West Virginia Public News Service – During interim legislative meetings this week, state lawmakers will look at voluntary work-sharing. Instead of laying off employees when they need to cut costs, employers could collaborate with the unemployment-insurance system to keep people working at reduced hours. Read
Sean O’Leary, a policy analyst with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, says that right now, a worker loses his job and collects unemployment. But he says under work-sharing, companies could cut back hours instead of workers, with unemployment making up part of the lost pay. “They’ve got ten workers, they can lay off two. Or they can have all their employees work four days a week, and they’d collect unemployment benefits on the fifth day.”