Unemployment Compensation

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide details on how the removal of wage-based requirements might affect benefit amounts.

Changes to Unemployment Compensation Rules

This bill changes how Tennessee decides if work is suitable for people receiving unemployment benefits by removing specific wage requirements and focusing on other factors like health risks and job skills.

What This Bill Does

• Removes the sliding scale that sets minimum wages for work to be considered suitable based on weeks of unemployment.
• Changes the criteria for determining suitable work to focus on risk to health, physical fitness, prior training, experience, and earnings.

Who It Names or Affects

• People receiving unemployment benefits
• Students looking for work while attending school
• Veterans enrolled in education programs under the G.I. Bill

Terms To Know

suitable work

Work that meets certain criteria to be considered acceptable by the unemployment agency.

sliding scale

A system where different percentages of a claimant's highest earnings are used as minimum wage requirements for suitable work based on weeks of unemployment.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how the new criteria will be applied in practice.
• It is unclear what specific changes this will bring to eligibility decisions for students and veterans.

Official Summary Text

Present law disqualifies an applicant for unemployment benefits if the administrator finds that the applicant failed without good cause to apply for or accept suitable work. Suitable work is determined by evaluating the risk involved to the claimant's h
ealth, their prior earnings, and the distance of the available work from the applicant's residence. Work is deemed suitable if the gross weekly wages equal or exceed the following sliding scale of the claimant's high-quarter wages: (i) 100% during the fi
rs
t 13 weeks of unemployment; (ii) 7
5% for weeks 14 through 25
; (iii)
70% for weeks 26 through 38
;
and
(iv)
65% after the 38th week.

This bill
alters the criteria for maintaining benefit eligibility by removing the specific mathematical
,
wage-based
sliding scale
protections
. Under this bill, a
claimant is disqualified if the administrator finds the
claimant
failed without good cause to apply for or accept suitable work, which is now determined solely by considering
all of the following: (i)
the degree of risk involved to the claimant's health, safety
,
and morals
;

(ii)
the claimant's physical fitness and prior training
;
and
(iii)
their
experience and prior earnings
. This bill also removes the
statutory
minimum wage
that work must meet to be deemed suitable
to receive unemployment benefits.

STUDENTS AND VETERANS

The present sliding scale affects
eligibility conditions for students, who become ineligible if they refuse the same job previously held if that job meets the standards
for suitable work
as required by applicable federal la
w. Similarly, a veteran enrolled in school under the federal G.I. Bill must not be denied benefits solely for school attendance, but they become ineligible if they refuse an offer for the same job they held subsequent to receiving unemployment benefits i
f the offer qualifies as suitable
work.

This bill's new suitable work standard alters eligibility for students and veterans enrolled in school under the federal G.I. Bill. If a student or veteran is offered the same job that
the claimant previously held immediately prior to entering school and refuses it, such student or veteran can be found to be ineligible for benefits at the administrator's discretion if the work is found to be suitable after considering the (i) degree of
risk involved to the claimant's health, safety, and morals; (ii) the a
pplicant's physical fitness and prior training; and (iii) their experience and prior earnings.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 1874
By Johnson

HOUSE BILL 2542
By Lamberth
HB2542
010032
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section
50-7-303, relative to suitable work requirements.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 50-7-303(a)(3)(A), is amended by
deleting subdivisions (i)-(iv) and deleting "Work is suitable if the work meets all the other criteria
of this subdivision (a)(3) and if the gross weekly wages for the work equal or exceed the
following percentages of the claimant's average weekly wage for insured work paid to the
claimant during that quarter of the claimant's base period in which the claimant's wages were
highest:".
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.