Unemployment insurance: work sharing plans.

Existing law deems an individual unemployed in any week if the individual works less than his or her normal weekly hours of work for the individual's regular employer as the result of a plan by the employer, in lieu of layoff, to reduce employment and stabilize the work force by work sharing. Existing law requires that plan to have been approved by the Director of Employment Development, pursuant to prescribed requirements. Existing law requires the plan to involve the participation of at least two employees and include not less than 10 percent of the employer's regular permanent work force, as specified. Existing law requires an approved plan to expire 6 months after its effective date. Existing law provides that employees participating are eligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits in an amount equal to the percentage of reduction of the employee's wages resulting from an approved plan, as specified. This bill would limit the application of these provisions to work sharing plans that become effective before July 1, 2014. The bill would prohibit the renewal of those work sharing plans on or after July 1, 2014. This bill would also revise and recast these provisions as applied to work sharing plans that become effective on or after July 1, 2014. In this regard, the bill would define a work sharing plan as a plan submitted by an employer, for approval by the Director of Employment Development, pursuant to which the employer requests the payment of work sharing compensation to employees in an affected unit of the employer in lieu of layoffs and would establish other definitions in this regard. The bill would require that an employer wishing to participate in the work sharing program submit a signed written work sharing plan to the director for approval, and that the director develop an application form that fulfills specified requirements, and an approval process, and designate a work sharing administrator. The employer would be required to make a series of certifications and to provide for notification of employees, as specified. The bill would establish timelines for the approval or disapproval of a plan and authorize its modification pursuant to a specified process. The bill would prescribe requirements for employees to be eligible for work sharing compensation, as defined. The bill would require that work sharing compensation be charged to employers' experience rating accounts in the same manner as unemployment compensation. Among other things, the bill would prohibit employees from being eligible to receive any benefits pursuant to these provisions unless their employer agrees, in writing, and their bargaining agent agrees, in writing, pursuant to any applicable collective bargaining agreement, to voluntarily participate in the work sharing program.