AB 457

This bill makes various changes in the unemployment insurance (UI) law.

Significant provisions include:

Discharges for certain conduct or violations of certain work rules or policies

Currently, if an employee is discharged for misconduct connected with his or her

employment (interpreted by the courts to include only misconduct that evinces

willful or wanton disregard of the employer's interests or carelessness or negligence

in the performance of duties to such degree or recurrence as to manifest culpability

or wrongful intent or exhibiting such behavior as to endanger the physical safety of

persons on the work site) the employee is ineligible to receive benefits until seven

weeks have elapsed since the end of the week in which the discharge occurs and the

employee earns wages, or certain other amounts treated as wages, after the week in

which the discharge occurs equal to at least 14 times the employee's weekly benefit

rate in employment covered by the unemployment insurance law of any state or the

federal government. In addition, all wages earned with the employer that discharges

the employee are excluded in determining the amount of any future benefits to which

the employee is entitled. However, if an employee is discharged for failing to notify

an employer of tardiness or absenteeism that becomes excessive under certain

conditions, the employee is ineligible to receive benefits until six weeks have elapsed

since the end of the week in which the discharge occurs and the employee earns

wages, or certain other amounts treated as wages, after the week in which the

discharge occurs equal to at least six times the the employee's weekly benefit rate in

work covered by the unemployment insurance law of any state or the federal

government. In addition, if an employee's work is suspended by an employer for good

cause connected with the employee's work, the employee is ineligible to receive

benefits until three weeks have elapsed since the end of the week in which the

suspension occurs or until the suspension ends, whichever occurs first.

This bill deletes the current disqualifiers for discharges resulting from

absenteeism or tardiness and for disciplinary suspensions but retains the

disqualifier for misconduct. The bill also creates a new disqualifier that applies to

certain discharges or suspensions that do not result from misconduct, as currently

defined. Under the bill, an employee who is discharged for intentional conduct

connected with his or her employment that a reasonable person would not engage in,

if the conduct is documented by the employee's employer and the employee knew or

should have known that the conduct would not be considered reasonable by the

employer, or for a knowing violation of a reasonable and uniformly enforced rule or

policy of his or her employer, when reasonably applied, is ineligible to receive benefits

until six weeks have elapsed since the end of the week in which the discharge occurs

and the employee earns wages, or certain other amounts treated as wages, after the

week in which the discharge occurs equal to at least six times the employee's weekly

benefit rate in employment covered by the unemployment insurance law of any state