Delaware General Assembly

Signed 7/1/09

The General Assembly has ended, the current status is the final status.

5/14/09

B. Short

Rep. Oberle
Sen. Marshall

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.

Section 1 of this Act provides an alternate claim base period for individuals who have not earned sufficient wages in the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters base period to become monetarily eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. The alternate base period will be the four most recent completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the effective date of the claimant’s unemployment insurance claim. Section 2 of this Act clarifies that an individual’s “family” means the individual’s spouse, child under the age of 18, or parent. Section 3 of this Act provides that an individual who quits work in order to accompany their spouse to a place from which it is impractical for the individual to commute and due to a change in location of their spouse’s employment, will not be disqualified from the receipt of unemployment insurance benefits for this reason. Section 4 of this Act provides that an individual, who quits work to care for their spouse, child under the age of 18, or parent with a verified illness or disability, will not be disqualified from the receipt of unemployment insurance benefits for this reason. Section 5 of this Act provides that an individual who is discharged from work as the result of providing notice to their employer of the intent to quit work to accompany their spouse to a place from which it is impractical for such individual to commute and due to a change in location of the spouse’s employment will not be disqualified from the receipt of unemployment insurance benefits for this reason. Section 6 of this Act provides that an individual who is discharged from work as a result of the individual providing care for their spouse, child under the age of 18, or parent with a verified illness or disability will not be disqualified from the receipt of unemployment insurance benefits for this reason. Section 7 of this Act provides that an individual, who is discharged from work due to circumstances directly resulting from the individual's experience of domestic violence, will not be disqualified from the receipt of unemployment insurance benefits for this reason. Section 8 of this Act provides that an individual who refuses a referral to or offer of full-time work shall not be disqualified from the receipt of unemployment insurance benefits for this reason if the individual is permitted to seek only part-time work under the provisions of § 3315(3) of Title 19, Delaware Code. Section 9 of this Act provides that no individual shall be determined ineligible for the receipt of unemployment insurance benefits for any week in which they seek only part-time work, if the majority of weeks of work in their unemployment insurance claim base period were in part-time employment. Section 10 of this Act establishes the provisions of Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 shall apply to new claims filed for unemployment insurance benefits with an effective date of January 3, 2010 or later. Upon enactment of this Act, pursuant to the provisions of The Assistance for Unemployed Workers and Struggling Families Act, Title II of Division B of Public Law No. 111-5, enacted February 17, 2009, the state will be eligible to apply for and receive $21,868,398 from the federal government for Delaware’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund in Calendar Year 2009.

N/A

N/A

Takes effect upon being signed into law

N/A

View HTML View PDF