5920.E AMH CL CORD 2

ESB 5920 ‑ H COMM AMD LOST 3-4-94

By Committee on Commerce & Labor                    

     Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

     "Sec. 1. RCW 50.04.310  and 1984 c 134 ' 1 are each amended to read as follows:

     (1) An individual shall be deemed to be "unemployed" in any week during which the individual performs no services and with respect to which no remuneration is payable to the individual, or in any week of less than full time work, if the remuneration payable to the individual with respect to such week is less than:

(a) For weeks of unemployment up to and including the week ending  January 6, 1996, one and one-half times the individual's weekly benefit amount plus fifteen dollars; or

(b) For weeks of unemployment beginning on or after January 7, 1996, one and one-third times the individual's weekly benefit amount plus five dollars. 

The commissioner shall prescribe regulations applicable to unemployed individuals making such distinctions in the procedures as to such types of unemployment as the commissioner deems necessary.

     (2) An individual shall be deemed not to be "unemployed" during any week which falls totally within a period during which the individual, pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement or individual employment contract, is employed full time in

accordance with a definition of full time contained in the agreement or contract, and for which compensation for full time work is payable.  This subsection may not be applied

retroactively to an individual who had no guarantee of work at

the start of such period and subsequently is provided additional work by the employer. 

     Sec. 2.  RCW 50.20.130 and 1983 1st ex.s. c 23 s 12 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) If an eligible individual is available for work for less than a full week, ((he)) the individual shall be paid his or her weekly benefit amount reduced by one-seventh of such amount for each day that he or she is unavailable for work((:  PROVIDED, That)).  However, if ((he)) the individual is unavailable for work for three days or more of a week, he or she shall be considered unavailable for the entire week.

(2) Each eligible individual who is unemployed in any week shall be paid with respect to such week a benefit in an amount equal to ((his)):

(a) For weeks of unemployment up to and including the week ending January 6, 1996, the individual's weekly benefit amount less sixty-six and two-thirds percent of that part of the remuneration, if any, payable to him or her with respect to such week which is in excess of fifteen dollars; or

(b) For weeks of unemployment beginning on or after January 7, 1996, the individual's weekly benefit amount less seventy-five percent of that part of the remuneration ((()),if any(())), payable to him or her with respect to such week which is in excess of five dollars. 

((Such)) The benefit payable under this subsection, if not a multiple of one dollar, shall be reduced to the next lower multiple of one dollar.

NEW SECTION. Sec.3.  A new section is added to chapter 50.20 RCW to read as follows:

     (1) An otherwise qualified claimant whose base year wages are based on full-time, long-term employment who accepts

temporary or part-time employment and who subsequently

voluntarily leaves temporary or part-time employment to actively seek suitable long-term employment shall not be disqualified from receiving benefits under this title based on that temporary or part-time employment job separation.

     (2) For the purposes of this section:

     (a) "Part-time employment" means work that is twenty hours or less per week.

     (b) "Temporary employment" means work with an expected duration of three months or less.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.  The employment security department shall report to the appropriate committees of the legislature on the impact of the amendments to sections 1 and 2 of this act by January 1, 1996.  The report shall include the impact on the unemployment insurance trust fund and on unemployment insurance claimants.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.  Sections 1 and 2 of this act shall take effect July 3, 1994, and shall apply to weeks of unemployment beginning on or after July 3, 1994.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6.  If any part of this act is found to

be in conflict with federal requirements that are a prescribed condition to the allocation of federal funds to the state or the eligibility of employers in this state for federal unemployment

tax credits, the conflicting part of this act is hereby declared

to be inoperative solely to the extent of the conflict, and such finding or determination shall not affect the operation of the remainder of this act.  The rules under this act shall meet

federal requirements that are a necessary condition to the

receipt of federal funds by the state or the granting of federal unemployment tax credits to employers in this state."

EFFECT:  The striking amendment deletes the pilot project relating to unemployment insurance deductions and adds the following provisions.  From July 3, 1994, through January 6, 1996, claimants will receive a smaller deduction from their benefits for their part-time earnings.  This new deduction calculation ends at the end of the last "benefit year quarter" in 1995.  The Employment Security Department will report on the impacts of this new deduction calculation by January 1, 1996.  The striking amendment retains the provisions that allow claimants to quit a temporary or part-time job to look for long-term employment if their base year wages were from full-time long-term employment.