Senators passed SB 576 in a 29-5 vote Friday, sending it to the Republican-controlled House, the News and Sentinel reported. The bill would make workers eligible for unemployment benefits if they leave a job after being refused a religious or medical exemption to vaccination requirements. Under the measure, employees would not be deemed to have left work voluntarily, without "good cause," if they resign as a result of being denied an exemption.

People who quit their jobs typically cannot claim unemployment unless they leave for "good cause," according to the AP.

Lead sponsor Sen. Mark Maynard, a Republican, said that SB 576 was crafted especially for healthcare professionals. "Our frontline health care workers were required to be in the midst of this battle with COVID in the years 2020 and 2021 without even an option," Maynard said. "When the mandates started rolling in, they had to make a decision."

"This gives them a little bit of a cushion to figure out what they're going to do with their life."

If SB 576 becomes law, West Virginia would join five other states, namely Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, and Tennessee, that have extended unemployment benefits to employees who reject compulsory vaccination. Over a dozen similar proposals have been introduced across the country.

All eleven Democrats in the West Virginia Senate voted in favor of SB 576. The legislation "basically protects workers to ensure they have transitional employment support, just like we should have given employees transitional support who are seasonal workers," said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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