7 min read ยท Last updated September 28, 2026
- A federal law called the Layoff Prevention Act of 2012 lets states run “short-time compensation,” usually called Shared Work, which pays partial unemployment when hours are cut instead of jobs being eliminated.
- Only the employer can apply for Shared Work. A worker cannot enroll on her own, no matter how clearly her hours were cut.
- 30 states currently run an operational Shared Work program. If yours isn’t one of them, or your employer hasn’t applied, you fall back to an ordinary partial unemployment claim, calculated differently and often paying less.
- Washington’s own Shared Work formula pays a fixed percentage of your normal weekly benefit for every percentage your hours are cut; a 40% reduction pays 40% of that benefit, no matter your hourly wage.
Short-time compensation, usually called Shared Work, is a state unemployment program that pays part of your normal weekly benefit when your employer cuts everyone’s hours instead of laying people off, but the employer has to apply for it. A worker cannot request it individually.
In this article
- The first 24 hours
- What Shared Work actually pays
- The fallback if your employer never applies
- The mistake that costs people the most
- What to do at 30, 60, and 90 days
- Frequently asked questions
Yolanda’s manager cut her schedule from 40 hours a week to 24 the same week two of her coworkers were let go outright. When she called her state’s unemployment office to ask about a partial claim, the person on the phone told her a reduced schedule doesn’t automatically qualify you for benefits the way a layoff does. That’s only true if her employer never filed for the program built exactly for her situation.
The first 24 hours
Ask your employer directly, using the actual program name: “Has the company applied for a Shared Work or short-time compensation (STC) plan with the state?” This is the single most important question, because you cannot start this process yourself. The U.S. Department of Labor is explicit that “the STC application process is initiated by employer(s) and not employee(s).”
Check whether your state runs a program at all before you assume the answer is no. As of the U.S. Department of Labor’s current fact sheet on short-time compensation, the formal federal name for Shared Work, 30 states have operational programs:
- Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut
- District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas
- Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan
- Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey
- New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island
- Texas, Washington State, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
If your employer says no, or your state isn’t on this list, file your regular partial unemployment claim right away anyway. That clock does not wait for you to sort out Shared Work.
What Shared Work actually pays
Federal law allows states to approve a reduction of between 10% and 60% of a normal work schedule. Washington State’s own program allows a 10% to 50% cut and pays a benefit set directly by state law: the Shared Work weekly payment equals a worker’s normal weekly unemployment benefit amount multiplied by the percentage her hours were reduced.
Washington’s own published example: a worker whose normal weekly benefit is $400 and who works 20 of her usual 40 hours, a 50% cut, receives 50% of that benefit, or $200, on top of pay for the hours she still worked. The same state chart shows that a worker who instead works 24 of 40 hours, a 40% cut, is paid 40.0% of her normal weekly benefit. Applied to Yolanda’s situation, a $400 weekly benefit would pay $160 a week through Shared Work, regardless of her hourly wage.
| Hours worked (of a normal 40) | Percent of normal weekly benefit paid |
|---|---|
| 24 hours (40% cut) | 40.0% |
| 20 hours (50% cut) | 50.0% |
The fallback if your employer never applies
Without Shared Work, a worker files an ordinary partial unemployment claim instead. Every state disregards a small amount of part-time earnings before reducing your benefit, but above that disregard, the benefit shrinks dollar for dollar. The Department of Labor’s own published example shows how sharply this can bite: a worker with a $40 weekly benefit who earns $50.95 from part-time work, in a state with a $30 earnings disregard, ends up with a partial benefit of just $19.
That unpredictability is exactly why Shared Work matters. A clean percentage of your normal benefit does not depend on your exact hourly pay; an individual partial claim can swing wildly depending on how your specific state’s disregard formula interacts with what you happen to earn.
The mistake that costs people the most
Don’t assume a reduced schedule “doesn’t count” and skip filing anything. Always file a claim on your reduced hours immediately; the timeline on your claim does not pause while you figure out whether Shared Work applies.
Don’t ask your employer a vague question like “can you do anything about my hours.” Ask by the program’s actual name, Shared Work or short-time compensation, since some employers and even some human-resources staff have never heard of the option and won’t volunteer it.
Don’t assume your state has no program just because a friend elsewhere says her employer never used one. Check your own state directly against the Department of Labor’s current list above before ruling it out.
What to do at 30, 60, and 90 days
At 30 days, confirm exactly which program you were approved under: Shared Work, with the percentage cut stated in your award notice, or an individual partial claim under the earnings-disregard formula. The two produce very different weekly amounts.
At 60 days, check whether your employer’s Shared Work plan has an expiration date. Washington State’s own plans, for example, can run up to a year, but any further change in your hours may require your employer to update the plan with the state.
At 90 days, if your hours haven’t recovered, start treating this as an active job search. Most states, including the ones running Shared Work, allow continued partial benefits while you look, so ask your caseworker directly how job-search requirements apply to your specific claim type. If your hours are cut because of gig or side work you’re already reporting on a separate claim, the rules for reporting that income each week are different from the Shared Work math above.
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for Shared Work myself if my employer refuses? No. Every state’s Shared Work or short-time compensation program requires the employer to submit the plan to the state workforce agency; a worker cannot file for it individually. If your employer won’t apply, your only option is a regular partial unemployment claim, which uses a different, usually less generous, benefit formula.
What if my state doesn’t run a Shared Work program at all? About 20 states, including several of the largest, have no operational Shared Work program. In those states, and in any state where your employer won’t apply, your only path is an individual partial unemployment claim under your state’s regular earnings-disregard formula, which is less predictable than a set percentage.
How much does Shared Work actually pay compared to my normal unemployment benefit? Your Shared Work payment equals your normal weekly unemployment benefit amount multiplied by the percentage your hours were cut. In Washington State, a worker whose hours dropped 50%, from 40 to 20, with a $400 weekly benefit receives $200 through Shared Work, on top of pay for the hours still worked.
Why did the unemployment office tell me a reduced schedule doesn’t qualify? A reduced schedule alone does not automatically qualify you the way Shared Work does, because Shared Work only exists once your employer files a plan with the state. Without that filing, you’re evaluated under the ordinary partial-claim rules, which is likely what the representative was describing.
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