Support for workers
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KEY FACTS
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Without a skilled, educated, and plentiful workforce, our businesses struggle to fill needed jobs and our economy stalls. House Democrats are working to support workers in Washington so they get the training they need the jobs they want. We recognize that when workers receive family-wage jobs and benefits, they’re more productive and offer more not only to their employers, but also to other businesses in their communities.
Unemployment Insurance Benefit Increase (HB 1906)
House Democratic supporters of the bill dubbed it “Money for Main Street,” citing the immediate effect the added money will mean to families struggling to make ends meet, as well as the businesses that rely on them. The bill, HB 1906, increases unemployment-program benefits by $45 a week for workers in the program.
Helping unemployed workers retrain and retool their skills
HB 1906 also included measures to expand the training benefits program that allows unemployed workers to receive unemployment benefits while training for new jobs, and open the program to disabled workers, honorably discharged military personnel, and low-income workers.
We’re working to expand the worker-retraining program to focus new resources for community college programs in high-demand fields (allowing colleges to serve at least 6,200 more unemployed workers). (SB 5809)
We’re also helping workers retrain for jobs by expanding access to the Customized Training Program to provide on-the-job training for middle-class workers. (SB 5616; SB 5554)
Opening up the Shared Work Program (HB 1906)
If a business wants to keep its employees on the job with reduced hours instead of laying them off, we don’t want fine print to hinder that. We removed restrictions so more employees can work reduced hours while receiving partial unemployment benefits. That way, workers can stay employed and employers can retain the workers they want.
Creating a pathway to better wages and conditions for childcare workers and directors through collective bargaining (HB 1329)
For many child care facilities serving children from lower-income families, the rate of state subsidies doesn’t come close to meeting the cost of their care. Stability in the child care workforce is critical. Child care center directors and workers are the teachers and caregivers, and some are foregoing their own pay or reaching into their own pockets to cover their costs.
The House passed legislation that will allow our state’s childcare workers and directors to collectively negotiate a better subsidy rate with the governor, so that they may continue to provide the quality care and early education that every child in Washington deserves.
Providing a fair outcome for injured workers (HB 1402)
There is currently a process in place to ensure that, when a worker is injured in the workplace they receive the care they need, and the cost of that care is taken care of by the responsible party.
Sometimes that cost is challenged. In that case, the state Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals decides which party is responsible for the cost. Unfortunately, due to a loophole in the law, the opposing parties can contact the third-party physicians who are deciding the case and potentially influence the outcome.
This bill stops that deceptive and unfair practice. It restricts the ability of the Department of Labor and Industries and employer attorneys to have contact with treating or consulting physicians while a case is being appealed before the Board. Nothing – including contact from either party with a worker’s treating medical providers - should unfairly influence the final decision made by the Board.