Union workers who hate unions. I don't get it.

[happyslug]

87. And the 90 Day probationary period is a historical accident.

Prior to the 1930s, the US did NOT have unemployment insurance, workers were on their own for such insurance (The old Pittsburgh Press use to have a "Historical Section" but instead of reporting the important events that happened that day, they looked back at what was the top news item, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years before, on most days you thus read a short note about the hot item in what appears to have been slow news days. One of those reports from the 1880s was about steel workers in Carnegie and Pittsburgh buying small farm plots in what is top a suburb of Pittsburgh but what was then farm land. They did NOT live on them, they just would plant some crops and on their days off walk the 10-15 miles to the farm to take care of it. The purpose of the farm was to provide them food when the mills closed down. That was all the support they could expect when they were laid off from work).

In the 1930s the Federal Government decided some type of unemployment was needed and that it had to be Federally paid for but operated by the states. Since this is all pre-electrical computer (but post IBM punch card machines) it was calculated that it would take the unemployment office up to three months to process records of employment. Since Unemployment Compensation was to be given based on a worker's employment history, that three months was critical. Thus the unemployment office would NOT have employment records for people for the three months prior to they making application for unemployment, How do you provide unemployment?

On top of this, to discourage lay offs, the unemployment tax rate of employers was based on how many people they laid off AND won unemployment benefits (Technically the rate is "Fixed" by Federal law, but each state can discount that tax based on the historical history of the employer laying people off work).

If someone did not apply for unemployment compensation, that was good for the employer's unemployment tax tate, if it was determined the layoff was for "Willful misconduct" that meat no unemployment Compensation, thus no effect on the unemployment tax the employer had to pay. On the other hand if the lay off was due to lack of work, that meant the worker was eligible for unemployment compensation and thus would affect the unemployment tax rate of the employer.

Now, due to the technology of the 1930s, they was no way the Unemployment office could get the data on the rate of pay of an employee short of waiting three months. The solution was Unemployment Compensation was NOT based on your work in the three months PRIOR to you being unemployed, but the year BEFORE that three months period. This gave the Unemployment Office the time period to get accurate data as to pay of the Unemployed worker and to provide benefits immediately, through based on his pay in the year PRIOR to the three months prior to the worker becoming unemployed.

A side affect of this three months delay in unemployment benefits calculation came the 90 day probation period. The 90 days was a "Free time" for the new employer, if they laid off the worker during that three month period, it was his previous employer that was hit with fact he was no longer working, for unemployment was based on not only the pay the worker had been receiving in the year before the three months period, but any Unemployment Tax Rate was set on THAT employer not the employer who employed the worker in the last three months before he applied for unemployment benefits.

Thus the 90 days probationary period is based on the technology of the 1930s. The six months delay in getting Social Security and Social Security Disability is also a result of that technology. By 1974 when Supplement Security Income (SSI) was added to the functions of the Social Security Administration, we had things called "Computers" all main frames (The desk top computer was still in the future in 1974 coming out in the late 1970s) but able to process employment data almost instantaneously. Thus SSI is NOT subject to any delay, for a delay to process the numbers was no longer needed, but the law did not change for Social Security or unemployment for Companies had adjusted to the delay in both and changing the adjustments (including the 90 day probationary period) was viewed as being worse then the delay of benefits calculations that was no longer needed.

Just a comment that the 90 day probationary period is a product of Unemployment law and the Technology of the 1930s, not a gift from employers.