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Summary of Bill & What It Means to You
SB 2 (Sen. Wojno): Increase Unemployment Benefit Duration. This legislation would increase the number of weeks an unemployed worker is eligible for state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits from 20 to 26.
OPPOSE: Increase Unemployment Benefit Duration. Michigan’s Unemployment Trust Fund, the 100 percent employer financed fund that pays benefits to unemployed workers, is nearly bankrupt due to COVID-19 benefits. Michigan cannot afford a benefit increase of this size or type without a massive tax increase on employers. Rather than finding ways to keep more workers on unemployment benefits, Michigan should focus fully reopening all sectors of Michigan’s’ economy and finding ways to get people back to work.
HB 4339, SB 173 – Allow seasonal employees to collect unemployment insurance (UI) benefits during their off-season (currently disqualified).
HB 4338, SB 172 – Allow Independent Contractors to Collect Unemployment. This legislation would allow independent contractors to be eligible to collect state unemployment benefits during a state-declared emergency and replaces the IRS 20 Factor Test to an ABC test for determining if a worker is an independent contractor.
HB 4337, SB 171 – Increase the Number of Individuals Eligible for Unemployment Benefits. Drops the high quarter earnings eligibility requirement from $4,744 to $1,235. Today, to be eligible for benefits you must, among other things, either have wages in at least two quarters in the base period totaling the amount set in statute. This bill would have the net effect of allowing more claimants, particularly those with little or an unstable attachment to the job market, to collect UI benefits.
HB 4334, SB 170 – Increase Unemployment Benefit Payout. This legislation would increase unemployment insurance (UI) benefit duration from a maximum of 20 weeks to 26 weeks, increases the dependent allowance from $6 per child to $20 per child and increases the number of acceptable dependents from fix to six under the unemployment insurance (UI) program. The dependent allowance gives claimants an extra amount in their UI benefit checks based on the number of dependents they claim.
HB 4335, SB 169 – Increase Unemployment Benefit Amount. This legislation would increase unemployment insurance (UI) benefits from a maximum of $362 per week to $593 and to 58% of the state average weekly wage at the start of January 2022.
HB 4336, SB 168 – Increase Unemployment Benefit Amount. This legislation would increase the weekly benefit unemployment insurance (UI) benefit amount to 6.1% of a worker’s highest quarter earnings.
Retroactive Workers’ Compensation Coverage Mandate for COVID Claims. This legislation seeks to require workers’ compensation to cover all COVID-19 related medical claims for “essential workers” retroactive to March 10, 2020. This mandate would apply regardless of whether the worker could prove he or she contracted COVID-19 in the workplace.
SB 2 (Sen. Wojno): Increase Unemployment Benefit Duration. This legislation would increase the number of weeks an unemployed worker is eligible for state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits from 20 to 26.