After nearly two weeks of inaction, state legislators could soon restore jobless benefits to 37,000 job seekers who would otherwise lose their unemployment insurance Friday.

The state Senate could vote as early as today to extend the benefits, setting up a state House of Representatives vote tomorrow to get the money out to jobless residents.

But Republican leaders in the General Assembly have linked the unemployment benefits, which are a priority for Gov. Bev Perdue, to a GOP budte. That way, if Perdue wants to support the state's jobless, she'll also have to vote for the Republican budget.

A federal judge this week granted class action status to a lawsuit by retirees against phone companies Sprint Nextel and Embarq for canceling the retirees' health benefits and life insurance.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren in Kansas opens the retirees' lawsuit to some 14,000 phone company retirees, and thousands of spouses, in 18 states.

Previously, the suit represented 17 retirees, including 11 from North Carolina, seeking to have their health benefits restored. The case also represented 756 retirees, all in North Carolina, for age discrimination.

The retirees allege that for more than three decades, phone company representatives made promises verbally and in writing that their retiree benefits were guaranteed for life. Some took early retirement to lock in on the benefits.

About 30,000 people in the state have been notified in the past week that they may qualify for an additional 20 weeks of jobless benefits.

The N.C. Employment Security Commission mailed the letters to out-of-work people whose unemployment benefits ran out in recent months when the maximum allowed was 79 weeks. But in November, Congress extended jobless benefits to 99 weeks, requiring the ESC to pay the additional benefits to those who qualify.

About 40,000 have automatically rolled over to the new extension. But the ESC wants to verify that the 30,000 or so who exhausted their benefits before Congress extended the benefits qualify for the extra payments.

Three North Carolina employers have been named as good places to work if you're 50 or older.

GlaxoSmithKline and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina — two of the Triangle's larger employers — made the annual list compiled by the AARP, the nonprofit membership group that advocates for older Americans.

In the Triad, the nonprofit Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind was chosen.

Despite the downturn, another local company is gearing up to hire.

Workplace Options, which provides human-resource benefits to other businesses, plans to double the size of its Raleigh headquarters. The company has signed a lease for a 30,000 square-foot building near its existing 25,000 square-foot office, near U.S. 440 and Capital Boulevard.

Founded in 1982, the company now has 175 employees locally and plans to hire 50 more by the end of the year. Workplace Options is led by Dean Debnam, who in 1993 became CEO of the company founded by his wife Stephanie Fanjul, a former Raleigh city council member.

This weekend, feed your inner geek and throw some coin Cy Rawls' way by checking out the latest A/V Geeks program, "S is for Sissy" (featuring "Soapy the Germ Fighter," "Fears of Children" and other disturbing period pieces). It's 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh; suggestion donation is $5, and because proceeds go to Rawls (a onetime member of the A/V Geek posse) nobody is gonna squawk if you want to kick in more than that.