The Employment Security Department (ESD) has proposed new rules for relaxing work availability requirements to allow more people to qualify for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.

The proposed rules would apply to regular UI claims, not the enhanced unemployment benefits offered by various state and federal programs during the COVID-19 emergency. ESD is holding a public hearing on the proposed rules on June 22 at 9 am via Zoom.

Currently, in order to qualify for UI benefits, a claimant must be available and willing to work during all the customary hours of their trade or occupation in a given week. The proposed rules would make changes to this “availability to work” requirement to allow people to still qualify for UI benefits even if they refuse certain job offers that are otherwise in their occupation’s customary hours. Specifically, it requires UI claimants to be available to work “for at least forty hours” during a trade or occupation’s customary work week, rather than simply be available for any customary hours during a work week. The proposal also adds preferred “shifts of employment” to the list of factors UI claimants can use to evaluate a job offer as “suitable work.”

ESD argues that the rule is necessary because the requirement to be available for all customary hours is unobtainable for some claimants that work in occupations considered 24/7 professions (around 40% of occupations) and may need to refuse otherwise “suitable work” because the offered shifts conflict with family caregiving obligations. The proposed rule would allow those claimants the flexibility to continue looking for work with a more suitable schedule while still being eligible for UI benefits. ESD’s preliminary cost-benefit analysis is indeterminate as to how the rule change could impact employers’ UI tax experience rating, as the agency cannot predict how many more claimants will be approved for benefits because of the new rule.

For more information on the proposed change, check out ESD’s work availability rulemaking page. If you wish to participate in the public hearing, the details are below.

Hours of availability and suitable work public hearing

Date: June 22
Time: 9 am
Zoom web link
Zoom meeting ID: 883 4231 8970
Zoom meeting passcode: 938418
Call in: (253) 215-8782