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An Act To Correct an Inconsistency in the Employment Security Law
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  26 MRSA §1193, sub-§10, ¶C  is enacted to read:
 
C.  If the individual did not contribute to the plan, the individual receives a benefit reduced by the full prorated weekly amount of the pension received. The benefit may not be reduced below zero.
 
SUMMARY
This bill addresses an inconsistency in the treatment of unemployment benefits for persons receiving pensions. Under current law an individual who otherwise qualifies for unemployment benefits is completely denied benefits if the individual receives a pension that was contributed to solely by a base period employer. The complete denial of benefits is inconsistent with the treatment of individuals who contributed less than 50% to their pension, which results in only a partial reduction in benefits. This bill seeks to remedy this apparent inconsistency in the rare occurrences when the pension contributions were made solely by the base period employer by reducing unemployment benefits based on the amount of the pension.