(a) The General Assembly finds:

(1) The parental leave law was a much needed response to the dramatic social and economic changes that brought about a significant increase in the number of single-parent families and two-parent families in which both parents work. The parental leave law was designed to help stabilize the workforce by allowing parents time away from employment to care for a new child, form strong emotional bonds with the child, and to establish a secure system of child care. In the long run, the time a parent spends with a new child provides the societal benefit of creating healthier and better adjusted children and families, and promoting the parents’ long-term attachment to the workforce.

(2) Many working Vermonters in low and moderate paying jobs who become parents are financially unable to take leave without pay to care for a new child as permitted under existing law, and thereby are effectively denied the opportunity to care for and bond with a newborn or newly-adopted child.

(b) The purpose of this act is to provide a real choice for employees who become parents by making wage replacement available to those for whom parental leave has formerly been little more than an illusory right.

§ 1343a. UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION; BIRTH AND ADOPTION

(a) An individual who has left employment to be with the individual’s child during the first year following the child’s birth or adoption shall not be denied compensation pursuant to any of the following:

(1) Subsection 1343(a) of this title, relating to availability for work.

(2) Subdivision 1344(a)(3) of this title, relating to inability to work, or subsection 1343(a) for failure to actively seek work.

(3) Subdivision 1344(a)(2)(A) of this title, for voluntarily leaving employment.

(b) Subdivision 1344(a)(5) of this title, relating to a reduction in the amount of compensation due to receipt of disqualifying income, shall apply to compensation paid pursuant to this section. The compensation to the individual shall be reduced by either or both of the following payments made to the individual:

(1) By the employer for parental leave pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.

(2) From a disability insurance plan contributed to by the employer for a birth or adoption described in subsection (a) of this section. The reduction under this subdivision shall be limited to an amount proportional to the employer’s contribution to the disability plan.

(c) Compensation under this section is payable for no more than 12 weeks during the first year after the birth or adoption of a child, and is payable only to one parent for any given week so that the combined total of compensation paid to each parent of the newborn or newly-adopted child shall not exceed 12 weeks.

(d) An employer shall post a notice explaining the availability of unemployment compensation under this section in a conspicuous place accessible to all employees at each of the employer’s employment sites.

(e) Any compensation paid under this section shall not be charged to the account of the individual’s employer.

(f) Compensation paid under this section shall be paid from the unemployment compensation fund which shall be reimbursed from general fund money. Annual payments made under this section between July 1, 2001 and July 1, 2002 shall not exceed $750,000.00.

(a) There is appropriated from the general fund to the department of employment and training in fiscal year 2002 the amount of $750,000.00 to the unemployment compensation fund for reimbursement for compensation paid to employees pursuant to Sec. 2 of this act.

(b) The commissioner of employment and training shall monitor payments made pursuant to 21 V.S.A. § 1343a, and shall prorate benefits as needed to insure that payments for birth and adoption unemployment compensation do not exceed the appropriation.