HB 6791 — AN ACT CONCERNING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR ADJUNCT HIGHER EDUCATION FACULTY.

Additionally, costs are expected to the Department of Labor (DOL) of approximately $33,500 in FY 24, sHB6791 / File No.

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502 associated with staff time ($18,500) and consulting costs ($15,000) for information technology upgrades to the UI administration system, with ongoing annual costs of $8,000 for consulting.

Unemployment benefits.

The potential significant cost related to unemployment benefits is borne by the constituent units because as reimbursable employers, the units do not pay unemployment insurance taxes.

Rather, they reimburse the state Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund dollar-for-dollar on all benefits paid for former employees.

The bill establishes that "reasonable assurance" of similar future employment for adjuncts and other higher education employees is met – and unemployment is less likely to be required – if, among other criteria:

(1) the contract is not contingent on course programming, and (2) a contract for the next term is in place at least ten days before the end of the current term.

Those who lack reasonable assurance may potentially be considered eligible for unemployment benefits, and those who are determined to have reasonable assurance but are not re-hired may seek unemployment benefits.

Dueto thebill'sreasonableassurance standards,theBoardofRegents institutions anticipate potentially needing to pay unemployment costs for nearly all its adjuncts, for, at minimum, the periods between academic terms.

Each semester, the Board of Regents institutions employ between approximately 3,400 and 4,350 adjuncts, based on semester information from fall 2019 through spring 2022.

Between 76 and 84 percent of adjuncts (ranging from approximately 2,900 to 3,400 individuals) were returning after teaching the prior semester.

Adjunct contracts offered by the Board of Regents typically are contingent and at least sometimesare not offeredinthelistedtimeframe.

Consequently, many Board of Regents adjuncts could be assessed by the labor department as lacking reasonable assurance, and therefore potentially eligible for unemployment.

The potential significant cost to the University of Connecticut (UConn) is also associated with the possibility of newly paying unemployment compensation to some adjuncts due to the bill.

In FY 22, sHB6791 / File No.

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502 approximately 850 adjuncts were employed by UConn;

of these, approximately 670 did not have multi-year contracts and therefore could have been assessed as lacking reasonable assurance.

The extent of the bill's potential costs to the constituent units will depend on numerous factors regarding the adjuncts who are determined by the labor department to be eligible for unemployment.

These factors include but are not limited to whether the persons file for unemployment, gross wages over the year from all sources, and family size.

The pay rates of adjuncts were approximately $1,050 biweekly on average for the Board of Regents in FY 22, with average semester earnings of $8,546 for FY 20 through FY 22.

At UConn in FY 22, on average adjuncts were teaching 4.2 credits in a semester at an average rate of $2,078 per credit, for average semester earnings of $8,750.

Unemployment Insurance (UI) Administration Costs.

The bill results in a General Fund cost to the Department of Labor (DOL) of approximately $33,500 in FY 24 associated with staff time ($18,500) and consulting costs($15,000)for informationtechnology upgradestothe UI administration system.

These resources will enable the incorporation of lists from higher education institutions in determining whether employees have a "reasonable assurance" of returning to the institution that employed them.

Beginning in FY 25 it is anticipated the agency can accommodate the requirements of the bill with consultants only, estimated at a cost of approximately $8,000 annually.

Constituent Unit Personnel.

The annual cost to UConn is associated with the hiring of two 0.5 FTE program managers at anticipated costs totaling $122,046 in FY 24, consisting of $60,000 in wages and $62,046 in Per the United States Department of Labor, lists provided by higher education institutions of employees that do and do not have "reasonable assurances" cannot be the sole determining factor for eligibility and the state still must make individual determinations on the existence or nonexistence of reasonable assurance.

sHB6791 / File No.

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502 fringe benefits 2.These staff will be responsible for working with department chairs and other personnel to gather and submit the required information on each adjunct employed by the university.

The annual cost to the Board of Regents for personnel to carry out the bill's duties are estimated to total $41,113 consisting of $20,212 in wages for a 0.5 FTEData Analyst Iandfringe benefitsof$20,901It isanticipatedthat accomplishing the bill's list duties will require more time for UConn than the Board of Regents, as it is expected that at least some UConn adjuncts may meet the reasonable assurance standard and therefore UConn will need to compile more-detailed information.

