Unemployment Rules Changes in Washington

March 26th, 2007 Posted by Mark

The Washington state Employment Security Department has decided to slightly alter the unemployment system rules in its state, as of the end of March. The new regulations adopted by the Employment security Department include one change specifically regarding so called referral union programs.

The new rules clarify exactly what the referral union program is for, which is to make sure that individuals who are receiving unemployment benefit payments are actually actively looking for work using the standard practices of their trade. The referral union program just serves as another way for laid off employees to look for work, in this case through their contacts at their unions.

Unions can then help their members who are laid off to find their next job, but this also requires to union to provide information to the Employment Security Department on whether or not the employee should still be receiving unemployment insurance benefits.

The rules also go into what makes an employee eligible for this program. They have to be eligible for dispatch by the union and actually actively seeking dispatch through the union in order to meet these qualifications. Of course, the new rules go into far greater detail on exactly what is required of unions to participate in the program and of course, what is required of the employees, too, to be eligible for the program.

Overall, will this require that employers in Washington get a new unemployment labor law poster? I am not certain on that one, and will definitely have to dig around some more to get you guys an answer on it. But it can’t hurt to double check to make sure that you have the current and most up to date unemployment insurance poster on your walls in your work sites, each and every one of them as prescribed by labor law.

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