BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2055
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE
Jose Solorio, Chair
AB 2055 (De La Torre) - As Introduced: February 18, 2010
SUBJECT : Unemployment insurance benefits: domestic partners
SUMMARY : Allows a person that imminently will be in a
registered domestic partnership to become eligible to receive
unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines "domestic partner" to include a person to whom a
registered domestic partnership is imminent and to be deemed
to have left their work with good cause if he or she
accompanies their intended domestic partner to a place from
which it is impractical to commute.
2)Allows a person to whom a domestic partnership is imminent, as
defined above, to become eligible to receive UI benefits.
3)Permits an employer to submit facts to EDD disclosing that the
UI claimant left employment to accompany his or her imminent
domestic partner to join him or her at a place from which it
is impractical to commute.
4)Provides that an employer's account will not be charged for
the UI benefits received by a former employee if the UI
claimant left employment to accompany his or her imminent
domestic partner to join him or her at place from which it is
impractical to commute.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Disqualifies a person for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits
if the Director of the Employment Development (EDD) finds that
he or she left his or her most recent work voluntarily without
good cause or that he or she has been discharged for
misconduct.
2)Provides that a person may be deemed to have left his or her
most recent work with good cause if he or she leaves
employment to accompany his or her spouse or domestic partner
to a place from which it is impractical to commute to the
employment.
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3)Permits an employer who is entitled to receive notice that a
person has filed a claim of regular UI benefits or extended UI
benefits to submit to EDD facts disclosing that the claimant
left employment voluntarily or left due to specified
circumstances. One of the circumstances is that the claimant
left employment to accompany his or her spouse or domestic
partner to join him at a place from which it is impractical to
commute to the employment, to which a transfer of the claimant
by the employer is not available.
4)Provides that if a UI claimant left their employment
voluntarily or under specified circumstances, then the
benefits paid to the claimant shall not be charged to the
account of the employer. One of these circumstances is that
the claimant left the employer's employ to accompany his or
her spouse or domestic partner to join him at place from which
it is impractical to commute.
5)Defines "spouse" for the above purposes to include a person to
whom marriage is imminent.
FISCAL EFFECT : Undetermined.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose. The purpose of this bill is to preserve the family
unit by providing the same unemployment benefits to imminent
domestic partners that married couples, registered domestic
partners, and persons who will imminently marry, currently
receive.
2)Background. According to the author and the bill sponsor,
Equality California, existing law provides that persons who
are unemployed through no fault of their own can receive
unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. UI benefits are
available to an employee when he or she leaves his or her job
for good cause, including when he or she leaves the area to
accompany their spouse or registered domestic partner. As
defined in existing law, the term "spouse" includes
individuals/couples where marriage is imminent. Therefore,
soon-to-be married couples can also receive UI benefits.
However, the law does not cover imminent domestic partners.
The Employment Development Department reports the following:
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In 1988, the state Supreme Court ruled in Altaville Drug Stores
v. California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and EDD
that an employer's reserve account may be relieved of charges
when a person who is about to be married leaves work to join
his or her fianc?e, the couple is later married, the finance
lives in a place from which it is impractical for the claimant
to commute to the former employment, the new place is one to
which the claimant could not be transferred, and the spouse or
imminent spouse has secured employment at the new location.
The state Supreme Court also addressed the relationship of
Section 1032 (employer accounts for purposes of UI payments)
to Section 1256 (UI eligibility) of the Unemployment Insurance
Code and held that . . . "the purpose of the 1979 amendment to
Section 1032 was to remedy the unfair situation imposed on an
employer of a "domestic quit" whose employee left work with
good cause to follow his or her spouse. The situation is
similarly unfair when an employee leaves with good cause to
follow an "imminent spouse."
Also in 1988, AB 3602 (Chapter 781, Statutes of 1988) amended
Section 1256 by providing that an individual may be deemed to
have left his or her most recent work with good cause if he or
she leaves to accompany or join his or her spouse or
"imminent" spouse to a place from which it is impractical to
commute to the employment.
In 2001, AB 25 (Chapter 893, Statutes of 2001) authorized the
establishment of registered domestic partnerships and amended
Section 1256 of the Unemployment Insurance Code to provide
that a domestic partner is equal to a spouse for purposes of
UI eligibility and may leave his or her employment if he or
she leaves to accompany or join the domestic partner to a
place from which it is impractical to commute. Sections 1030
and 1032, which are also the subject of this bill, were
amended to allow an individual employer's account to not be
charged when an employee leaves due to this reason.
3)Arguments in Support. The author and sponsor state that this
bill will preserve the family unit by providing the same UI
benefits to imminent domestic partners that married couples,
registered domestic partners, and soon-to-be married couples
currently receive. By guaranteeing this right to imminent
domestic partners, this bill will bring parity to the law,
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family unity will be preserved, and all committed
relationships will be given equal opportunity to unemployment
benefits.
The California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, states that in
California's current economic crisis, with unemployment at
12.5%, and long-term unemployment (i.e., out of work for 6
months or longer) up 170% from last year, people are searching
for jobs in every corner of the state and are more willing
than ever to move for work.
4)Technical Note: Legislation Affecting the Same Section of
Law. This bill affects one section of law (Section 1256 of
the Unemployment Insurance Code) that is proposed to be
amended by another bill of this Session (AB 2364, Nava) that
has been approved by this Committee. While there is no policy
conflict between the two bills, it will important to monitor
the status of these bills if they both move forward in order
to avoid any chaptering out problems.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Equality California (Sponsor)
American Civil Liberties Union
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
California Teachers Association
Consumer Attorneys of California
Opposition
None received.
Analysis Prepared by : Manny Hernandez / INS. / (916) 319-2086