On April 20, 2021 business associations joined in a letter of opposition to unemployment insurance amendment provisions that were included in HR 1620 as it passed the U.S. House of Representatives on March 17th. The letter raised a series of reasons for opposition, including:
- The amendment would impose a federal mandate that would be inconsistent with state law with respect to unemployment insurance. Violence against women in connection with work is just cause to quit. This issue has been addressed in every state in statute, administrative rule or policy.
- Under the amendment unemployment benefits would be charged to employers even when the reason for unemployment was not in connection with the workplace, not due to anything the employer did, and did not arise in the course of employment.
- The amendment would raise a scoring issue. It would increase outlays from federal unemployment trust fund accounts and increase the cost of unemployment compensation for federal agencies.
- The amendment would impose additional unfunded federal mandates. The amendment imposes increased costs of administration for states without additional federal appropriations and increases administrative costs for employers and federal agencies.
Consideration of HR 1620 is now before the U.S. Senate. We expect there to be careful review of the provisions of HR 1620 and potentially the development of new legislation in the Senate.
