ASSEMBLY LABOR COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 4852

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  OCTOBER 22, 2020

      The Assembly Labor Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4852.

      As amended, this bill provides additional options for eligibility for extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.

      Under the current UI law, an individual who qualifies for regular UI benefits but exhausts those benefits, may then qualify for extended UI benefits, funded on a 50-50, State/federal basis, only if the individual was paid wages during the base year of the individual’s applicable benefit year 40 times the individual’s weekly benefit rate.

      As amended, this bill permits the individual to be eligible for the UI extended benefits, for any claim after June 27, 2020, if, during the base year, the individual has established entitlement for benefits based on the alternative earnings requirement specified in subsection (e) of R.S.43:21-4; and the individual:

      (1)  attained the current requirement of being paid wages 40 times his weekly benefit rate; or

      (2)  was paid wages 1½ times the individual’s wages paid during the calendar quarter of the base year in which the individual’s wages were highest; or

      (3)  had 20 full-time weeks of employment during that base year.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to make the bill’s provisions applicable to claims filed after June 27, 2020.