PRINTER'S NO. 2094
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
1852
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY O'NEAL, KAIL, RYAN, JAMES, BERNSTINE, STRUZZI,
LONGIETTI, WARNER, HILL-EVANS, ROWE AND HENNESSEY,
SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND INDUSTRY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
AN ACT
Amending the act of December 5, 1936 (2nd Sp.Sess., 1937
P.L.2897, No.1), entitled "An act establishing a system of
unemployment compensation to be administered by the
Department of Labor and Industry and its existing and newly
created agencies with personnel (with certain exceptions)
selected on a civil service basis; requiring employers to
keep records and make reports, and certain employers to pay
contributions based on payrolls to provide moneys for the
payment of compensation to certain unemployed persons;
providing procedure and administrative details for the
determination, payment and collection of such contributions
and the payment of such compensation; providing for
cooperation with the Federal Government and its agencies;
creating certain special funds in the custody of the State
Treasurer; and prescribing penalties," in compensation,
providing for COVID-19 base year.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The act of December 5, 1936 (2nd Sp.Sess., 1937
P.L.2897, No.1), known as the Unemployment Compensation Law, is
amended by adding a section to read:
Section 409. COVID-19 Base Year.--(a) Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, a claimant, for any new claim filed for
unemployment compensation between November 1, 2021, and March 1,
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2022, may request an alternate base year of eligibility. The
claimant's request shall be granted if the department determines
that the claimant meets the requirements of subsection (b).
(b) The alternate base year of the claimant filing under
subsection (a) shall be the year directly preceding the year
that the claimant was unemployed if the claimant:
(1) is deemed financially ineligible for unemployment
compensation benefits;
(2) works in a seasonal occupation; and
(3) was unemployed due to any of the following COVID-19
related reasons:
(i) a diagnosis with or experience of symptoms of COVID-19
and a medical diagnosis was sought;
(ii) a member of the claimant's household being diagnosed
with COVID-19;
(iii) the need to provide care to a family member or a
member of the claimant's household who was diagnosed with COVID-
19;
(iv) a child or other person in the household for whom the
claimant is the primary caregiver was unable to attend school or
another facility that was closed due to COVID-19 and that school
or facility care was required for the claimant to work;
(v) inability to reach the claimant's place of employment
due to a quarantine or stay-at-home order due to COVID-19;
(vi) inability to reach the claimant's place of employment
under advice of a health care provider to self-isolate or
quarantine from positive exposure or potential positive exposure
to an individual who was suspected of having COVID-19;
(vii) inability to start a new and lack of current job or
inability to reach a job as a direct result of the COVID-19
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pandemic;
(viii) The claimant became the major supporter for a
household because the head of the claimant's household has died
as a direct result of COVID-19;
(ix) inability to perform work-related duties due to a
COVID-19 diagnosis resulting in a loss of employment;
(x) closure of place of employment as a direct result of
COVID-19;
(xi) denial of continued unemployment benefits due to
refusal to work or accept an offer of work at a worksite that
was not in compliance with Federal, State or local health and
safety related to COVID-19, including, facial mask wearing,
physical distancing measures or the provision of personal
protective equipment consistent with public health guidelines;
or
(xii) reduction in work hours or a layoff as a direct result
of COVID-19.
(c) As used in this section, the term "COVID-19" shall mean
the novel coronavirus as identified in the Governor's
Proclamation of Disaster Emergency issued on March 6, 2020,
published at 50 Pa.B. 1644 (March 21, 2020), and any renewal of
the proclamation of disaster emergency.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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