Nevada to get about $1 million for work-sharing program

Nevada will get $1.03 million from a U.S. Labor Department grant to implement or improve existing short-term compensation, commonly referred to as "work sharing" programs.

Some $100 million is being made available nationwide.

The grant has been made available through the bipartisan Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, which authorizes states to set up programs to give employers an alternative to layoffs, officials said Monday in a statement.

"Establishing or expanding work-sharing programs nationwide will help business owners better weather hard economic times by temporarily reducing their labor costs while still keeping their existing skilled employees," Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said in a statement. "This program is a win-win for businesses and employees alike."

Work sharing allows employees to keep their jobs and helps employers avoid layoffs during economic downturns by reducing the hours of work for an entire group of affected workers. Workers affected by reduced hours can have their wages compensated with a portion of their weekly unemployment compensation payments, the statement noted.