(1) (a) Repealed.
(b) (I) The director shall establish a voluntary work share program for the purpose of allowing the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to employees whose wages and hours have been reduced. In order to participate in the work share program, an employer shall submit a work share plan in writing to the director for approval. If the employer is subject to a collective bargaining agreement, the collective bargaining unit must agree in writing to the work share plan prior to implementation. An employer that is a negative excess employer pursuant to section 8-76-102.5 (3) may be eligible to participate in the work share program in accordance with rules adopted by the director concerning eligibility requirements.
(II) This paragraph (b) is effective December 31, 2012.
(2) An employer must submit a work share plan to the division on forms and following procedures required by the director. The director may approve a work share plan if:
The plan applies to and identifies a specific affected unit;
The plan identifies the employees in the affected unit by name and social securitynumber;
The plan reduces the normal work for an employee in the affected unit by at least tenpercent and not more than an amount consistent with rules promulgated by the director and authorized under 26 U.S.C. sec. 3306 (v);
The plan applies to at least two of the employees in the affected unit;(e) Repealed.
The plan includes a description of how the plan complies with the "Federal Unemployment Tax Act", 26 U.S.C. sec. 3301 et seq.;
The plan includes an explanation of how employees will be notified of the plan inadvance, if notification is feasible, or an explanation of why it is not feasible to notify the employees in advance;
The plan includes an estimate of the number of employees who would be laid off ifthe employer did not participate in the work share program; and
The plan includes certification by the employer that the terms of the written plan andimplementation of the plan are consistent with employer obligations pursuant to federal and state law.
(3) The director shall not approve a work share plan unless the employer:
Agrees that for the duration of the employer's participation in the work share program, the employer shall not eliminate or diminish health insurance, retirement benefits received under a pension plan, paid vacation and holidays, sick leave, or any other similar employee benefit provided by the employer immediately prior to submitting the work share plan to the division, if the employer provides benefits to his or her employees;
Certifies that the collective bargaining agent for the employees, if applicable, hasagreed to the work share plan;
Certifies that the implementation of a shared work plan and the resulting reduction inwork hours is in lieu of layoffs that would affect at least two of the employees in the affected unit and that would result in an equivalent reduction in work hours;
Certifies that the employer will not employ additional employees in the affected unitwhile participating in the work share program;
Agrees that no employee participating in the work share program shall receive, in theaggregate, more than twenty-six weeks of benefits; and
Agrees to submit reports concerning the operation of the work share plan to the division upon request of the director.
(4) The director shall approve or deny the work share plan in writing no later than thirty days after the date the division receives the plan. If the director denies the work share plan, he or she shall inform the employer in writing of the reasons for the denial.
Source: L. 2010: Entire part added, (SB 10-028), ch. 397, p. 1887, § 1, effective June 9. L. 2011: (1) amended, (HB 11-1288), ch. 212, p. 928, § 12, effective July 1. L. 2012, 1st Ex. Sess.: (1)(a)(II) amended, (HB 12S-1002), ch. 2, p. 2428, § 7, effective June 1. L. 2013: IP(2), (2)(d), (3)(c), and (3)(e) amended, (2)(e) repealed, and (2)(f), (2)(g), (2)(h), and (2)(i) added, (SB 13-157), ch. 147, p. 472, § 3, effective July 1. L. 2020: (1)(b)(I) and (2)(c) amended, (SB 20207), ch. 296, p. 1473, § 6, effective July 14.
Editor's note: Subsection (1)(a)(II) provided for the repeal of subsection (1)(a), effective December 31, 2012. (See L. 2012, p. 2428.)