[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 165 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 165

  To amend chapter 85 of title 5, United States Code, to clarify that 
      Federal employees excepted from a furlough are eligible for 
                       unemployment compensation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 16, 2019

Mr. Blumenthal (for himself, Ms. Harris, and Mr. Murphy) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                                Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend chapter 85 of title 5, United States Code, to clarify that 
      Federal employees excepted from a furlough are eligible for 
                       unemployment compensation.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Unemployment Compensation 
Equality Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION THAT FEDERAL EMPLOYEES EXCEPTED FROM A FURLOUGH 
              ARE ELIGIBLE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.

    (a) In General.--Section 8502 of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(e)(1) With respect to any lapse in appropriations beginning on 
or after December 22, 2018, each excepted Federal employee shall be, 
solely for the purpose of determining eligibility for unemployment 
compensation under this subchapter, deemed for the duration of the 
lapse in appropriations to be--
            ``(A) totally separated from Federal service; and
            ``(B) eligible for unemployment compensation benefits under 
        this subchapter with no waiting period for such eligibility to 
        accrue.
    ``(2) In this subsection, the term `excepted Federal employee' 
means a Federal employee who--
            ``(A) is an excepted employee or an employee performing 
        emergency work, as such terms are defined by the Office of 
        Personnel Management; and
            ``(B) is not being paid due to a lapse in 
        appropriations.''.
    (b) Application.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall apply 
to weeks of unemployment beginning on or after December 22, 2018.
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