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The line started small about two months ago with a handful of people who had recently been laid off. But now, nearly three months into the economic crisis, which has claimed more than 40 million jobs nationwide, it stretches 50 or 60 people long throughout the day and down almost an entire Manhattan block. They are all waiting to access the same thing: the lone A.T.M. inside the only New York City branch for KeyBank, a regional Ohio bank in charge of distributing unemployment benefits to out-of-work New Yorkers, the New York Times reported. The state provides benefits through direct deposit or on KeyBank debit cards. KeyBank has higher one-time withdrawal limits than other banks and doesn’t charge a fee, making it a better option for many unemployed. Even as some states across the country, including parts of New York, start to reopen — with people going back to work and stores getting back to business — the daily line outside the KeyBank branch in Manhattan is a reminder that, for many, their economic suffering isn’t over yet. It also underscores the struggle that many states, including New York, faced in meeting the needs of an enormous avalanche of suddenly unemployed workers as much of the country shut down. Government websites meant to accept unemployment claims were crashing and some people were — and still are — unable to reach state employees on the phone.

The U.S. unemployment rate likely shot up to almost 20 percent in May, a new post World War II record, with millions more losing their jobs amid the Covid-19 crisis, Reuters reported. The Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment report on Friday could bolster economists’ dire predictions that it would take several years to recover from the economic meltdown. Still, May was probably the nadir for the labor market. While layoffs remained very high, they eased considerably in the second half of May as businesses reopened after shuttering in mid-March to slow the spread of Covid-19. Consumer confidence, manufacturing and services industries are also stabilizing, though at low levels, hopeful signs that the worst was over. “The good news is that we probably have hit the bottom,” said Sung Won Sohn, a finance and economics professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. “But the recovery will be painfully slow. It will take years, probably a decade to get back to where we were at the end of last year.”

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. wants to cut the pay of one of its rig crews by more than 20%, despite reaping benefits from the government stimulus program and making plans to pay about $10 million in bonuses to senior managers, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a letter filed on Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, the crew of Diamond Offshore’s ultra-deep-water Ocean BlackRhino drilling ship said the bankrupt company wants to cut their pay by at least 20 percent. That pay cut is unwarranted, according to the letter, particularly because the Houston-based contract driller, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in April, is benefiting from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The letter says that it is written by a longtime Diamond Offshore employee currently stationed on the BlackRhino. The vessel, which can house 210 people, is in the Gulf of Mexico, according to vessel-tracking website MarineTraffic.com. It most recently worked with energy company Hess Corp.

APC Automotive Technologies LLC, a car-parts supplier founded in 1927, has filed for bankruptcy with plans to hand ownership to lenders including Apollo Global Management Inc., the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> reported. The Littleton, Colo., business sought protection from creditors Wednesday after entering into a restructuring agreement with 74 percent of its term loan lenders that will help it cut $290 million of its more than $430 million in debt. A forbearance period with lenders had ended on Monday. The private-equity-backed company in November had amended its term loan agreement with parties including Apollo, BlackRock Capital Investment Corp. and CBAM Partners, according to a document filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. APC has been troubled for years by rising prices for palladium and other materials. Tariffs and customer consolidation have also hurt its business. Most recently, the coronavirus pandemic has worsened the company’s business outlook. Mines have been being shut down, making it difficult to get supplies and raising the company’s costs. Demand for auto parts has declined, and “government lockdowns and employee infections” have hindered APC’s ability to make and distribute its products, interim Chief Financial Officer Marc Weinsweig said in a declaration filed with the court.

The former president of the United Auto Workers Union, Gary Jones, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to embezzling union funds, becoming the highest-ranking union official to admit wrongdoing in a wide-ranging federal investigation that has involved more than a dozen senior union officials and at least three executives from Fiat Chrysler, the New York Times reported. Under a cooperation agreement reached with federal prosecutors, Jones acknowledged using more than $1 million in union funds for vacation rentals, golf outings, clothing, liquor and expensive meals. As part of the plea agreement with prosecutors, Jones has agreed to cooperate in the investigation, and forfeit more than $140,000 in cash obtained illegally. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 3. Federal guidelines call for a prison sentence of 47 to 56 months.

The U. S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 yesterday that workers can’t accuse pension plan administrators of mismanaging their retirement savings unless they have been harmed — such as by not receiving 100 percent of their promised pension payments — closing the door on a 7-year-old Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) case accusing U. S. Bank of squandering $750 million of its pension plan’s money by making risky investments, 401K Specialist reported. The SCOTUS decision in James J. Thole et al. v. U.S. Bank NA et al., could eliminate a wide range of fiduciary breach lawsuits by limiting the circumstances under which employees and retirees can sue. The plaintiffs in the case, James Thole and Sherry Smith, are retired participants in U.S. Bank’s defined-benefit retirement plan. Both have been paid all of their monthly pension benefits so far and are legally and contractually entitled to those payments for the rest of their lives. As such, the Supreme Court ruled that because Thole and Smith have no concrete stake in the lawsuit, they lack Article III standing, upholding a previous dismissal in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota and a decision by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. “Of decisive importance to this case,” wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh in delivering the opinion of the Court, “the plaintiffs’ retirement plan is a defined-benefit plan, not a defined-contribution plan. In a defined-benefit plan, retirees receive a fixed payment each month, and the payments do not fluctuate with the value of the plan or because of the plan fiduciaries’ good or bad investment decisions. By contrast, in a defined-contribution plan, such as a 401k plan, the retirees’ benefits are typically tied to the value of their accounts, and the benefits can turn on the plan fiduciaries’ particular investment decisions.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are expressing interest in expanding a tax credit designed to help keep workers connected to their jobs, a sign that the idea could find its way into the next coronavirus relief package, The Hill reported. For much of the pandemic, certain businesses have been eligible to take advantage of a refundable payroll tax credit of up to $5,000 per employee for wages and health care benefits paid through the end of the year. Lawmakers are now offering proposals to increase the amount of the credit and make other changes in an effort to keep more workers connected to their employers. There are many uncertainties about another coronavirus relief package, ranging from the timing of the next bill to how lawmakers address issues such as federal aid to states, liability protection for businesses and a $600 per week increase in unemployment benefits that’s set to expire at the end of July. But there are lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who are supportive of the employee retention tax credit (ERTC) that was included in the $2.2 trillion CARES Act signed by President Trump on March 27. Those lawmakers say they’re open to enhancing the tax credit in an effort to allow businesses to keep their employees.

Congress and the White House are debating a “return-to-work bonus” this summer, aimed at the more than 40 million workers who have lost jobs and filed for unemployment during the deadly pandemic, as a new incentive for those who go back to work, the Washington Post reported. President Trump likes the idea, according to a senior administration official, but talks remain fluid about how big the bonus should be and how long it should last, according to eight lawmakers and staffers familiar with the discussions. Directly giving workers a government bonus for several weeks would be largely unprecedented in the U.S., although it has been done in other countries. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has proposed that the federal government give people who stop collecting unemployment and go back to work $450 a week for several weeks. Others, including White House officials and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), have discussed allowing workers to get up to $1,200 if they find a job, according to three people familiar with White House discussions and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Republican lawmakers have repeatedly expressed concern that the increase in unemployment benefits approved by Congress in March rewards workers for staying home and could lead to increased unemployment. Lawmakers are now considering the bonus to make returning to work more attractive than remaining on unemployment. The idea is to offer an off-ramp from public assistance, without abruptly eliminating federal financial support for millions of people.