By Joshua Huff, sports editor
MONTGOMERY — Unemployment claimants will have to return to work should their employer ask them to in order to remain eligible for unemployment benefits, the Alabama Department of Labor said on Thursday.
Federal law dictates that furloughed workers who have been placed on leave as a result of the coronavirus pandemic must return to work if called back. Refusing to return to work could possibly disqualify claimants from receiving unemployment benefits.
“It’s important for workers to know that if their employer reopens or otherwise calls them back to work, they must do so, unless they have a good work-related cause,” Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said. “Attempts to collect unemployment benefits after quitting without a good work-related cause can be considered fraud.”
The CARES Act specifically provides for serious consequences for fraudulent cases including fines, confinement, and an inability to receive future unemployment benefits until all fraudulent claims and fines have been repaid.
ADOL added that employers are “encouraged” to use the New Hire system to report employees who refuse to return to work.