AN ACT CONCERNING A NONCHARGE FOR EMPLOYEES PAID BENEFITS THROUGH THE SHARED WORK PROGRAM DURING PERIODS OF HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT.

House of Representatives
sHB5280 / File No. 109 1

General Assembly File No. 109
February Session, 2026 Substitute House Bill No. 5280

House of Representatives, March 23, 2026

The Committee on Labor and Public Employees reported
through REP. SANCHEZ, E. of the 24th Dist., Chairperson of
the Committee on the part of the House, that the substitute bill
ought to pass.

AN ACT CONCERNING A NONCHARGE FOR EMPLOYEES PAID
BENEFITS THROUGH THE SHARED WORK PROGRAM DURING
PERIODS OF HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subsection (c) of section 31-225a of the 2026 supplement to 1
the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 2
thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 3
(c) (1) (A) Any week for which the employer has compensated the 4
claimant in the form of wages in lieu of notice, dismissal payments or 5
any similar payment for loss of wages shall be considered a week of 6
employment for the purpose of determining employer chargeability. 7
(B) No benefits shall be charged to any employer who paid wages of 8
five hundred dollars or less to the claimant in his or her base period. 9
(C) No dependency allowance paid to a claimant shall be charged to 10
any employer. 11
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(D) In the event of a natural disaster declared by the President of the 12
United States, no benefits paid on the basis of total or partial 13
unemployment that is the result of physical damage to a place of 14
employment caused by severe weather conditions including, but not 15
limited to, hurricanes, snow storms, ice storms or flooding, or fire except 16
where caused by the employer, shall be charged to any employer. 17
(E) If the administrator finds that (i) an individual's most recent 18
separation from a base period employer occurred under conditions that 19
would result in disqualification by reason of subdivision (2), (6) or (9) of 20
subsection (a) of section 31-236, or (ii) an individual was discharged for 21
violating an employer's drug testing policy, provided the policy has 22
been adopted and applied consistent with sections 31 -51t to 31 -51aa, 23
inclusive, section 14 -261b and any applicable federal law, no benefits 24
paid thereafter to such individual with respect to any week of 25
unemployment that is based upon wages paid by such employer with 26
respect to employment prior to such separation shall be charged to such 27
employer's account, provided such employer shall have filed a notice 28
with the administrator within the time allowed for appeal in section 31-29
241. 30
(F) No base period employer's account shall be charged with respect 31
to benefits paid to a claimant if such employer continues to employ such 32
claimant at the time the employer's account would otherwise have been 33
charged to the same extent that he or she employed him or her during 34
the individual's base period, provided the employer shall notify the 35
administrator within the time allowed for appeal in section 31-241. 36
(G) If a claimant has failed to accept suitable employment under the 37
provisions of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 31 -236 and the 38
disqualification has been imposed, the account of the employer who 39
makes an offer of employment to a claimant who was a former 40
employee shall not be charged with any benefit payments made to such 41
claimant after such initial offer of reemployment until such time as such 42
claimant resumes employment with such employer, provided such 43
employer shall make application therefor in a form acceptable to the 44
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administrator. The administrator shall notify such employer whether or 45
not his or her application is granted. Any decision of the administrator 46
denying suspension of charges as herein provided may be appealed 47
within the time allowed for appeal in section 31-241. 48
(H) Fifty per cent of benefits paid to a claimant under the federal-state 49
extended duration unemployment benefits program established by the 50
federal Employment Security Act shall be charged to the experience 51
accounts of the claimant's base period employers in the same manner as 52
the regular benefits paid for such benefit year. 53
(I) No base period employer's account shall be charged with respect 54
to benefits paid to a claimant who voluntarily left suitable work with 55
such employer (i) to care for a seriously ill spouse, parent or child, or (ii) 56
due to the discontinuance of the transportation used by the claimant to 57
get to and from work, as provided in subparagraphs (A)(ii) and (A)(iii) 58
of subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of section 31-236. 59
(J) No base period employer's account shall be charged with respect 60
to benefits paid to a claimant who has been discharged or suspended 61
because the claimant has been disqualified from performing the work 62
for which he or she was hired due to the loss of such claimant's operator 63
license as a result of a drug or alcohol test or testing program conducted 64
in accordance with section 14-44k, 14-227a or 14-227b while the claimant 65
was off duty. 66
(K) No base period employer's account shall be charged with respect 67
to benefits paid to a claimant whose separation from employment is 68
attributable to the return of an individual who was absent from work 69
due to a bona fide leave taken pursuant to sections 31 -49f to 31 -49t, 70
inclusive, or 31-51kk to 31-51qq, inclusive. 71
(L) On and after January 1, 2027, no base period employer's account 72
shall be charged with respect to benefits paid to a claimant through the 73
voluntary shared work unemployment compensation program, 74
established pursuant to section 31-274j, if a claim for benefits is filed in 75
a week in which the state is in an extended benefit period or high 76
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unemployment period, pursuant to sections 31 -232b to 31 -232g, 77
inclusive. Such noncharge shall continue until the United States 78
Secretary of Labor has notified the Labor Commissioner that such 79
extended benefit period or high unemployment period has been 80
triggered off. 81
(2) All benefits paid that are not charged to any employer shall be 82
pooled. 83
(3) The noncharging provisions of this chapter, except subparagraphs 84
(D), (F) and (K) of subdivision (1) of this subsection, shall not apply to 85
reimbursing employers. 86
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 October 1, 2026 31-225a(c)

Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
Subparagraph (L) was moved into Subdivision (1) for proper form.

LAB Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO

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The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of
the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not
represent the intent of the General Assembly or either cha mber thereof for any purpose. In general,
fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional
knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final
products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note

State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 27 $ FY 28 $
Labor Dept. UITF - Potential
Savings
See Below See Below
Note: UITF=Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill exempts benefits paid through the voluntary shared work
program1 from being charged to an employer’s experience account for
claims filed during weeks in which the state is in an extended benefit or
high unemployment period , which results in potential savings to the
Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.
To the extent the change encourages greater employer participation
in the shared work program, the bill may avoid costs to the trust fund if
shared work arrangements reduce layoffs and related payments of full
benefits. Furthermore, since paid benefits wou ld not be charged to
certain individual employers’ experience accounts under the bill, they
would be “pooled” or shared among all taxable employers.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to increases in the shared work program
participation and employee's benefit amounts.

1 The voluntary shared work unemployment compensation program helps employers
avoid layoffs during downturns by allowing reduced employee hours and wages,
while employees receive partial unemployment benefits for lost hours.
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OLR Bill Analysis
HB 5280

AN ACT CONCERNING A NONCHARGE FOR EMPLOYEES PAID
BENEFITS THROUGH THE SHARED WORK PROGRAM DURING
PERIODS OF HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT.

SUMMARY
Beginning January 1, 2027, this bill reinstates a provision similar to
one repealed in 2025 on an unemployment insurance (UI) tax “non -
charge” for employers using a shared work program. Under the bill, this
non-charge applies when the state is in an extended benefit period or
high unemployment period ( generally, when the unemployment rate
exceeds 6.5% for three months). Under the bill, the non -charge must
continue until the U.S. labor secretary notifies the state labor
commissioner that the extended benefit period or high unemployment
period has been triggered off.
PA 25-117, § 5 repealed a similar provision related to the shared work
program that (1) required a non -charge when the state’s average
unemployment rate was at least 6.5% based on the most recent three
months of data published by the Department of Labor (D OL) and (2)
permitted a non -charge when the state’s average unemployment rate
was at least 8% in the most recent month of DOL-published data.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2026
BACKGROUND
Employer UI Taxes
In general, a portion of an employer’s UI taxes are based on the
employer’s “experience rate,” which reflects the amount of
unemployment benefits paid to the employer’s former employees over
a certain period. The law, however, allows several non -charging
separations in which an employee can collect benefits without affecting
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a former employer’s experience rate. (The benefits paid to the former
employee are “pooled” and paid by all employers who pay
unemployment taxes.)
Shared Work Program
The Shared Work Program is a voluntary program that allows
employers to reduce their employees’ work hours in place of layoffs.
The affected employees receive a proportionally reduced
unemployment benefit.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 13 Nay 0 (03/05/2026)