PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Wyoming Unemployment Insurance
Division is proposing a new regular rule, Chapter 37 – COVID-19 Public Health
Emergency Provisions. This was previously an emergency rule that is now being updated
to a regular rule. The Unemployment Insurance Commission has the authority to adopt
rules necessary for the administration of the Wyoming Employment Security Act under
Wyo. Stat. § 27-3-602(a)(i) and (b).
These rules are intended to address urgent issues created by the COVID-19 public health
emergency by strengthening access to unemployment insurance compensation and providing
flexibility to the Agency in awarding benefits while also satisfying key provisions of both the
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Pub. L. 116-127) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and
Economic Security Act (CARES Act, Pub. L. 116-136). Additionally, certain federal legislation
makes emergency supplemental appropriations in response to the spread of COVID-19 to states
that meet certain requirements, including provisions identified as the Emergency Unemployment
Insurance Stabilization and Access Act (EUISAA) of 2020. The EUISAA requires states to take
steps to ease eligibility requirements and access to unemployment compensation for claimants.
(42 U.S.C. 1103(h)(3)(B).
Section 1 is an exercise of the Commission’s statutory authority under Wyoming Statute §27-3-
306(b) to pass regulations to waive certain requirements of Wyoming Statute §27-3-306(a) in
situations where the applicability of the eligibility requirements would be inconsistent with the
requirements of the Wyoming Employment Security Act. This section provides for an extended
period of job attachment in which claimants directly impacted by the COVID-19 virus could
maintain benefit eligibility beyond the currently allowed 12-week period without being required
to register for work with the Division. Section 1 also contains reporting requirements for
claimants and objection rights for employers related to this extended period of job attachment.
Section 2 exercises the Commission’s statutory authority under Wyoming Statute §27-3-306(b) to
pass regulations to waive certain requirements of Wyoming Statute §27-3-306(a) in situations
where the applicability of the eligibility requirements would be inconsistent with the requirements
of the Wyoming Employment Security Act. This section waives the requirements that a claimant
actively seek work and be able and available for work for any week in which the claimant has
been personally ordered or instructed by a public official having jurisdiction or a health care
provider to self-isolate or quarantine as a result of exposure to the COVID-19 virus. It does not
alleviate claimants not ordered to self-isolate from searching for or accepting offers of suitable
work. Section 2 also contains reporting requirements claimants will be expected to satisfy to
maintain eligibility for the waiver provided by the Section.
Section 3 exercises the Commission’s statutory authority under Wyoming Statute §27-3-502(c) to
prescribe information to be contained in the records of employing units. This section requires
employing units to provide individual notice at the time of separation to employees who separate
from their jobs, for any reason, of the potential availability of unemployment compensation and to
keep an adequate record that the notice was provided. Section 3 makes the record of such notice a
requirement for employer compliance with the Wyoming Employment Security Act, and includes
the notice among the documents which employers must produce for inspection at the request of
the Unemployment Insurance Division.
Written comments should be submitted to the following address by December 29, 2020.
Unemployment Insurance Division
ATTN: Ashley Moore
100 W Midwest Ave.
Casper, WY 82601
(307) 235-3267
Or via email to: Ashley.Moore@wyo.gov
A public comment period will end at close of business on December 29, 2020.
Copies may be obtained by submitting a written request to the Division, with prepayment by personal check or money order for the total number of copies requested; the
fee for each copy is $4.00. The proposed rules may be downloaded, free of charge, from
the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) at: