Gov. Tom Wolf recently signed legislation into law that corrects unfair Unemployment Compensation (UC) rate increases placed on small businesses that closed during the pandemic shutdowns.
Approximately 2,700 Pennsylvania employers, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, were assessed a UC tax increase based on whether they were forced into a prolonged pandemic-related shutdown and whether they had previously earned a lower, experience-based UC tax rate by avoiding layoffs for years.
Under Act 156 of 2022, an employer that ceased paying wages temporarily between March 6, 2020, and July 1, 2021, as a result of Wolf’s disaster emergency declaration will be deemed to have paid contributions during fiscal years 2020 and 2021 so long as the employer paid one or more quarters in either the fiscal year ending June 13, 2020, or the fiscal year ending June 13, 2021.
The bill also includes an amendment that closes a loophole preventing husbands or wives from collecting unemployment when their spouses are deployed. Previously, spouses may not have qualified for unemployment benefits because their resignations could have been considered voluntary. Act 156 of 2022 specifies that a husband or wife’s move to follow an active-duty spouse is not voluntary if it is determined that continuing employment would be impractical or unreasonably difficult.