98-3341. Federal-State Unemployment Compensation Program: Unemployment Insurance Program Letters Interpreting Federal Unemployment Insurance Law

[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 10, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6774-6781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-3341]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Federal-State Unemployment Compensation Program: Unemployment 
Insurance Program Letters Interpreting Federal Unemployment Insurance 
Law

    The Employment and Training Administration interprets Federal law 
requirements pertaining to unemployment compensation (UC) as part of 
its role in the administration of the Federal-State UC program. These 
interpretations are issued in Unemployment Insurance Program Letters 
(UIPLs) to the State Employment Security Agencies. The UIPLs described 
below are published in the Federal Register in order to inform the 
public.

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UIPL 08-98

    Federal law authorizes withdrawals from a State's unemployment fund 
only with respect to an individual's unemployment. This means that 
payment of UC from the State's unemployment fund is limited to periods 
in which an individual has experienced unemployment. UIPL 08-98 is 
issued to remind the States that their UC laws must contain this 
limitation. Whether an individual is unemployed depends on whether the 
individual has suffered a loss of work--an actual reduction in hours 
worked. It is not sufficient that the individual merely have reduced 
earnings. If just wages, and not also hours worked, are used as a 
measure for unemployment, then it is possible that an individual moving 
from a high- to low-paying job could be eligible for UC without having 
experienced unemployment. Thus, each State's law must contain language 
to prevent payment of UC to individuals who have experienced no 
unemployment for the period being compensated.

UIPL 09-98

    UIPL 09-98 advises States of the Department's position concerning 
State-wide personnel actions such as hiring freezes, shutdowns and 
furloughs. The service delivery needs of the UC program must first be 
taken into account. When a State subjects its UC program to State-wide 
personnel actions, the State will be required to address how its 
workload will be handled without a decline in performance and 
demonstrate it has adequately addressed those activities funded by 
Federal dollars. This position is consistent with one of the basic 
purposes of the ``methods of administration'' requirement of section 
303(a)(1) of the Social Security Act--to assure the proper and prompt 
delivery of UC services to claimants and employers.

    Dated: January 29, 1998.
Raymond J. Uhalde,
Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor.

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[FR Doc. 98-3341 Filed 2-9-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-C