LRB-1778/P1
MED:kjf
2019 - 2020 LEGISLATURE
DOA:......Hynek, BB0282 - UI Wage Threshold
For 2019-2021 Budget -- Not Ready For Introduction
An Act ...; relating to: the budget.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
employment
1. Unemployment insurance; wage threshold for receipt of benefits
Under current law, a claimant for unemployment insurance benefits is generally ineligible to receive any benefits for a week if the claimant receives or is considered to have received wages or other amounts from employment totaling more than $500. This bill requires DWD to annually raise this $500 threshold figure by a percentage equal to the average annual percentage change in the U.S. consumer price index.
For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
Section
1. 108.05 (3) (dm) of the statutes is renumbered 108.05 (3) (dm) 1. and amended to read:
108.05 (3) (dm) 1. Except when otherwise authorized in an approved work-share program under s. 108.062, a claimant is ineligible to receive any benefits for a week if the claimant receives or will receive from one or more employers wages earned for work performed in that week, amounts treated as wages under s. 108.04 (1) (bm) for that week, sick pay, holiday pay, vacation pay, termination pay, bonus pay, back pay, or payments treated as wages under s. 108.04 (12) (e), or any combination thereof, totalling more than $500 the amount determined under subd. 2.
Section
2. 108.05 (3) (dm) 2. of the statutes is created to read:
108.05 (3) (dm) 2. For purposes of subd. 1., the amount under this subdivision shall be $500, except that effective January 1 of each year, with the first adjustment being effective on January 1, 2020, the department shall adjust that amount by a percentage equal to the average annual percentage change in the U.S. consumer price index for all urban consumers, U.S. city average, as determined by the federal department of labor. The department shall annually have the revised amount published in the Wisconsin Administrative Register.
****Note: I think this should work, but I would suggest letting DWD review it. I would also note that changes to UI law are typically effective corresponding with the beginning of a week (i.e., on a Sunday), so it might be preferable to have this change be effective on the first full week of a given year, rather than on January 1, but I would also defer to DWD on that.
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