Part-timers at DHL hub may not qualify for jobless benefits
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
WILMINGTON — Hundreds of part-time employees at DHL's Wilmington air freight hub may not be eligible for unemployment compensation benefits if DHL hires United Parcel Service to fly its air cargo and eliminates jobs at the hub, public officials said.
The precise number isn't known, said Judi Cicatiello, deputy director of the state's Office of Unemployment Compensation, and Wilmington Mayor David Raizk, member of a regional task force trying to save the 8,000-plus jobs that could be lost if DHL works out a contract with UPS. The task force has made it a priority to provide a safety net for part-time workers as part of the effort to either save the jobs or help provide retraining to prepare displaced employees for new careers, Raizk said.
Ohio has applied for a U.S. Department of Labor grant of $6.7 million that could provide needs-based (living) expenses and education expenses for people in this category, Keith Hyde, a specialist working with state and county governments to obtain the federal assistance, said Wednesday, Aug. 20. Local officials are awaiting word on whether the Labor Department will approve the grant, said Hyde, executive director of Workforce Services Unlimited, a Circleville-based nonprofit agency.
There are almost 1,400 part-time cargo sorters employed by ABX Air Inc., which runs the hub under contract to DHL, who may not work enough hours or make enough money to be eligible for unemployment benefits — unless they work a second job to supplement their earnings, Hyde said. The nonprofit agency is surveying workers and employers at the hub to gather more information.
Ohio's eligibility threshold for unemployment benefits requires that a person make at least $206 a week during 20 weeks of a base period defined as the first four of the last five calendar quarters. The benefits would amount to half the weekly wage, plus extra money for dependent children.
"Anybody who made $10 an hour or less might not be able to achieve that $206-a-week average," Hyde said.
Local officials told state lawmakers Tuesday, Aug. 19, that the looming job losses for full- and part-time employees would devastate Wilmington, Clinton County and nearby counties where the hub is the largest employer.
Ohio's unemployment compensation fund, which already may run out of money by early 2009, could be bankrupted by Wilmington's benefits needs without the federal help, Raizk told the lawmakers.
Key employers at the hub include ABX Air Inc., which runs the operation and flies DHL cargo nationally from there; ASTAR Air Cargo, which also flies DHL's domestic cargo; DHL itself, and at least 20 companies whose livelihood depends on the hub's operation. As many as 30 to 40 percent of the hub's work force could include two employees per family, making potential job losses even riskier for many households, Hyde said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
