AN ACT Relating to allowing unemployment benefits during lockouts; amending RCW 50.20.120 and 50.04.030; adding a new section to chapter 50.29 RCW; creating new sections; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 50.20.120 and 1993 c 483 s 12 are each amended to read as follows:

(1)(a) Subject to the other provisions of this title, benefits shall be payable to any eligible individual during the individual's benefit year in a maximum amount equal to the lesser of thirty times the weekly benefit amount (determined hereinafter) or one-third of the individual's base year wages under this title((~~: PROVIDED, That as to~~)). However, maximum benefits may exceed this amount if the eligible individual's unemployment is due to a lockout by his or her employer, in which case benefits shall be payable in a maximum amount equal to sixty times the weekly benefit amount or until the lockout is terminated, whichever occurs first.

(b) For any week beginning on and after March 31, 1981, which falls in an extended benefit period as defined in RCW 50.22.010(1), ((~~as now or hereafter amended,~~)) an individual's eligibility for maximum benefits in excess of twenty-six times his or her weekly benefit amount will be subject to the terms and conditions set forth in RCW 50.22.020((~~, as now or hereafter amended~~)).

(2) An individual's weekly benefit amount shall be an amount equal to one twenty-fifth of the average quarterly wages of the individual's total wages during the two quarters of the individual's base year in which such total wages were highest. The maximum and minimum amounts payable weekly shall be determined as of each June 30th to apply to benefit years beginning in the twelve-month period immediately following such June 30th. The maximum amount payable weekly shall be seventy percent of the "average weekly wage" for the calendar year preceding such June 30th. The minimum amount payable weekly shall be fifteen percent of the "average weekly wage" for the calendar year preceding such June 30th. If any weekly benefit, maximum benefit, or minimum benefit amount computed herein is not a multiple of one dollar, it shall be reduced to the next lower multiple of one dollar.

Sec. 2. RCW 50.04.030 and 1991 c 117 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) "Benefit year" with respect to each individual, means the fifty-two consecutive week period beginning with the first day of the calendar week in which the individual files an application for an initial determination and thereafter the fifty-two consecutive week period beginning with the first day of the calendar week in which the individual next files an application for an initial determination after the expiration of the individual's last preceding benefit year: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That the foregoing limitation shall not be deemed to preclude the establishment of a new benefit year under the laws of another state pursuant to any agreement providing for the interstate combining of employment and wages and the interstate payment of benefits nor shall this limitation be deemed to preclude the commissioner from backdating an initial application at the request of the claimant either for the convenience of the department of employment security or for any other reason deemed by the commissioner to be good cause.

(2) An individual's benefit year shall be extended to:

(a) Be fifty-three weeks when at the expiration of fifty-two weeks the establishment of a new benefit year would result in the use of a quarter of wages in the new base year that had been included in the individual's prior base year; or

(b) The termination of the lockout or until benefits in a maximum amount of sixty times the weekly benefit amount are paid, whichever occurs first, if, at the expiration of the fifty-two weeks, the individual's benefits continue to be payable under RCW 50.20.120(1)(a) due to a lockout.

(3)(a) No benefit year will be established unless it is determined that the individual earned wages in "employment" in not less than six hundred eighty hours of the individual's base year: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That a benefit year cannot be established if the base year wages include wages earned prior to the establishment of a prior benefit year unless the individual worked and earned wages since the last separation from employment immediately before the application for initial determination in the previous benefit year if the applicant was an unemployed individual at the time of application, or since the initial separation in the previous benefit year if the applicant was not an unemployed individual at the time of filing an application for initial determination for the previous benefit year, of not less than six times the weekly benefit amount computed for the individual's new benefit year.

(b) If an individual's prior benefit year was based on the last four completed calendar quarters, a new benefit year shall not be established until the new base year does not include any hours used in the establishment of the prior benefit year.

(4) If the wages of an individual are not based upon a fixed duration of time or if the individual's wages are paid at irregular intervals or in such manner as not to extend regularly over the period of employment, the wages for any week shall be determined in such manner as the commissioner may by regulation prescribe. Such regulation shall, so far as possible, secure results reasonably similar to those which would prevail if the individual were paid his or her wages at regular intervals.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 50.29 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Beginning with rate year 2000, if unemployment benefits are paid to claimants in any calendar quarter that exceed the maximum benefit amount under RCW 50.20.120(1)(a) due to a lockout by the employer, and the employer is assigned the contribution rate of rate class 20 under RCW 50.29.025, or is assigned the contribution rate under RCW 50.29.025(6)(a), for the rate year that includes that calendar quarter, the employer's contributions for that calendar quarter under RCW 50.24.010 shall equal the total of the following:

(a) The amount of contributions determined under RCW 50.29.025;

(b) An amount equal to the full amount of benefits paid in the calendar quarter to the locked out claimants less the amount paid under (a) of this subsection; and

(c) The amount of the costs related to administering the benefits paid to the locked out claimants not otherwise paid or payable from federal funds.

(2) At the end of each calendar quarter, the commissioner shall notify employers subject to this section, and shall include in each employer's contribution notice for the calendar quarter a billing for the amount determined under this section. Contributions shall become due and be paid as prescribed by the commissioner for contributions under RCW 50.24.010.

(3) RCW 50.29.062 shall not apply to employers subject to this section. For purposes of RCW 50.24.010, the contribution rate of a successor employer to an employer subject to this section shall be the contribution rate of the rate class assigned to the predecessor employer at the time of the transfer for the remainder of that rate year. Any experience relating to the assignment of that rate class attributable to the predecessor is transferred to the successor. Beginning on the January 1 following the transfer, the successor's assigned contribution rate for purposes of RCW 50.24.010 shall be based on the transferred experience of the acquired business and the successor's experience after the transfer.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. 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 inoperative solely to the extent of the conflict, and the finding or determination does not affect the operation of the remainder of this act. Rules adopted under this act must 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.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. This act applies to weeks of unemployment beginning on or after January 2, 2000, of claimants who were locked out by their employers after January 13, 1999. A claimant who exhausted benefits before the effective date of this section has the option of remaining on the original claim or filing a new claim.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.