As Director of Music you may supervise employees...and you are an employee yourself.

A very important thing for you to do tomorrow morning is to call your Diocesan Human Resources office and ask one very important question, for your good and the good of your employees.

"Does the Diocese participate in the Federal Unemployment Insurance Program?"

If you have worked at an employee in a business and then gone to work for a church you may have assumed that you are fully covered in case of unemployment. Things go south at the church, offerings drop, you are forced to let an organist go....you DO NOT want them to come up to you and say....

"I filed for unemployment and the Diocese does not participate, so I am out of a job without anything to tide me over...."

Churches in all but one US state do not have to participate. By law they must tell you when you are employed that they do not participate and as a result of their decision you are not eligible for receiving unemployment. In some states it is also the law that a poster be prominently displayed that the church does not participate.

Wording on some diocesan sites gives the impression that they do not participate because of the separation of church and state. In reality they may ALL offer this to their employees but choose, for financial reasons alone, not to.

The requirements of notification on non-participation to the employees as well as the use of an employee handbook which outlines this and other employee benefits and requirements are not always provided as required in private business. We are not sure why this is true. Ask your human resources officer about this.

Unemployment insurance pays you for many, many weeks, and in this time of financial duress, there is an automatic extension of 13 more weeks as well....