Requiring certain unemployment insurance claimants to submit to drug tests, eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits following a drug test, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)

The bill provides that, if the claimant declines to submit to such a test, the claimant is ineligible for UI benefits for 52 weeks or until a subsequent claim for benefits, whichever is later. If the claimant submits to the drug test, but does not test positive for any controlled substance without a valid prescription, the claimant may receive UI benefits if otherwise eligible and may not be required to submit to any further drug test until a subsequent claim for benefits. If the claimant submits to the drug test and tests positive for one or more controlled substances without a valid prescription, the bill provides that the claimant is ineligible for UI benefits for 52 weeks or until a subsequent claim for benefits, whichever is later, except that following the positive test, the claimant may maintain his or her eligibility for UI benefits by enrolling in a state-sponsored substance abuse treatment program and undergoing a state-sponsored job skills assessment. The claimant remains eligible for benefits for each week the claimant is in full compliance with any requirements of the substance abuse treatment program and job skills assessment.

The bill also requires DWD to conduct, every ten years, a survey of employers to identify occupations for which employers require pre-employment, random, or reasonable suspicion drug testing as a condition of obtaining or continuing employment. The bill then requires DWD to promulgate rules identifying occupations for which more than 50 percent of employers so surveyed indicated that drug testing is required as a condition of obtaining or continuing employment, as well as additional rules identifying occupations in certain specified categories listed in the bill. The bill then requires that DWD likewise apply the above provisions related to screening, drug testing, substance abuse, and eligibility for benefits to claimants for whom suitable work is only available in an occupation identified by DWD in either set of rules.

In addition, the bill allows an employing unit to voluntarily submit to DWD the results of a drug test that was conducted on an individual as preemployment screening or notify DWD that an individual declined to submit to such a test. If the results of the test indicate that the individual has tested positive for one or more controlled substances without a valid prescription, or if the individual declined to submit to such a test, the bill provides that there is a presumption, rebuttable as provided in rules promulgated by DWD, that the claimant has failed to accept suitable work when offered. If the presumption is not rebutted, the claimant is ineligible for UI benefits as if the claimant had tested positive in or declined to submit to a drug test conducted by DWD, beginning with the week in which DWD receives the report.

The bill provides that if a claimant continues to receive benefits after testing positive for the unlawful use a controlled substance, the claimant's benefits are charged to the balancing account of the unemployment reserve fund, which is a pooled account financed by all employers that pay contributions and used to pay benefits that are not chargeable to any employer's account.