(St. Paul, MN) The Minnesota Senate unanimously passed a bill to prevent more layoffs due to the health emergency in 2020 during the last hours of special session on Friday. The legislation, authored by Senator Jason Rarick (R-Pine City) and called the Shared Work Program, allows employers to divide available hours of work among a group of employees instead of implementing a full layoff. This group of employees is then eligible to receive partial unemployment insurance benefits while working reduced hours. 

“This makes a little change to our unemployment program and will help a lot of people whose job has been negatively affected by COVID-19,” said Senator Rarick. “We are an outlier among other states who also have this program, so I’m glad to see it pass. There are other unemployment adjustments that I would like to make in light of the economic situation, but this program is a good start.” 

The shared work program existed prior to this legislation, but the tweak we made will allow someone who has worked for an employer for 3 months to be eligible for assistance, rather than 12 months. The federal branch has agreed to pick up costs for this program, meaning there will be no fiscal impact on the state.