Unemployment Laws and Insurance

The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) offers useful resources concerning unemployment insurance laws and related resources on its website. To access those resources, start at the Unemployment Insurance page. Below are highlights:

• Laws: In the navigation pane on the lower right side of the Unemployment Insurance page you will see the heading “Laws”. Topics included here are Agreements, Legislation, Regulations, Federal Info, and State Info. If you click on State Info, you will see links for Comparison of State UI Laws from 2001 - 2005, Significant Provisions of State UI Laws from 2000 - 2006, and Reports on State Legislation from 2000 – 2005.

  Comparison of State Unemployment Insurance Laws is published annually and provides state-by-state information on workers covered, benefit eligibility, methods of financing and other areas of interest in the UI program. It also includes information on the temporary disability programs operated in six states.

• Federal Information: Also listed under “Laws”, these resources are divided into four subject areas – Legislation, Regulations, Laws, and Guidance.

Sample resources provided under “Federal Legislation” include the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) and the Social Security Act (SSA) [Title III, Title IX, and Title XII].

Federal Regulations links to Administrative Procedure (20 CFR Part 601), Quality Control in the Federal-State Unemployment Insurance System (20 CFR Part 602), and Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (20 CFR Part 614). WARNING: Be sure to determine if the CFR has been updated since it's last published update. Check the Current List of CFR Sections Affected, the Last Month's List of CFR Parts Affected, and the List of CFR Parts Affected Today.

Federal Law Information provides a link to Chronology of Federal Unemployment Compensation Laws (requires Adobe Acrobat – see note below). This is an 81 page document that describes significant legislation enacted from the 74th Congress (1935-1936) up to the 108th Congress (2003-2004).

Federal Guidance provides links to the Manual of State Employment Security Legislation 1950 (Blue Book), the Unemployment Insurance Legislative Policy 1962 (Brown Book), Draft Legislation 1970 (Orange Book), Draft Language 1976 (Green Book), and [Unemployment Insurance Program Letters] UIPLs and other Advisories.

Note: Chronology of Federal Unemployment Compensation Laws and the Blue, Brown, Orange, and Green Books are available in Portable Document Format (PDF); to view them you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, a standard inclusion on most computers and available for free download online.

A past tip, Employment & Training Administration (ETA) Documents, provides additional information about resources available on the ETA website.

The Wirtz Labor Library also has the following print resources:

• Highlights of State Unemployment Compensation Laws (1985, 1988, 1997– 2006) published by the National Foundation for Unemployment Compensation & Workers’ Compensation. Call No. KF 3675 .Z95 H54
• CCH Unemployment Insurance Reporter (volumes 1– 12). Call No. KF3613.412 C65
• Comparison of State Unemployment Insurance Laws (1938 – 2005) U.S. Department of Labor. Call No. KF3675 .Z95 C65