If your business has slowed down due to the pandemic and you need to reduce employee working hours, you may be able to avoid laying off employees by submitting a shared work plan. The Shared Work program provides Texas employers with an alternative to layoffs. TWC developed this voluntary program to help Texas employers and employees withstand a slowdown in business.

Shared Work allows employers to:

• Supplement their employees’ wages lost because of reduced work hours with partial unemployment benefits.
• Reduce normal weekly work hours for employees in an affected unit by at least 10 percent but not more than 40 percent; the reduction must affect at least 10 percent of the employees in that unit.

At present, the U.S. government and Texas legislature have not changed any laws or rules concerning unemployment benefits during the pandemic. However, Department of Labor guidance provides that federal law permits significant flexibility for states to provide Unemployment Insurance (UI) services related to COVID-19. Based on this, TWC will be waiving work search requirements. Also, Extended Benefits (EB) and Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) are NOT available at this time.

The Texas Unemployment Insurance (UI) program pays benefits to those individuals who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. TWC determines benefit eligibility based on past wages, why someone lost their job, and ongoing eligibility requirements.

• Unemployment Eligibility Scenarios
• Unemployment Benefit Claims Self Service for Employers
• Unemployment Benefit One Pager

Assistance Finding Work

• If you have been impacted by COVID-19 and are seeking employment, please register for employment at www.WorkInTexas.com and select Job Seeker Registration.
• The Texas Workforce Commission, 28 Workforce Development Boards and their service contractors work together to provide workforce solutions for Texans. Locate your nearest Workforce Solutions office by searching by ZIP code or type of services on the Directory of Workforce Solutions Offices & Services.

Child Care & Early Learning COVID-19 Information

Many families and child care programs that participate in the Texas Workforce Commission’s (TWC) subsidized child care program have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. On Tuesday, March 17, 2020, TWC’s three-member Commission approved the following actions to mitigate the impact:

• Effective March 1, 2020, children may accrue absences without impacting ongoing eligibility for services or provider reimbursements. TWC will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and make a future determination on when this absence policy will conclude. Providers will continue to be paid, if children are absent, or if the provider is temporarily closed due to COVID-19.
• Workforce development boards are authorized to make supplemental payments to child care programs to cover lost parent share of cost payments. TWC will issue further guidance on calculating supplemental payments.

TWC will be issuing additional guidance to local Workforce Solutions staff shortly to address the following issues:

• Interruptions in parents’ ongoing participation in work, education, or training
• Child care eligibility redeterminations
• Continued payments to child care programs
• Texas Rising Star processes