Wisconsin looks to increase unemployment pay for 1st time since 2014

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 on 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.
“Like any negotiation and compromise, employers did not get everything we wanted into the agreed bill,” Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Executive Vice President of Government Relations Scott Manley said in testimony on the bill. “Similarly, we know our friends in the labor caucus did not get everything they wanted either. But what both sides ultimately agreed to advances priorities for both workers and employers.”
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.
“This bill package includes law changes that are inconsistent with current payments under a federal court’s order, have previously been vetoed by Governor Evers, are redundant requirements that mirror measures DWD already has in place to protect the integrity of Wisconsin’s Ul system, and create new barriers to benefits, all while failing to provide adequate resources for the department to implement these provisions in their entirety,” Harvey wrote.

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