Wisconsin lawmakers will again work to alter the state’s unemployment laws when bills increasing weekly unemployment pay by $25 and creating a website for employers to report job ghosting along with adding identity verification procedures to initial unemployment claims.
The bills are scheduled to be voted on in the Assembly Workforce, Labor and Integrated Employment Committee Tuesday.
The stipulations were the result of negotiations between both labor and management through the state’s Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council, which has five members representing labor unions and five representing employers.
The unemployment pay increase in Assembly Bill 652 would make the maximum weekly benefit $395, the first increase since 2014. The bill adds a $5,000 fine for attempting to fraudulently obtain benefits in another person’s name.
The bill seeks to eliminate employment ghosting – an employee not showing up for an interview, declining a job offer or failing to show up for the first day of work – by eliminating unemployment benefits if any of those occur. The bill does have a clause for circumstances considered “good cause” for any of the mentioned job ghosting.
Department of Workforce Development Legislative Director Rachel Harvey testified on the bill, saying the unemployment pay increase is insufficient, comparing it to rates in Minnesota ($948), Illinois ($593), Iowa ($622) and Michigan ($614).
She also objected to a part of the bill that would reduce unemployment payments is someone is also receiving Social Security disability payments after a court ruled the state cannot block unemployment for those receiving disability.
