Shared Work Program
The Shared Work Program is designed to help both employers and employees
Shared Work can help employers:
- Avoid layoffs
- Keep valued employees
- Recover fast when business improves
- Adjust as business changes
Shared Work can help employees:
- Keep their current job
- Avoid a financial crisis
- Keep benefits such as health insurance
Under the program, employers reduce the total number of hours that employees work. Employees can then claim partial unemployment benefits for the number of hours their workweek was reduced.
Questions?
Read the FAQs for employees, employers and program administrators.
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Business eligibility requirements
To participate in the Shared Work Program, an employer must:
- Have reduced the normal weekly work hours and corresponding wages by at least 10% but no more than 50%.
- Have a reduction that affects a business unit of two or more employees.
- Apply the plan for reduced hours to at least 10% of the employees in the affected unit.
- Have established an experience rating.
- Not have a negative balance in their unemployment tax account or be delinquent on unemployment tax reports or payments.
Employees have to meet a few conditions, as well, to qualify for Shared Work benefits. They must:
- Be able to work and available for full-time work with the participating employer
- Be eligible for regular unemployment benefits in the state of Kansas
- Accept all work offered by the participating employer for the claim period filed
- Not work more than the reduced hours specified in the plan
- Have valid authorization to work in the United States, if not a U.S. citizen
- Report to their employer any hours worked with other employment
- Work at least 8 hours in a week
Putting Shared Work into action
The employer manages the Shared Work Plan, which means they will need to submit weekly certifications and meet the terms of the program each week, in addition to other responsibilities. For more details, read the FAQs for employees, employers and program administrators.
Once approved, an employer's Shared Work Plan is valid for one year from the date the application was received.
Employees who are participating in the Shared Work Plan may receive benefits for up to 52 weeks.
How it works: an example
A firm facing a 20% reduction in production may consider laying off one-fifth of its workforce. Instead, when faced with this situation, the company can retain its total workforce on a four-day-a-week basis. This reduction from 40 hours to 32 hours cuts production—and payroll—by the required 20 percent without reducing the number of employees.
All affected employees receive their wages based on four days of work. In addition, those employees can receive a portion of unemployment compensation benefits equal to 20% of the unemployment compensation weekly benefit amount payable had the employee been unemployed a full week.
Based on a 40-hour week, the employer reduces the work schedule by 20%. The employer submits a plan for this reduction to Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) and is approved under the Shared Work Program.
In this example, the employee qualifies for regular unemployment compensation with a Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA) of $488 (actual WBA will vary based on the employee).
20% of 40-hour work week = 8 hours
Employee works and earns wages for 32 hours
20% x $488 WBA = $97
This employee would receive $97 in unemployment benefits in addition to the 32 hours of wages earned during the week.
Each week, the employer submits a weekly certification form, certifying the number of hours worked by each employee during the week.
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Toolkit
For more detailed information about the program, download the Shared Work toolkit. This packet contains helpful information, including FAQ’s, next steps and a checklist to keep employers and employees on track.