Description
The purpose of this rulemaking is to clarify that work search activities are required for claimants who are receiving unemployment insurance benefits due to a strike in accordance with the United States Department of Labor’s (USDOL) interpretation of 42 U.S.C. § 503. USDOL has warned the Employment Security Department (Department) that its current work search rule is out of conformity with federal law and must be immediately remedied or the Department may lose federal funding for administration of the unemployment insurance program and employers in Washington state may lose their tax credits under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act.
Currently, the Department’s rule WAC 192-180-010 states that claimants must be actively seeking work unless they are attached to an employer as defined in WAC 192-180-005(1). WAC 192-180-005(1)(a)(iii) states claimants who are unemployed because they are on strike are considered to be attached to an employer. This rulemaking is updating WAC 192-180-005(1)(a) to remove claimants who are on strike from the definition of “attached to an employer,” with the result being that those claimants will be required to perform approved work search activities in order to be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.
The Department first completed emergency rulemaking in order to get the new rule language in place immediately. The Department is now pursuing permanent rulemaking.