Employers FAQs

A firm facing a 20% reduction in production may consider laying off one-fifth of its workforce. Instead, when faced with this situation, the company can retain its total workforce on a four-day-a-week basis. This reduction from 40 hours to 32 hours cuts production—and payroll—by the required 20% without reducing the number of employees.

All affected employees receive their wages based on four days of work. In addition, those employees can receive a portion of unemployment compensation benefits equal to 20% of the unemployment compensation weekly benefit amount payable had the employee been unemployed a full week.

Based on a 40-hour week, the employer reduces the work schedule by 20%. The employer submits a plan for this reduction to Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) and is approved under the Shared Work Program.

In this example, the employee qualifies for regular unemployment compensation with a weekly benefit amount (WBA) of $488 (actual WBA will vary based on the employee).

          20% of 40-hour work week = 8 hours
          Employee works and earns wages for 32 hours
          20% x $488 WBA = $97

This employee would receive $97 in unemployment benefits in addition to the 32 hours of wages earned during the week.

Each week, the employer makes sure that they are meeting the Shared Work program requirements and submits a certification form to KDOL verifying who is affected.