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90_HB3097
New Act
Creates the Unemployment Compensation Gap Act.
Establishes an Unemployment Compensation Gap Program,
operated by the Department of Employment Security, to provide
unemployment benefits to persons who do not qualify for
unemployment insurance but meet specified criteria.
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1 AN ACT in relation to unemployment benefits.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Unemployment Compensation Gap Act.
6 Section 5. Findings and Purpose.
7 (a) The unemployment insurance program is highly
8 successful at supporting workers when they lose a job,
9 facilitating prompt re-employment, and keeping workers out of
10 poverty after a job loss.
11 (b) The unemployment insurance program, due to its
12 structure and technical eligibility rules, does not cover
13 many workers when they lose their jobs for reasons other than
14 misconduct connected with work.
15 (c) The working poor, workers recently entering the
16 workforce after a period of unemployment, part-time and
17 temporary workers, and workers with external demands that
18 interfere with work, such as single parents or caretakers of
19 disabled family members, are among those most likely not to
20 qualify for unemployment insurance when they lose a job for
21 reasons other than misconduct connected with the work. These
22 are the groups most likely to fall into poverty after a job
23 loss, placing them at risk of needing welfare and of
24 encountering mounting barriers to staying in the workforce.
25 (d) Women workers are far less likely to qualify for
26 unemployment insurance benefits when they lose a job for
27 reasons other than misconduct connected to the work than male
28 workers. This is because women are more likely to hold the
29 types of jobs, exhibit the types of work patterns, and
30 experience the types of job loss that result in ineligibility
31 for unemployment insurance.
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1 (e) Employers fund the unemployment insurance program
2 through a special tax. While the unemployment insurance
3 program is the preferred method of providing unemployment
4 insurance, it cannot be expanded sufficiently at this time to
5 address the gaps addressed by this Act.
6 (f) The purpose of this Act is to make the re-employment
7 strategy of the unemployment insurance program available to
8 more poor and female workers by providing unemployment
9 compensation even though they fail to qualify for the regular
10 unemployment insurance program, thereby helping more working
11 poor and working women who lose jobs avoid poverty and the
12 need for welfare, retain their attachment to the workforce,
13 and become quickly re-employed.
14 Section 10. Unemployment Compensation Gap Program.
15 There is established an Unemployment Compensation Gap
16 Program, to be operated by the Department of Employment
17 Security as a part of the unemployment insurance program, and
18 funded with appropriations from the general revenues of the
19 State. The Department shall operate the Unemployment
20 Compensation Gap Program using all rules, procedures, and
21 practices used under the unemployment insurance program
22 except as provided in this Act.
23 Section 15. Coordination with Unemployment Insurance.
24 (a) The Unemployment Compensation Gap Program provides
25 expanded eligibility for unemployment compensation to
26 eligible persons who fail to qualify for unemployment
27 insurance under the rules of the unemployment insurance
28 program. The Department shall operate the Unemployment
29 Compensation Gap Program in the same manner as the
30 unemployment insurance program, applying all definitions,
31 rules, procedures, and practices provided for under the
32 Unemployment Insurance Act and implementing rules that are
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1 not inconsistent with this Act. To the extent the provisions
2 of the Unemployment Insurance Act are not inconsistent with
3 this Act, they are incorporated in this Act by reference.
4 The Department shall adopt by rule further definitions and
5 procedures necessary for implementation of the Unemployment
6 Compensation Gap Program. Base period employers of
7 beneficiaries under the Unemployment Compensation Gap Program
8 shall not have their status with respect to the unemployment
9 insurance program, or their tax liability under the
10 unemployment insurance program, affected by a former
11 employee's receipt of benefits under the Unemployment
12 Compensation Gap Program. The Department shall pay for
13 Unemployment Compensation Gap Program benefits and related
14 administrative costs with appropriations from the general
15 revenues of the State rather than moneys in the Unemployment
16 Insurance Trust Fund.
17 (b) Any person eligible for regular unemployment
18 insurance under current or future rules, regardless of
19 amount, is not eligible for Unemployment Compensation Gap
20 benefits.
21 Section 20. Eligibility. An applicant must meet all
22 eligibility and procedural rules applicable to the
23 unemployment insurance program, except that the following
24 eligibility rules apply to the Unemployment Compensation Gap
25 Program:
26 (a) The minimum base period earnings requirement may be
27 satisfied by aggregate earnings in the base period, without
28 any requirement that the earnings be distributed in any
29 particular way among the base period quarters.
30 (b) The base period shall consist of the first 4
31 quarters preceding the date of application, including the
32 incomplete quarter in which the application is filed, as to
33 which there is a complete record of the applicant's earnings
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1 as proven by the State's records, the applicant's records, or
2 the applicant's employer's records.
3 (c) The disqualification from unemployment insurance for
4 voluntary leaving of employment for reasons not attributable
5 to the employer shall not apply if the applicant proves that
6 the reason for leaving employment was the loss of child care
7 arrangements necessitating the applicant personally caring
8 for the children rather than working. "Loss of child care
9 arrangements" includes loss for any reason not the fault of
10 the applicant in spite of a good faith effort to find
11 replacement care on time to enable continuing employment.
12 Section 25. Benefits. Based upon base period earnings
13 as specified in subsections (a) and (b) Section 20, benefits
14 shall be calculated the in the same manner as under the
15 unemployment insurance program and paid on the same basis and
16 schedule, subject to the same conditions and other ongoing
17 eligibility rules as under the unemployment insurance
18 program.