BILL NUMBER:S6629                REVISED 6/10/14

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the labor law, in relation to the
eligibility for unemployment benefits for individuals who voluntarily
separate from employment to accompany a spouse who is the subject of a
military transfer

PURPOSES: The purpose of this bill is to permit an individual who
quits work to accompany the individual's spouse on a military transfer
to be eligible for unemployment compensation benefits.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:  An individual's spouse being a member of the
United States armed services, the subject of a military transfer, and
the individual having left employment to accompany the spouse are
added to the list of non-disqualifying reasons for separation from
employment.  Individuals who fall under these circumstances are
therefore eligible for unemployment compensation benefits.

If the individual was previously employed by a contributory employer,
the benefits are not charged to the employer and are paid from the
mutualized account in the Unemployment Compensation Fund. This account
is a separate account in the fund the primary use of which is to pay
benefits when an employer's account cannot be charged for those
benefits. If the employer was a reimbursing employer, the employer
pays the benefits by reimbursing the fund.

              

JUSTIFICATION: The Unemployment Compensation Law includes certain
conditions that an individual must meet and certain procedures the
individual must follow in order to qualify for unemployment
compensation benefits. It also specifies disqualifying factors for
those who lose jobs and, in such cases, procedures under which an
individual may remove the disqualification. Qualification is generally
easy when a valid application is submitted, a proper claim made for
benefits, registration made at an employment office, and the
individual can and actively seeks employment.

An application for benefits is valid if the filing individual is
unemployed, has separated from employment for a non-disqualifying
reason, was employed by an employer or employers who are subject to
the Unemployment Compensation Law for at least 20 weeks within the
calendar year preceding the first day of the individual's alternate
base period, and has earned an average weekly wage of less than 27.5%
of the statewide average weekly wage for that 20-week minimum period.

Unemployment compensation is funded through a federal-state
partnership. Federal law requires each state to establish its own
unemployment compensation fund for purposes of paying unemployment
benefits so that employers receive a tax credit under the Unemployment
Tax Act.

States can determine how much to pay in unemployment benefits, meaning
that state system must pay whatever the state establishes, and no
more. In the event of a depletion of the state's fund, a governor may
apply to the U.S Secretary of Labor to get a three-month advance for
the payment of unemployment benefits if the state can't pay its
benefits. Having received federal advance money makes a state more
restricted in the changes it can make to its unemployment compensation


system. The state is then unable to take action which will reduce
either its unemployment tax effort or decrease the solvency of its
unemployment compensation system. However, despite these restrictions,
the US Department of Labor has stated that similar bills did not
interfere with the requirements of the federal Unemployment
Compensation Law.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  None.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.