More seasonal employees would be eligible for
unemployment compensation in Pennsylvania under a bill designed to protect
construction workers.
House Bill 1477, introduced
in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Monday by Rep. Gene DiGirolamo
(R-Bucks County), would repeal portions of Act 60 of 2012.
Republican-backed Act 60 was designed to eliminate the
state’s $3.9 billion unemployment compensation debt to the federal government.
One aspect of the plan made it more difficult for seasonal employees to
qualify for benefits.
DiGirolamo said in a co-sponsorship memo that Act 60 had
the “unintended” impact of creating eligibility difficulties for employees in
building trades and highway and utility construction.
“This bill makes the necessary changes needed to have a
positive impact and correct the problems associated with, and now being felt
by, the enactment of Act 60 of 2012, particularly for [c]onstruction workers in
seasonally impacted occupations,” he wrote.
Unemployment compensation eligibility is based on a
formula that compares the total yearly earnings of an
employee to his or her highest-earning quarter. Act 60 increased the percentage
of income that must be earned outside of the highest-earning quarter from 37
percent to 49.5 percent.
DiGirolamo’s bill would lower that threshold to
28 percent, making it easier to qualify for unemployment compensation. It would
pay for the change through a supplemental one-cent-per-hour contribution by
employees to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund.
The bill was referred to the House Labor and Industry Committee. It has 21
co-sponsors.
Source: Central
Penn Business Journal
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