Response Has Failed Young People & What We Need to Thrive

This report was written by Youth Justice Project inaugural Youth Action Board members, Deja Morgan, Alexi Chacon, and Madison Nardy.  When the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic in March 2020, young people across the country became unemployed, had to adjust to a virtual learning environment, experienced loss, housing insecurity, and more with no clear…