(INDIANAPOLIS) — Indiana Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kevin Brinegar comments on the decision today to not take a vote on work share legislation in the Senate Pensions and Labor Committee – effectively killing the policy for another year:

“We know Senate Bill 44 on work share would have passed committee today if the chairman, Sen. Phil Boots of Crawfordsville, had permitted a vote. In fact, there is overwhelming bipartisan support in the entire General Assembly – and there is good reason for that. Work share keeps employees on the job part time while receiving employer-sponsored benefits like health care and drawing partial unemployment from the state for their lost hours. Work share enables employers to keep team members they have invested time and money into their training.

“But instead of acknowledging the benefits of work share or what employers had to say, Chairman Boots was more focused on a false premise he put forth. Senator Boots offered it could be better for an individual to lose a job (and benefits) entirely than to be on work share because they would have time for training. That’s insulting given the current climate. When people are laid off and need to feed their children, pay their rent or mortgage, or get medicine, we highly doubt they are looking at the bright side of how they now have time to train. Not to mention, SB 44 would permit employees to receive training from their employers during the work share period.

“For nearly a decade, this common sense unemployment extension has been sabotaged by a few influential legislators and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. It doesn’t matter what impartial research says. It doesn’t matter the negative impact on employers and employees. And it doesn’t matter to Sen. Boots that he has turned down as much as $200 million in federal funding to add work share to Indiana’s unemployment system. The refusal to have meaningful debate and to allow work share legislation to reach the House or Senate floor is unconscionable given the pandemic and push for economic recovery.”

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The Indiana Chamber partners with 25,000 members and investors – representing over four million Hoosiers – to achieve the mission of “cultivating a world-class environment which provides economic opportunity and prosperity.”