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PRINTER'S NO. 450
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 495
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY L. WILLIAMS, KANE, FONTANA, COMITTA, TARTAGLIONE,
HAYWOOD, HUGHES, KEARNEY, STREET, SAVAL, COSTA AND MUTH,
MARCH 21, 2025
REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, MARCH 21, 2025
AN ACT
Amending the act of December 5, 1936 (2nd Sp.Sess., 1937
P.L.2897, No.1), entitled "An act establishing a system of
unemployment compensation to be administered by the
Department of Labor and Industry and its existing and newly
created agencies with personnel (with certain exceptions)
selected on a civil service basis; requiring employers to
keep records and make reports, and certain employers to pay
contributions based on payrolls to provide moneys for the
payment of compensation to certain unemployed persons;
providing procedure and administrative details for the
determination, payment and collection of such contributions
and the payment of such compensation; providing for
cooperation with the Federal Government and its agencies;
creating certain special funds in the custody of the State
Treasurer; and prescribing penalties," in compensation,
further providing for qualifications required to secure
compensation and for ineligibility for compensation.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 401(e)(1) of the act of December 5, 1936
(2nd Sp.Sess., 1937 P.L.2897, No.1), known as the Unemployment
Compensation Law, is amended and the section is amended by
adding a subsection to read:
Section 401. Qualifications Required to Secure
Compensation.--Compensation shall be payable to any employe who
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is or becomes unemployed, and who--
* * *
(e) (1) [Has] Except as provided in subsection (h), has
been unemployed for a waiting period of one week.
* * *
(h) For a claim for a period of unemployment beginning after
the effective date of this subsection, is unemployed due to a
stoppage of work caused by a labor dispute: Provided, That the
claimant shall not be provided benefits for a thirty-day period
following a stoppage of work caused by a labor dispute other
than a lockout.
Section 2. Section 402(b) and (d) of the act are amended to
read:
Section 402. Ineligibility for Compensation.--An employe
shall be ineligible for compensation for any week--
* * *
(b) In which his unemployment is due to voluntarily leaving
work without cause of a necessitous and compelling nature,
irrespective of whether or not such work is in "employment" as
defined in this act: Provided, That a voluntary leaving work
because of a disability if the employer is able to provide other
suitable work, shall be deemed not a cause of a necessitous and
compelling nature: And provided further, That no employe shall
be deemed to be ineligible under this subsection where as a
condition of continuing in employment such employe would be
required to join or remain a member of a company union or to
resign from or refrain from joining any bona fide labor
organization, or to accept wages, hours or conditions of
employment not desired by a majority of the employes in the
establishment or the occupation, or would be denied the right of
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collective bargaining under generally prevailing conditions, and
that in determining whether or not an employe has left his work
voluntarily without cause of a necessitous and compelling
nature, the department shall give consideration to the same
factors, insofar as they are applicable, provided, with respect
to the determination of suitable work under section four (t)[:
And provided further, That the provisions of this subsection
shall not apply in the event of a stoppage of work which exists
because of a labor dispute within the meaning of subsection
(d)]. Provided further, That no otherwise eligible claimant
shall be denied benefits for any week in which his unemployment
is due to exercising the option of accepting a layoff, from an
available position pursuant to a labor-management contract
agreement, or pursuant to an established employer plan, program
or policy: Provided further, That a claimant shall not be
disqualified for voluntarily leaving work, which is not suitable
employment to enter training approved under section 236(a)(1) of
the Trade Act of 1974: Provided further, That a claimant shall
not be disqualified for voluntarily leaving work if the claimant
left such work to accompany a spouse who is on active duty with
the United States Armed Forces and is required to relocate due
to permanent change of station orders, activation orders or unit
deployment orders and such relocation would make it impractical
or unreasonably difficult, as determined by the department, for
the claimant to continue employment with the claimant's
employer. For purposes of this subsection the term "suitable
employment" means with respect to a claimant, work of a
substantially equal or higher skill level than the claimant's
past "adversely affected employment" (as defined in section 247
of the Trade Act of 1974), and wages for such work at not less
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than eighty per centum of the worker's "average weekly wage" (as
defined in section 247 of the Trade Act of 1974).
* * *
[(d) In which his unemployment is due to a stoppage of work,
which exists because of a labor dispute (other than a lock-out)
at the factory, establishment or other premises at which he is
or was last employed: Provided, That this subsection shall not
apply if it is shown that (1) he is not participating in, or
directly interested in, the labor dispute which caused the
stoppage of work, and (2) he is not a member of an organization
which is participating in, or directly interested in, the labor
dispute which caused the stoppage of work, and (3) he does not
belong to a grade or class of workers of which, immediately
before the commencement of the stoppage, there were members
employed at the premises at which the stoppage occurs, any of
whom are participating in, or directly interested in, the
dispute.]
* * *
Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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