A school employee who is laid off
prior to the end of a school year is not ineligible under sec. 402.1,
even if, as the time of the layoff, she is given reasonable assurance of re-employment
at the start of the ensuing school year.
________________________________
This
Court has held that the legislature’s intent in enacting Section 402.1 was to
eliminate the payment of benefits to employees who were unemployed for
predetermined periods of time, but not to employees who become unemployed due
to an unanticipated cause.….If a school employee is laid off and receiving
benefits prior to the end of the academic term, she remains eligible for
benefits during the summer break even if she has a reasonable assurance of work
in the next term.
In
this case. the claimant received reasonable assurance of returning to work at
the start of the 2012-2013 school year. However, claimant was laid off on April
4, 2012, two months prior to the end of the school year; therefore, she was
unemployed and eligible to collect benefits. It was not the intent of Section
402.1(2) of the Law to exclude a claimant in such a case.
