10/06/2026
Below is the email our Director of Administration sent to Representative Morgan Foreman of the 33rd House District of Michigan. Your experiences won't be the same, of course, but we thought this might give you a bit more information on how this bill would impact A&H and the reason it would be so helpful for our staff!
Thanks again to all who have contacted their representative about HB 6420! (To find your representative, visit https://www.house.mi.gov/)
Dear Representative Foreman,
My name is Kristy Vanderpool, and I've worked for A&H Outdoor Resource Group, a lawn and landscape business located in Saline, MI, for nearly 30 years.
The current process with the Unemployment Insurance Agency works for our business with the exception of the current work-search requirement. It does not make sense for our employees to have to search for another job when they already have a job with our company and a scheduled return-to-work date. They also work on an on-call basis during the winter months, performing snow removal whenever it is necessary. They simply use unemployment benefits to fill the gap when our Michigan winters are slow.
We employ approximately 35 people year-round. During what we call "the growing season", all of our staff work 40-60 hours per week. From December through March, however, we rely solely on the weather for work. There are some winters where staff keep busy and are able to afford to live off the snow and not have to rely on unemployment benefits. Most winters, though, they need those benefits to fill the gaps between snow storms. They claim the hours they work and they only utilize the unemployment benefits legally and how they are intended to be used. I lose employees every winter because they can't keep up with the work-search requirements and they feel it makes unemployment too difficult to navigate while they are trying to work the snow hours we have available and while they aren't actually wanting to find a different job, they just need to get through the winter until full time work with A&H resumes. We are a type of Michigan company that has to exist - people need their lawns cut, they need their landscapes maintained, and they need their snow and ice removed - but without a consistent workforce we can't efficiently provide these services and it's incredibly difficult to keep a consistent workforce with staff worried about paying their bills during the winter months. We have many employees who have worked with us for over 10 years - and that is wonderful! But every winter there are issues and concerns due to the work-search requirements of unemployment and we almost lose some of them. This bill would be incredibly helpful for my company and others in our industry. Please feel free to reach out if you'd like more information on why this would be helpful for A&H and so many others. Thank you!
Representative Roth has introduced House Bill 6420, which would help address this issue, and I am asking you to support this legislation.
House Bill 6420 would help:
Support Michigan’s skilled workforce by helping businesses retain trained and experienced employees;
Protect worker safety by ensuring workers are not put in harm’s way due to unsafe weather conditions;
Support business continuity by reducing the repeated investment of attracting and training new employees due to worker loss;
Provide administrative clarity and flexibility for employers, employees, and the relevant government agencies overseeing these claims.
Please support HB 6420.
Thank you for your consideration and for representing our community.
Kind regards,
Kristy Vanderpool
Director of Administration
A&H Outdoor Resource Group
734.429.5778 main office
734.429.6039 direct line
734.429.0094 fax
734.260.0887 cell
www.ahoutdoor.com
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