96.40 - VOLUNTARY SHARED WORK PROGRAM. - Iowa Statutes

96.40 VOLUNTARY SHARED WORK PROGRAM. 1. An employer who wishes to participate in the shared work unemployment compensation program established under this section shall submit a written shared work plan in a form acceptable to the department for approval. a. As a condition for approval by the department, a participating employer shall agree to furnish the department with reports relating to the operation of the shared work plan as requested by the department. b. The employer shall monitor and evaluate the operation of the established shared work plan as requested by the department and shall report the findings to the department. 2. The department may approve a shared work plan if all of the following conditions are met: a. The employer has filed all reports required to be filed under this chapter for all past and current periods and has paid all contributions due for all past and current periods. b. The plan certifies that the aggregate reduction in work hours is in lieu of temporary layoffs which would have affected at least ten percent of the employees in the affected unit or units to which the plan applies and which would have resulted in an equivalent reduction in work hours. "Affected unit" means a specified plant, department, shift, or other definable unit. c. The employees in the affected unit are identified by name and social security number and consist of at least five individuals. d. The shared work plan reduces the normal weekly hours of work for an employee in the affected unit by not less than twenty percent and not more than fifty percent with a corresponding reduction in wages. Only full-time employees who normally work between thirty-five and forty hours per week are eligible to participate. e. The reduction in hours and corresponding reduction in wages must be applied equally to all of the full-time employees in the affected unit. f. The plan provides that fringe benefits will continue to be provided to employees in affected units as though their workweeks had not been reduced. g. The plan will not serve as a subsidy of seasonal employment during the off season, nor as a subsidy of temporary part-time or intermittent employment. h. The employer certifies that the employer will not hire additional part-time or full-time employees for the affected work force while the program is in operation. i. The duration of the shared work plan will not exceed fifty-two weeks. An employing unit is eligible for approval of only one plan during a twenty-four-month period. j. The plan is approved in writing by the collective bargaining representative for each employee organization or union which has members in the affected unit. 3. The employer shall submit a shared work plan to the department for approval at least thirty days prior to the proposed implementation date. 4. The department may revoke approval of a shared work plan and terminate the plan if the department determines that the shared work plan is not being executed according to the terms and intent of the shared work unemployment compensation program, or if it is determined by the department that the approval of the shared work plan was based, in whole or in part, upon information contained in the plan which was either false or substantially misleading. 5. An individual who is otherwise entitled to receive regular unemployment compensation benefits under this chapter shall be eligible to receive shared work benefits with respect to any week in which the department finds all of the following: a. The individual is employed as a member of an affected unit subject to a shared work plan that was approved before the week in question and is in effect for that week. b. The individual is able to work, available for work, and works all available hours with the participating employer. c. The individual's normal weekly hours of work have been reduced by at least twenty percent but not more than fifty percent, with a corresponding reduction in wages. 6. The department shall not deny shared work benefits for any week to an otherwise eligible individual by reason of the application of any provision of this chapter which relates to availability for work, active search for work, or refusal to apply for or accept work with an employer other than the participating employer under the plan. 7. The department shall pay an individual who is eligible for shared work benefits under this section a weekly shared work benefit amount equal to the individual's regular weekly benefit amount for a period of total unemployment, less any deductible amounts under this chapter except wages received from any employer, multiplied by the full percentage of reduction in the individual's hours as set forth in the employer's shared work plan. If the shared work benefit amount calculated under this subsection is not a multiple of one dollar, the department shall round the amount so calculated to the next lowest multiple of one dollar. An individual shall be ineligible for shared work benefits for any week in which the individual performs paid work for the participating employer in excess of the reduced hours established under the shared work plan. 8. An individual shall not be entitled to receive shared work benefits and regular unemployment compensation benefits in an aggregate amount which exceeds the maximum total amount of benefits payable to that individual in a benefit year as provided under section 96.3, subsection 5, paragraph "a". 9. a. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, all benefits paid under a shared work plan, which are chargeable to the participating employer or any other base period employer of a participating employee, shall be charged to the account of the participating employer under the plan. b. An employer may provide as part of the plan a training program the employees may attend during the hours that have been reduced. If the employer is able to show that the training program will provide a substantive increase in the workplace and employability skills of the employee so as to reduce the potential for future periods of unemployment, the department shall relieve the employer of charges for benefits paid to the individual attending training under the plan. The employee may attend the training at the work site utilizing internal resources, provided the training is outside of the normal course of employment, or in conjunction with an educational institution. 10. An individual who has received all of the shared work benefits and regular unemployment compensation benefits available in a benefit year shall be considered an exhaustee, as defined in section 96.19, subsection 20, for purposes of the extended benefit program administered pursuant to section 96.29.          Section History: Recent Form 91 Acts, ch 197, §1; 94 Acts, ch 1066, §7; 96 Acts, ch 1186, § 23; 97 Acts, ch 38, § 5; 2008 Acts, ch 1032, § 201; 2009 Acts, ch 22, §7; 2009 Acts, ch 179, §111, 112