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An Act To Give Flexibility to Employees and Employers for Temporary Layoffs
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §1192, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2013, c. 314, §1, is further amended to read:
 
2. Has registered for work.   The individual has registered for work at, and continued to report at, an employment office in accordance with rules the commission adopts, except that the commission may, by rule, waive or alter either or both of the requirements of this subsection as to individuals attached to regular jobs and as to such other types of cases or situations with respect to which the commission finds that compliance with the requirements would be oppressive, or would be inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter. A rule under this subsection may not conflict with section 1191, subsection 1.
 
The individual must actively seek work each week in which a claim for benefits is filed unless the individual is participating in approved training under subsection 6, the individual is temporarily laid off under subsection 14 or work search has been waived in accordance with rules adopted by the commission and provide evidence of work search efforts in a manner and form as prescribed by the Department of Labor. Failure to provide required work search documentation results in a denial of benefits in accordance with section 1194, subsection 2 for the week or weeks for which no documentation was provided unless the department determines there is good cause for the individual's failure to comply with this requirement;
Sec. 2. 26 MRSA §1192, sub-§12, as amended by PL 2011, c. 645, §3, is further amended to read:
 
12. Participation in reemployment services.   The individual who has been referred to reemployment services, pursuant to a profiling system established by the commissioner, participates in those services or similar services unless it is determined that the individual has completed those services or there is good cause for the individual's failure to participate; and
Sec. 3. 26 MRSA §1192, sub-§13, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 645, §4, is amended to read:
 
13. Reemployment eligibility assessment services; participation.   In the case that the individual has been referred to reemployment eligibility assessment services by the Department of Labor, the individual participates in those services, unless the department determines there is good cause for the individual's failure to participate. Failure to participate in reemployment eligibility assessment services without good cause results in a denial of benefits until the individual participates.; and
Sec. 4.  26 MRSA §1192, sub-§14  is enacted to read:
 
14.  Temporary layoffs.     Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, any otherwise eligible claimant who is temporarily laid off by an employer that has given that individual a definite recall date of not more than 12 weeks from the date of the individual's temporary layoff may not be denied benefits for any week with respect to subsection 2 or 3, relating to work search requirements, for the duration of that temporary layoff, so long as the recall date is confirmed by the employer.
 
SUMMARY
This bill creates an exemption from the eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits dealing with work search for an individual otherwise eligible for unemployment benefits when that individual has been temporarily laid off with a definite recall date of not more than 12 weeks from the date of the individual's temporary layoff.