Senators MARTIN and CORBIN proposed the following amendment (3126R016.KMM.SRM):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking SECTION 5 and inserting:

/ SECTION5. (A) (1)If a private employer terminates, suspends, or otherwise reduces the compensation of an employee because the employee does not receive a COVID-19 vaccination or booster, that employee is eligible for unemployment benefits subject to the benefit amounts, duration, and requirements as provided in Article 1, Chapter 35, Title 41, except as otherwise provided in this Section. An employee who is eligible for unemployment benefits pursuant to this subsection is exempt from the one-week waiting period contained in Section 41-35-110(4).

(2) An employee eligible for unemployment benefits pursuant to this subsection (A) is exempt from the eligibility conditions contained in:

(a) Section 41-35-110(3)(b), relating to self-employment;

(b) Section 41-35-110(3)(c), relating to temporary work assignments ; and

(c) Section 41-35-110(6), relating to reemployment services .

(B) For purposes of this section, "private employer" means all employers other than the state and its political subdivisions, including school districts.

(C) Employee eligibility for unemployment benefits pursuant to this section is retroactive to nine months prior to the effective date of this act.

(D) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 41-35-50, employee eligible for unemployment benefits pursuant to this subsection (A), the maximum potential benefits of any insured worker in a benefit year are the lesser of:

(a) forty times his weekly benefit amount;

(b) one-half of his wages for insured work paid during his base period.

(2) If the resulting amount is not a multiple of one dollar, the amount must be reduced to the next lower multiple of one dollar, except that no insured worker may receive benefits in a benefit year unless, subsequent to the beginning of the next preceding benefit year during which he received benefits, he performed 'insured work' as defined in Section 41-27-300 and earned wages in the employ of a single employer in an amount equal to not less than eight times the weekly benefit amount established for the individual in the preceding benefit year.

(E) Employees eligible for and receiving benefits pursuant to this section are exempt from the provisions contained in Section 41-35-60, relating to weekly benefits for partial unemployment. /