BILL NUMBER: AB 1392	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Insurance

                        MARCH 4, 2013

   An act to amend Section 1279.5 of the Unemployment Insurance Code,
relating to unemployment insurance.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1392, as introduced, Committee on Insurance. Unemployment
insurance: work sharing plans.
   Under existing law, unemployment compensation benefits are payable
from the Unemployment Fund to eligible unemployed individuals. Under
existing law, an individual is unemployed under specified
circumstances, including when he or she performs no services and
receives no pay. Existing law deems an individual unemployed in any
week that the individual works less than his or her normal weekly
hours of work for the individual's regular employer due to
participating in a specified work sharing plan that has been approved
by the Director of Employment Development and adopted by the
employer to avoid a layoff, if the employee's wages have been reduced
by at least 10%.
   This bill would provide that an individual is deemed unemployed
for these purposes in any week that the individual works less than
his or her normal weekly hours due to participating in a work sharing
plan described above that is adopted by the employer and approved by
the director, to avoid a layoff, if the employee's wages have been
reduced by at least 10% but not more than 60%.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1279.5 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
   1279.5.  (a) Notwithstanding Section 1252 or 1252.2 or any other
provision of this part, for the purposes of this section an
individual is "unemployed" in any week if the individual works less
than his or her normal weekly hours of work for the individual's
regular employer, and the director finds that the regular employer
has reduced or restricted the individual's normal hours of work, or
has rehired an individual previously laid off and reduced that
individual's normal hours of work from those previously worked, as
the result of a plan by the regular employer to, in lieu of layoff,
reduce employment and stabilize the work force by a program of
sharing the work remaining after a reduction in total hours of work
and a corresponding reduction in wages of at least 10 percent 
but no more than 60 percent  . The application for approval of a
plan shall require the employer to briefly describe the
circumstances requiring the use of work sharing to avoid a layoff.
Normal weekly hours of work means the number of hours in a week that
the employee normally would work for the regular employer or 40
hours, whichever is less. The plan must involve the participation of
at least two employees and include not less than 10 percent of the
employer's regular permanent work force involved in the affected work
unit or units in each week, or in at least one week of a
two-consecutive-week period. A plan approved by the director shall
expire six months after the effective date of the plan.
   (b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, each individual
eligible under this chapter who is "unemployed" in any week shall be
paid with respect to that week a weekly shared work unemployment
compensation benefit amount equal to the percentage of reduction of
the individual's wages resulting from an approved plan, rounded to
the nearest 5 percent, multiplied by the individual's weekly benefit
amount.
   (c) No individual who receives any benefits under this section
during any benefit year shall receive any benefits pursuant to
Section 1252 or 1252.2 as a partially unemployed individual with
respect to any week during such benefit year while in employment
status with the regular employer who initiated the program of sharing
work under this section. No benefits under this section shall be
payable on any type of extended claim.
   (d) Any amount payable under this section shall be reduced by the
amount of any and all compensation payable for personal services
whether performed as an employee or an independent contractor or as a
juror or as a witness, except compensation payable by the regular
employer under a shared work plan.
   For the purposes of this subdivision, "regular employer" may
include, pursuant to an approved plan, a labor organization which
periodically employs individuals in accordance with a collective
bargaining agreement.
   (e) The benefit payment under this section, if not a multiple of
one dollar ($1), shall be increased to the next higher multiple of
one dollar ($1).
   (f)  Sections 1253.5 and 1279 shall not apply to any individual
eligible for any payment under this section.
   (g) For the purposes of this section, an individual shall not be
disqualified under subdivision (c) of Section 1253 for any week if
both of the following conditions exist:
   (1) The individual has not been absent from work without the
approval of the regular employer.
   (2) The individual accepted all work the regular employer made
available to the individual during hours scheduled off due to the
work-sharing plan.
   (h) Except as otherwise provided by or inconsistent with this
section, all provisions of this division and authorized regulations
apply to benefits under this section. Authorized regulations may, to
the extent permitted by federal law, make such distinctions and
requirements as may be necessary in the procedures and provisions
applicable to unemployed individuals to carry out the purposes of
this section, including regulations defining normal hours, days,
workweek, and wages.
   (i) Employees shall not be eligible to receive any benefits under
this section unless their employer agrees, in writing, and their
bargaining agent pursuant to any applicable collective bargaining
agreement agrees, in writing, to voluntarily participate in the
shared work unemployment insurance benefit program created by this
section.
   (j) Notwithstanding Section 1327, the department shall not be
required to notify an employer of additional claims which result from
an approved plan submitted by the employer under which benefits are
not paid in each week.
   (k) The director may terminate a shared work plan for good cause
if the plan is not being carried out according to its terms and
intent.