Unemployment for Striking Workers Bill Advances

The legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee approved a bill March 7 that allows striking workers to collect unemployment benefits.

Approved on an 8-4 party line vote, HB 5164 allows workers who have been on strike for 14 days to collect unemployment benefits.

Benefits eligibility is currently reserved for those who become unemployed through no fault of their own.

At a public hearing last month, CBIA’s Ashley Zane told committee members that unemployment benefit eligibility also requires that an individual “be available for and seeking work.”

“The state’s unemployment compensation program is an important economic safety net that has proven critical in recent years,” Zane said.

“This system is funded exclusively by employers for the purposes of ensuring workers that become unemployed through no fault of their own receive compensation while seeking new employment.”

‘Skeptical’

Zane said the bill represented an unprecedented policy change that could destabilize the Unemployment Trust Fund, “potentially imposing a greater burden on employers, including most small businesses.”

She added that Connecticut’s smallest employers, particularly women and minority owned businesses, would “unfairly be responsible for additional costs.”

The governor said while he’s “a strong supporter of labor and the right to organize … I’m also somebody that supports #smallbiz. And I don’t want to put my thumb on that scale.” The bill is part of a Labor Committee agenda targeting smaller employers. https://t.co/EDJXyTtLCv

— CBIA (@CBIANews) February 28, 2024

Late last month, Gov. Ned Lamont told reporters that he was “skeptical” about the bill.

“I’m a strong supporter of labor and the right to organize and making sure that people have fair representation,” he said.

“And I’m also somebody that supports small business. And I don’t want to put my thumb on that scale.”

---

For more information, contact CBIA’s Ashley Zane (860.244.1169) | @AshleyZane9.