Bill > H2150

This bill proposes to modify Massachusetts unemployment insurance laws to provide enhanced benefits for low-wage workers by changing how unemployment benefits are calculated and distributed. Specifically, the bill reduces the wage threshold for qualifying for unemployment benefits from thirty times to fifteen times an individual's average weekly wage in the base period, with a provision that if the benefit rate is reduced from 30 to 26 times the weekly rate, an individual must have been paid wages in at least thirteen times their average weekly wage. The bill also adjusts the weekly benefit amount to be fifty percent of an individual's average weekly wage, with minimum and maximum limits established as a percentage of the statewide average weekly wage. Additionally, the total benefits an unemployed individual can receive during their benefit year will be calculated as sixty percent of their base period wages or 30 times their weekly benefit rate (whichever is less), with a potential reduction to 26 times the weekly benefit rate if local unemployment rates are below 5.1 percent. These changes aim to provide more financial support to workers with lower incomes during periods of unemployment by making benefits more accessible and potentially more substantial.

Budget and Finance, Labor and Employment

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/H2150