This bill is designed to encourage employers who must reduce their employees’ work hours because of economic conditions to avoid layoffs by sharing the remaining work. That is achieved by permitting, under certain circumstances, a full-time employee to receive unemployment benefits when the employee’s weekly work time is reduced by 10% or more. The bill also permits the employee to attend an approved training program while receiving those benefits.

The bill also provides that an employer of at least 10 full-time non-seasonal employees may provide a shared work program if approved by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The program may be approved for one year with annual renewals upon request. The employer is required to sustain existing fringe benefits levels, not to hire additional part-time or full-time employees; or make unreasonable revisions of workloads; to provide information needed to monitor compliance; and to certify that if a labor union represents the employees, it has agreed to the terms of the program.

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