Minnesota Session Laws - 1994, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 503-H.F.No. 2893 
                  An act relating to unemployment compensation; 
                  extending benefits for certain employees; providing 
                  for a shared work plan; requiring a study; amending 
                  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 268.073, subdivisions 
                  1, 5, and by adding a subdivision; proposing coding 
                  for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 268; 
                  repealing Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 268.073, 
                  subdivision 6. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 268.073, 
        subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
           Subdivision 1.  [ADDITIONAL BENEFITS; WHEN AVAILABLE.] 
        Additional unemployment compensation benefits are authorized 
        under this section only if the commissioner determines that: 
           (1) an employer has reduced operations at a facility 
        employing 100 or more individuals for at least six months during 
        the preceding year resulting in the reduction of at least 50 
        percent of the employer's work force and the layoff of at least 
        50 employees at that facility; 
           (2) the employer does not intend has no expressed plan to 
        resume operations which would lead to the reemployment of those 
        employees at any time in the immediate future; and 
           (3) the unemployment rate for the county in which the 
        facility is located was ten percent during the month of the 
        reduction or any of the three months preceding or succeeding the 
        reduction. 
           Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 268.073, 
        subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 5.  [MAXIMUM BENEFITS PAYABLE.] A claimant's maximum 
        amount of additional benefits payable in the individual's 
        benefit year shall be six 13 times the individual's weekly 
        benefit amount.  Unemployment compensation benefits paid to an 
        individual under any state or federal law other than regular 
        benefits payable under section 268.07 shall be deducted from 
        that individual's maximum amount of additional benefits. 
           Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 268.073, is 
        amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
           Subd. 7.  [BENEFIT CHARGES.] (a) Except as otherwise 
        provided, benefits paid to an individual under this section 
        shall be charged to the employment experience record of the base 
        period employer of the individual to the extent regular benefits 
        were charged to the base period employer under sections 268.06, 
        subdivision 5, and 268.09, subdivision 1, paragraph (e). 
           (b) With respect to an employer who has elected to be a 
        contributing employer under the provisions of section 268.06, 
        subdivision 31, all benefits paid under this section which are 
        based upon services for the contributing employer shall be 
        charged to the contributing employer's account. 
           Sec. 4.  [268.074] [SHARED WORK PLAN.] 
           Subdivision 1.  [SHARED WORK PLAN; DEFINITIONS.] For 
        purposes of this section, the following terms have the meanings 
        given: 
           (a) "Affected employee" means an individual who was 
        continuously employed as a member of the affected group, by the 
        shared work employer, for at least six months prior to 
        application, on a full-time basis. 
           (b) "Affected group" means five or more employees 
        designated by the employer to participate in a shared work plan. 
           (c) "Shared work employer" means an employer with a shared 
        work plan in effect. 
           (d) "Shared work plan" or "plan" means an employer's 
        voluntary, written plan for reducing unemployment, under which a 
        specified group of employees shares the work remaining after 
        their normal weekly hours of work are reduced. 
           (e) "Approved shared work plan" or "approved plan" means an 
        employer's shared work plan which meets the requirement of this 
        section. 
           (f) "Normal weekly hours of work" means the number of hours 
        in a week that the employee normally would work for the shared 
        work employer or 40 hours, whichever is less. 
           Subd. 2.  [PARTICIPATION.] (a) An employer wishing to 
        participate in the shared work unemployment benefit program 
        shall submit a signed, written shared work plan to the 
        commissioner for approval.  The commissioner may give written 
        approval of a shared work plan only if it: 
           (1) specifies the employees in the affected group; 
           (2) applies to only one affected group; 
           (3) includes a certified statement by the employer that 
        each individual specified in the affected group is an affected 
        employee; 
           (4) includes a certified statement by the employer that for 
        the duration of the plan the reduction in normal weekly hours of 
        work of the employees in the affected group is instead of 
        layoffs which otherwise would result in at least at large a 
        reduction in the total normal weekly hours of work; 
           (5) specifies an expiration date which is no more than one 
        year from the date the employer submits the plan for approval; 
           (6) specifies that fringe benefits, such as health and 
        retirement, available to the employees in the affected group are 
        not reduced beyond the percentage of reduction in hours of work; 
        and 
           (7) is approved in writing by the collective bargaining 
        agent for each collective bargaining agreement which covers any 
        employee in the affected group. 
