Posted on 07/25/2005 4:09:23 PM PDT by Rodney King
LONGPORT, N.J. (AP) Officials in this shore town are challenging a policy that allows some lifeguards to receive unemployment benefits after the summer season ends.
City officials say lifeguards are seasonal employees who aren't entitled to unemployment, while the lifeguards say they've been getting the benefits for years and are entitled to them just like any other person.
Longport officials took the issue to the New Jersey Labor Department, contesting benefits received last winter by three veteran lifeguards.
Their efforts were rebuffed in a hearing last week when the department upheld benefits for two of the lifeguards and referred a third case for investigation.
The thought of able-bodied lifeguards collecting unemployment for most of the year incensed some Longport officials.
``They don't have to save anybody in the winter. Nobody's swimming,'' said Sen. Leonard Connors Jr., R-Ocean. ``They're off for 42 weeks and then they collect? I don't think that's what unemployment is designed for.''
Longport officials said the three lifeguards did not actively seek work last winter when they received unemployment benefits.
That claim was denied by Joseph Walsh, 26, one of the guards who received benefits last winter. Walsh said he and the other lifeguards did look for work, but they needed the benefits to get through winter.
However, Walsh, a film major from Temple University, did say he and the other guards should not be expected to work at minimum wage jobs during the winter.
``I didn't go to Temple University to work at Wawa,'' he told The Press of Atlantic City.
The three lifeguards collected a total of about $11,000 in benefits, part of which was paid by Longport.
Longport officials said they will appeal the decision to a state review board and possibly an appeals court.
``I'm trying to do the right thing for the taxpayers of Longport,'' said Stroebele. ``This is not just a one-year savings. It's a savings that would occur every year from this year forward.''
The joke’s on you though… they have a “real” job – a “real” side-job too. It pays cash money and they don’t have to do much to get it…
Do the employers of these lifeguards have to pay unemployment insurance on them?
If I play Santa at the mall for a month - do I get unemployment when Xmas is over?
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