1746                            Laws of Maryland                      [Ch. 790

pealed and re-enacted, with amendments; that Sections 20(k) and
20(n) of the same article, title and subtitle, be and they are hereby re-
pealed and re-enacted, with amendments; that Sections 20(k) and
20(n) of the same article, title and subtitle, be and they are hereby re-
pealed and re-enacted, with amendments; that Section 21 of the same
article and title, subtitle "Transitional Provisions," be and it is here-
by repealed; and that new Section 21, be and it is hereby enacted in
lieu thereof, to stand in the place of the section repealed and to be
under the new subtitle "Extended Unemployment Insurance Bene-
fits"; all to read as follows:

4.

Any unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits
with respect to any week only if the Executive Director finds that—

(a) Registering and reporting for work.—He has registered for
work at and thereafter continued to report at an employment office
in accordance with such regulations as the Executive Director may
prescribe, except that the Executive Director may, by regulation
waive or alter either or both of the requirements of this subsection
as to individuals attached to regular jobs and as to such types of
cases or situations with respect to which [it] he finds that com-
pliance with such requirements would be oppressive, or would be
inconsistent with the purposes of this article; provided that no such
regulation shall conflict with Section 3(a) of this article.

(c) Ability to work and availability for work.—He is able to
work, and is available for work; provided no claimant shall be con-
sidered ineligible in any week of unemployment for failure to com-
ply with provisions of this subsection if such failure is due to an
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. As used in this subsection, the term "avail-
able 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 ex-
ceeding three 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. Exemp-
tion may be granted only with regard to a specific plant shutdown,
and shall not be construed to exempt any claimant for FROM meet-
ing the requirements of this article that he is able to work and other-
wise fully available for work.