Pay Federal Workers Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 725 To amend chapter 85 of title 5, United States Code, to clarify that Federal employees excepted from a furlough are eligible for unemployment com- pensation, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 23, 2019 Mrs. DINGELL (for herself and Mr. UPTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 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, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pay Federal Workers 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H725.IH H725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 725 IH SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION 1 FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES EXCEPTED FROM 2 FURLOUGH. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8502 of title 5, United 4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(f)(1) With respect to any lapse in appropriations 7 beginning on or after December 22, 2018, each excepted 8 Federal employee shall be, solely for the purpose of deter- 9 mining eligibility for unemployment compensation under 10 this subchapter, deemed for the duration of the lapse in 11 appropriations to be— 12 ‘‘(A) totally separated from Federal service; and 13 ‘‘(B) eligible for unemployment compensation 14 benefits under this subchapter with no waiting pe- 15 riod for such eligibility to accrue. 16 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘excepted Federal 17 employee’ means a Federal employee who— 18 ‘‘(A) is an excepted employee or an employee 19 performing emergency work, as such terms are de- 20 fined by the Office of Personnel Management; and 21 ‘‘(B) is not being paid due to a lapse in appro- 22 priations.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H725.IH H725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 725 IH (b) APPLICATION.—The amendment made by sub- 1 section (a) shall apply to weeks of unemployment begin- 2 ning on or after December 22, 2018. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H725.IH H725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS