WMC’s Executive Vice President of Government Relations Scott Manley testified at the Assembly Committee on Labor & Integrated Employment in support ofAB 910, SB 897,and SB 898. This bill would improve the efficiency and fairness of our unemployment benefits system.
“What you have before you today represents those policies that both labor and management agree are in the best interest of our unemployment system,” Manley said.
The testimony highlighted three common-sense reforms to the unemployment system including:
- Ensuring that those who have been convicted of a crime may not dispute that conviction in respect to their eligibility for unemployment benefits.
- Students who work at summer camps currently have their wages taxed for unemployment benefit purposes. This bill corrects that inequity by exempting wages earned by students working at summer camps from unemployment taxes.
- In April of 2020, the Legislature had the foresight to expand the availability of the Work Share program as a tool to allow workers whose hours had been cut to remain employed while being eligible for partial or reduced UI benefits. Unfortunately, many of those program improvements were temporary. This bill would make those reforms permanent so employers and employees alike can benefit by maintaining employment.
