State lawmakers are proposing a package of bills to address the issues that have plagued New York’s archaic and confusing unemployment benefits system throughout the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, according to City and State.

As vast numbers of jobs have been shed, many residents have found their incomes drastically reduced or obliterated entirely, leading to a deluge of applications for benefits that have revealed many problems with the state’s benefits structure. The new laws seek to enforce higher workplace safety standards, as well as expand unemployment eligibility to more workers – perennial issues for workers rights advocates even before COVID-19 imposed a condition of crisis in the state.

“It’s coming up everywhere,” said Richard Blum, a staff attorney in the Employment Law Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “There’s a real need to clarify and strengthen those standards.”