SB 219

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

Significant provisions include:

Benefit changes

Concealment and program integrity

Currently, if a claimant conceals any material fact relating to his or her

eligibility for benefits or conceals any wages earned in or paid or payable for a given

week, the claimant is subject to graduated monetary penalties that increase in

severity with the number of determinations of concealment by the claimant. In

addition, if a claimant conceals any wages for a given week, the claimant is ineligible

to receive any benefits for that week.

This bill provides instead that a claimant who conceals any material fact

relating to his or her eligibility for benefits or conceals any wages is subject to a

graduated forfeiture of benefit amounts equivalent to specified weeks of benefit

eligibility that increases in severity with the number of determinations of

concealment by the claimant. In addition, a claimant who is found guilty of

concealment is subject to a penalty equal to 15 percent of the benefit payments paid

to the claimant.

The bill also creates a segregated fund called the unemployment program

integrity fund for deposit of all penalties collected under the above described penalty

provision created by the bill. Under the bill, moneys in the fund are to be used for

the payment of costs associated with program integrity (fraud detection and

prevention) activities.

Partial unemployment

Currently, with certain exceptions, if an employee earns wages or certain other

amounts treated as wages in a given week, the first $30 of the wages or other

amounts are disregarded and the claimant's weekly benefit payment is reduced by

67 percent of the remaining amount earned, but no employee is eligible to receive

benefits for any week if the benefits would be less than $5, and any wages that the

employee would have earned in any week for work performed for his or her employer

had the claimant accepted available work from that employer are treated as wages

earned for that week.

This bill provides that an employee is ineligible to receive any benefits for a

week if the employee receives from one or more employers 1) wages earned for work

performed in that week of more than $500; or 2) sick pay, holiday pay, vacation pay,

or termination pay which, by itself or in combination with wages earned for work

performed in that week, is equivalent to more than $500.

Eligibility of claimants who engage in full-time work

Currently, if a claimant receives wages or certain other amounts treated as

wages from an employer who paid at least 80 percent of the claimant's wages in his

or her base period (period preceding a claim during which benefit rights accrue) for