HARRY HUGHES, Governor

3319

Article 95A - Unemployment Insurance Law

Section 4(c) and 21(j)

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1979 Replacement Volume and 1983 Supplement)

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:

Article 95A - Unemployment Insurance Law

4.

Any unemployed individual is eligible to receive benefits
with respect to any week only if the Executive Director finds
that:

(c) He is able to work, and is available for work; provided
no claimant shall be considered ineligible in any week of
unemployment for failure to comply with provisions of this
subsection if such failure is due to illness or disability which
occurs after he has registered for work and no work which would
have been considered suitable at the time of his initial
registration has been offered after the beginning of such illness
or disability. The Executive Director shall not use the
blindness of an unsighted or other severely handicapped person as
a factor making such a person ineligible under the "able to work"
requirement of this subsection if the person was an employee of
the Maryland Workshop for the Blind immediately prior to being
unemployed. As used in this subsection, the term "available for
work" shall mean, among other things, that a claimant is actively
seeking work. In determining whether or not the claimant has
actively sought work, the Executive Director shall consider
whether the efforts he has made to obtain work have been
reasonable and are such efforts as an unemployed individual is
expected to make if he is honestly looking for work. The extent
of the effort required shall depend upon labor market conditions
in the claimant's area.

Provided, that when an employer closes its entire plant or
any portion of the plant for a vacation or inventory or other
purpose causing unemployment for a certain and definable period
not exceeding 10 weeks in any benefit year, the Executive
Director is authorized to exempt the employees who thereby become
unemployed from producing evidence required under this section of
the law, if it is found by the Executive Director that the
circumstances and labor market conditions justify such
exemptions; however, such employees must comply with the
provisions of subsection (a) of this section and must be able to
work and otherwise available for work. Exemption may be granted
only with regard to a specific plant shutdown, and shall not be
construed to exempt any claimant from meeting the requirements of
this article that he is able to work and otherwise fully
available for work.