           (b) The commissioner shall establish the beginning and 
        ending dates of an approved shared work plan. 
           (c) The commissioner shall approve or disapprove the plan 
        within 15 days of its receipt.  The commissioner shall notify 
        the employer of the reasons for disapproval of a shared work 
        plan within ten days of the determination.  Determinations of 
        the commissioner are final. 
           (d) Disapproval of a plan may be reconsidered upon 
        application of the employer or at the discretion of the 
        commissioner.  Approval of a shared work plan may be revoked by 
        the commissioner when it is established that the approval was 
        based, in whole or in part, upon information in the plan which 
        is either false or substantially misleading. 
           Subd. 3.  [ELIGIBILITY.] (a) Notwithstanding any other 
        provision of this chapter, an individual is unemployed and 
        eligible to receive shared work benefits with respect to any 
        week if the commissioner finds that: 
           (1) during the week the individual is employed as a member 
        of an affected group in an approved plan which was approved 
        prior to the week and is in effect for the week; and 
           (2) during the week the individual's normal weekly hours of 
        work were reduced, in accordance with an approved plan, at least 
        20 percent but not more than 40 percent, with a corresponding 
        reduction in wages. 
           (b) Shared work benefits shall not be paid to an eligible 
        individual beyond one benefit year under an approved plan or 
        modification of an approved plan. 
           (c) The total amount of regular benefits and shared work 
        benefits paid to an individual in a benefit year shall not 
        exceed the maximum benefit amount established. 
           (d) An otherwise eligible individual shall not be denied 
        benefits under this section because of the application of any 
        provision of this chapter relating to availability for work, 
        active search for work, or refusal to apply for or accept work 
        from other than the individual's shared work employer. 
           Subd. 4.  [WEEKLY BENEFIT AMOUNT.] (a) An individual who is 
        eligible for shared work benefits under this section shall be 
        paid, with respect to any week of unemployment, a weekly shared 
        work unemployment insurance benefit amount.  The amount shall be 
        equal to the individual's regular weekly benefit amount 
        multiplied by the nearest full percentage of reduction of the 
        individual's regular weekly hours of work as set forth in the 
        employer's plan.  The benefit payment, if not a multiple of $1 
        shall be rounded to the next lower dollar. 
           (b) The provisions of section 268.07, subdivision 2, 
        paragraph (g), shall not apply to earnings from the shared work 
        employer of an individual eligible for payments under this 
        section unless the resulting payment would be less than the 
        regular benefit payment for which the individual would otherwise 
        be eligible without regard to shared work unemployment insurance 
        benefits. 
           (c) An individual shall be disqualified for benefits 
        payable under this section for any week in which paid work is 
        performed for the shared work employer in excess of the reduced 
        hours set forth in the approved plan. 
           Sec. 5.  [EFFECTIVE DATE; SUNSET.] 
           Section 268.074 is effective July 1, 1994.  Benefits shall 
        not be paid for any weeks of unemployment before that date, 
        although proposals to participate under the plan may be 
        submitted for approval before that date.  The program shall 
        terminate and no benefits shall be paid for weeks after June 30, 
        1996. 
           Sec. 6.  [STUDY.] 
           The reemployment insurance advisory committee shall study 
        results of the program and make recommendations to the 
        legislature by February 15, 1996, as to the continuation or 
        modification of the program. 
           Sec. 7.  [REPEALER.] 
           Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 268.073, subdivision 6, is 
        repealed. 
           Sec. 8.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           Sections 1 and 2 are effective the day following final 
        enactment. 
           Presented to the governor April 22, 1994 
           Signed by the governor April 25, 1994, 1:02 p.m.