ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said he believes his department is properly enforcing a state law that prohibits any educational worker from receiving unemployment benefits during a regularly scheduled school break. The U.S. Department of Labor does not see it the same way.
"We think we're right in this case, they think they're right in this case," Butler said.
Tuesday, several people gathered in front of Butler's downtown Atlanta office to proclaim their protest of the state's decision to deny those unemployment benefits for educational workers.
Butler said the state's decision was based on fairness. Since publicly paid educational employees are not eligible for unemployment benefits during school recess, privately paid employees like cafeteria workers and bus drivers should not be able to work the system to their advantage.
"They know there's going to be a break every single summer," Butler said. "They're not seeking new employment because they're going to be going back to the exact same job in the fall."
"There's no guarantee that these folks are going to go back to work," said one representative from the Georgia AFL-CIO. "They don't have a contract, they are being laid off because there's not enough people who are going to come and eat in the cafeteria, or there's not enough children to go on the bus."
The U.S. Department of Labor is expected to make a decision on Georgia's unemployment policy early next month.
Copyright 2012 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
