SB 26

Currently, if a claimant under the unemployment insurance (UI) law receives

no wages or certain other amounts that are treated as wages for a given week, the

claimant may receive the full benefit for that week to which the claimant is entitled

if the claimant meets eligibility requirements. However, with certain exceptions, if

a claimant earns wages or certain other amounts treated as wages in a given week,

the first $30 of the wages or other amounts are disregarded and the claimant's

weekly benefit payment is reduced by 67 percent of any remaining amount earned,

but no claimant is eligible to receive UI benefits for any week if the benefits would

be less than $5, and any wages that the claimant would have earned in any week for

work performed for his or her employer had the claimant accepted available work

from that employer are treated as wages earned for that week.

This bill permits an employer to create a work-sharing program within a work

unit of the employer. Before implementation of any program, an employer must

submit a work-share plan to the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) and

obtain DWD's approval of the plan. As a part of its submittal, the employer must

certify that its plan is in compliance with all requirements under the law. Under the

bill, a work-share program may be in effect for no longer than six months within a

five-year period and must include at least 10 percent of and at least 20 employees

in the work unit. Under the program, the working hours of all of the full-time

employees in the program are reduced in an equitable manner in lieu of a total layoff

of some of the employees and a continuation of full-time employment by the other

employees. The bill provides that a claimant who is included in a work-share

program may receive UI benefits during his or her continued employment with the

work-sharing employer in an amount equal to the claimant's benefit for total

unemployment multiplied by the same percentage reduction in normal working

hours that the claimant incurs under the program, or the benefit that would be

payable to the claimant under the current formula for payment of UI benefits for

partial unemployment, whichever is higher. A claimant who begins receiving UI

benefits before the effective period of a work-share program and who remains

eligible for benefits is eligible to receive work-share benefits up to the total amount

of the claimant's benefit entitlement and a claimant who has remaining benefit

entitlement after the effective period of a work-share program and who remains

eligible for UI benefits may continue to receive benefits until the entitlement is

exhausted. The bill does not affect eligibility for supplemental UI benefits such as

federal/state extended benefits, Wisconsin supplemental benefits, and special

additional federal benefits in the full amounts that would otherwise be payable.

Under the bill, a work-share program must exclude participation by employees

who are employed on a regular part-time, seasonal, temporary, or intermittent basis

and may only apply to employees who have been engaged in employment with the

employer for at least three months before the effective period of the program and who