News

Verso Employees file for Unemployment

Photo: Brad Veenstra

Jun 8, 2012 at 8:13 am

SARTELL, MN (KNSI) - There's news that about 20-percent of Verso paper mill employees have filed for unemployment benefits in the wake of a Memorial Day explosion and fire that took the mill out of production.

A deadline of today looms for others to file a benefit application that includes the week of the event that killed one employee and injured four. The first week a worker is unemployed is unpaid, as mandated by law.

Keith Goodwin of the Minnesota Unemployment Insurance Program says any Verso workers who've been unable to work since the fire should apply for benefits.

In many cases, unemployment benefits are 50-percent of average weekly pay, for up to 26 weeks.

Meanwhile, the names of four workers who were injured in last month's Verso paper mill explosion and fire in Sartell have been released. The men are identified as Robert Decker of Sartell, Marvin Koshiol of St. Augusta, David Popp of Rice and Dennis Schneider of Rice. All suffered minor injuries--and were treated and released May 28th from St. Cloud Hospital.

Another worker--50 year-old Jon Maus of Albany--died from injuries he received in the explosion. The Stearns County dispatch center fielded eight 911 calls from people who were in the area of the mill just minutes after it exploded.