These increased personnel costs may be funded by either the General Fund or other constituent unit revenues (e.g., tuition).

If the new positions are funded through the General Fund, then the fringe benefits costs will be incurred within the Office of the State Comptroller.

The Out Years The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to inflation in adjunct pay rates, overall wage inflation, and the number of adjuncts employed by the constituent units.

2The fringe benefit costs for employees funded out of other appropriated funds are budgeted within the fringe benefit account of those funds, as opposed to the fringe benefit accounts within the Office of the State Comptroller.

The estimated active employee fringe benefit cost associated with most personnel changes for other appropriated fund employees is 103.41% of payroll in FY 23.

sHB6791 / File No.

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502 OLR Bill Analysis sHB 6791 AN ACT CONCERNING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR ADJUNCT HIGHER EDUCATION FACULTY.

SUMMARY By law, employees who work in an instructional, research, or principal administrative capacity at an educational institution are ineligible to receive unemployment benefits for a school break (i.e., between two successive academic years, between two regular terms, or during a customary vacation or holiday recess) if they have a “reasonable assurance” to work for any educational institution once courses resume (i.e., in the subsequent academic year or term or period following the vacation or holiday recess).

This bill creates a process for determining whether those employees at certain higher education institutions have a reasonable assurance of returning to the institution that employed them once courses resume.

It requires the labor commissioner to makes these determinations on a case-by-case basis and specifies multiple factors that must all be present for the commissioner to find that reasonable assurance exists.

It also creates new reporting duties for these higher education institutions, requiring them to give the Department of Labor (DOL) lists of employees who have and don’t have reasonable assurance of returning at the end of an academic year or term.

The higher education institutions covered by the bill are (1) UConn, (2) the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, and (3) any other non-profit institution established in Connecticut (a) that has degree- granting authority and its main campus in the state and (b) whose primary function is not preparing students for religious vocation.

sHB6791 / File No.

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502 EFFECTIVE DATE:

October 1, 2023 REASONABLE ASSURANCE DETERMINATION The bill requires the labor commissioner to determine, on a case-by- case basis, that all of the following factors are present to establish that a higher education institution employee is ineligible for unemployment benefits because he or she has reasonable assurance to return once courses resume:

1.

the institution made a written, oral, or implied offer to employ the person once courses resume;

2.

the offer was made by an employee of the institution who is authorized to make it;

3.

the offer is for (a) services in the same capacity the employee performed before the break and (b) at least 90% of the wages or a salary that the institution paid for it;

4.

the offer does not depend on factors within the institution’s control, including course programming, available funding allocation, program modifications, or facility availability;

and 5.

it is highly probable that the person will work in the same capacity once courses resume, based on the totality of the circumstances, including funding availability, past enrollment levels, the person’s seniority level, and the nature of the contingencies on the offer.

HIGHER EDUCATION EMPLOYEE LISTS The bill requires higher education institutions to submit two employee lists to the DOL, in a way the labor commissioner sets, at least days before the end of an academic year or term.

The first must list employees who (1) served in an instructional, research, or principal administrative capacity for the institution and (2) do not have reasonable assurance of providing the same services in the same capacity once courses resume.

sHB6791 / File No.

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502 The second list must contain employees who performed the same services and have reasonable assurance of providing these services in the same capacity once courses resume.

The list must also describe how the institution gave reasonable assurance to these employees, including (1) whether an offer was made in writing, orally, or implied;

(2) the nature ofany offer contingencies;and (3)the informationabout theoffer communicated to the employee.

The billallowsthelabor commissioner to consider the informationon these lists when making reasonable assurance determinations, but unless it is accompanied by additional evidence, it cannot be conclusive evidence of reasonable assurance in any case.

If an institution gives someone a reasonable assurance of returning but does not honor it once courses resume, the bill specifies that the person’s unemployment benefits must be retroactive to either the (1) date of the institution’s attestation of reasonable assurance or (2) date the attestation of assurance is required (presumably, the deadline for submitting the lists required by the bill) if the person is otherwise eligible for unemployment benefits.

COMMITTEE ACTION Labor and Public Employees Committee Joint Favorable Substitute Yea 8 Nay 4 (03/23/2023) sHB6791 / File No.

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