Miscellaneous MI 90

Work Share Claims

Work Sharing was first implemented in the United States by California. Section 1279.5 was added to the Calif. Unemp. Ins. Code in 1978 to enable the payment of work sharing unemployment insurance benefits to individuals whose normal weekly hours of work for the regular employer are reduced, in lieu of layoff, from those previously worked and which result in a reduction in wages of at least 10 percent.

It is the Department’s responsibility to process employer requests for approval of Work Share Plans promptly. In addition, it is the Department’s responsibility to insure that benefits are paid promptly if the claimant is eligible or denied promptly if the claimant is ineligible. To accomplish this, the Department has centralized the processing of Work Share claims and the approval of Work Share Plans.

The role of the Field office in this centralization is to complete all initial claim documents and forward them to the Special Claims office 850 (SCO 850) for on-line processing.

SCO 850 approves or denies all requests for Work Share Plans, files initial claims, and processes all Work Share benefit payments.

Refer to Calif. Unemp. Ins. Code, Section 1279.5; Calif. Code of Regulations, Title 22, Sections 1279.5-1 through 1279.5-10; and FOM Work Sharing for eligibility requirements and claim processing procedures.