Virginia has frozen unemployment benefits for more than 12,000 people who refused to return to work amid the ongoing public health crisis, the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced Friday.

The commission, which administers unemployment benefits in the state, did not specify whether all of the frozen claims stem from employees who refuse to work because they want to avoid contracting the coronavirus. But it implied that the gradual reopening of business in Virginia has led to conflicts between employers who wish to reopen and employees who believe it’s too early to do so safely.

In a press release, the commission notes that workers can keep receiving benefits if they refuse to work because of illness, a lack of child care, or other qualifying circumstances. But a general fear of contracting the coronavirus at work is not an allowable reason to collect benefits, under guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Labor. Individuals who lose their benefits after refusing work must pass an administrative review before their benefits can be restored.

Such a review can take up to eight weeks, a VEC spokesperson says. Payments resume only once the commission determines a claimant has an allowable reason to not return to work. The commission makes that determination based on interviews with the claimant or their employer, the spokesperson says.

Eligibility for unemployment insurance was expanded under the federal CARES Act, opening up benefits to self-employed workers, part-time employees and other individuals who wouldn’t normally qualify for the payments, which can reach as high as $978 per week in Virginia. ($600 of that comes from the federal government, which is supplementing unemployment funds through the end of July.) But workers still must demonstrate they’re out of work through no fault of their own. Quitting a job or refusing an offer to work — even if it’s for health and safety reasons during the pandemic — generally disqualify individuals from unemployment insurance.

In some cases, employees self-report that they’ve refused to return to the job. In other cases, the employer does. VEC created a website where employers can report workers who have declined to come back to work.

Employers often contest unemployment claims from workers who don’t have a legitimate reason to collect benefits because they want to avoid being charged higher taxes. (Unemployment benefits are funded by taxes on employers.) But Virginia, along with 25 other states and the District, has waived unemployment-related tax hikes during the health crisis, meaning employers in those jurisdictions have no financial incentive to report employees who refuse to work for health and safety reasons.

Still, employers have to respond truthfully when their state asks them to report whether they’ve offered work to a furloughed employee, says Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation.

“Making a factually false statement would be fraud on the employer’s part,” Stettner says.

Some employers in the D.C. region have agreed to be flexible with workers who aren’t comfortable returning to the job during the pandemic, allowing older or high-risk employees to stay home and collect unemployment benefits even if their workplaces have resumed operations. D.C.-area hotels, restaurants and casinos who employ members of Unite Here Local 25 have such an agreement with the labor union. But these arrangements are largely voluntary or contract-specific, and it’s not clear how widespread they are.

The gradual reopening of business across the D.C. region has stoked fear among workers about contracting COVID-19 at work. Employers must follow health orders about social distancing and facial coverings in the workplace, but enforcement is spotty and employers aren’t legally required to take other proactive steps to prevent exposure to the virus. Virginia is considering statewide regulations that require businesses to enforce social distancing and notify employees of COVID-19 cases in the workplace, among other requirements, but those rules have not yet been put in place. Until they are, workers who return to the job do so at their own risk, with little recourse if they contract the virus at work.

Northern Virginia began Phase Two of the state’s gradual reopening process on June 12, permitting restaurants and bars to operate at 50% occupancy, among other allowances. Prince George’s County, Maryland, began a modified Phase Two on June 15, followed by neighboring Montgomery County on June 19. D.C. will begin Phase Two on June 22.

WAMU was unable to verify how many workers in D.C. or Maryland — if any — have been disqualified from unemployment benefits after refusing to return to work during the pandemic. A spokesperson for Maryland’s Department of Labor says that information isn’t available, and D.C.’s Department of Employment Services has not yet responded to a request for data.

In a press release, the Virginia Employment Commission reiterated that the agency must follow state and federal law when verifying unemployment claims — including confirming that recipients are out of work involuntarily. Failure to prevent unemployment fraud could jeopardize states’ access to federal funds. The commission urged Virginians to be mindful of limitations on unemployment benefits, even during the public health emergency.

“Employees who are called back to work by their employer generally must go back to work,” the commission said.