Various changes to the unemployment insurance law. (FE)

special committee Under current law, DWD must submit a statement regarding the unemployment insurance financial outlook to the governor and legislative leadership by April 15 of every odd-numbered year. The report must contain all of the following: 1) financial projections of unemployment insurance operations, including benefit payments, tax collections, borrowing or debt repayments, and any amounts of interest charges and the economic and public policy assumptions upon which the projections are based, and the impact upon the projections of variations from those assumptions; 2) proposed changes to the laws relating to unemployment insurance financing, benefits, and administration and financial projections under the proposed changes; 3) if there are significant cash reserves in the unemployment fund, the justifications for maintaining them; and 4) if program debt is projected at the end of the forecast period, the reasons DWD is not proposing to liquidate the debt.

The bill changes the submittal deadline of the statement to May 31 of every even-numbered year. The bill also requires the statement to contain proposed methods for liquidating any debt, instead of the reasons DWD is not proposing to liquidate any debt.

Under current law, DWD must submit a report of the activities of the Council on Unemployment Insurance to the governor and legislative leadership by May 15 of each odd-numbered year. Current law also requires DWD to submit to each member of the legislature by June 15 of each odd-numbered year an updated statement of unemployment insurance financial outlook.

The bill replaces the two aforementioned requirements with a single requirement for DWD to submit, by January 31 of each even-numbered year, a report of the activities of the Council on Unemployment Insurance and the most recent statement regarding the unemployment insurance financial outlook to the governor and legislative leadership, rather than to every member of the legislature.

The bill also requires DWD to post the most recent version of the report and statement on its Internet site.

Finally, under current law, after the report and statement are submitted to the governor and leadership by May 15 of each odd-numbered year, the governor may convene a special committee to review the financial outlook statement and the activities report. The bill repeals that provision. However, the bill does not affect the governor's authority under current law to convene advisory committees by executive order.

Effect of criminal convictions Current law provides that no finding of fact or law, determination, decision, or judgment in any action or administrative or judicial proceeding in law or equity not arising under the UI law made with respect to the rights or liabilities of a party to an action or proceeding under the UI law is binding in an action or proceeding under the UI law.

The bill provides that notwithstanding this provision, a final order or judgment of conviction for a crime entered by a court is binding on the convicted person in an action or proceeding under the UI law that relates to the criminal conviction, and that a person convicted of a crime is precluded from denying the essential allegations of the criminal offense that is the basis for the conviction in an action or proceeding under the UI law.

Reimbursable employer debt assessment Under current law, DWD must annually determine the total amount due and uncollectible from nonprofit employers that have elected what is known as reimbursement financing (reimbursable employers), and DWD must then charge that amount to an uncollectible reimbursable benefits account in the unemployment reserve fund. Whenever, as of a given year, that account has a negative balance of $5,000 or more, DWD must assess all such nonprofit reimbursable employers to reimburse for the uncollectible amount, except that employers that would otherwise be assessed less than $10 are not assessed, and their portion is instead applied to the amount owed by other employers on a pro rata basis.

Also under current law, pursuant to 2015 Wisconsin Act 334 , $2,000,000 was set aside in the unemployment reserve fund to repay reimbursable employers for erroneous payments charged to them that resulted from a false statement or representation (e.g., identity theft).

The bill does the following:

1. Raises the threshold for charging a reimbursable nonprofit employer the assessment to $20 instead of $10.

2. Allows DWD, in lieu of or in addition to assessing nonprofit reimbursable employers as described above, to apply moneys from the $2,000,000 set aside to the uncollectible reimbursable benefits account described above, subject to certain limitations.

Waiver of overpayments Current law requires the recovery of benefits that were erroneously paid to an individual to be waived if certain conditions apply, including that the erroneous payment was the result of a departmental error. Current law specifies what does and does not constitute a “departmental error” and also provides that if a determination or decision is amended, modified, or reversed by an appeal tribunal (administrative law judge), the Labor and Industry Review Commission, or any court, that action is not to be treated as establishing a departmental error.

The bill specifically provides that, for the purposes of the waiver of recovery of benefits, a “departmental error” does not include an error made by an administrative law judge.

Excluded employment The bill excludes from coverage under the UI law seasonal work performed by a full-time student at an organized camp, other than an organized camp operated by a governmental or nonprofit entity, that operates for not more than seven months per calendar year, consistent with federal law. Under the bill, “full-time student” includes a person who is currently enrolled in school full time or who was enrolled in school full time during the previous academic year if there is a reasonable assurance that the person will be so enrolled for the immediately succeeding academic year. An individual who performs such services is not eligible to claim UI benefits based on the performance of the services, and a person who employs an individual to perform such services is not subject to a state UI contribution requirement (a requirement to pay taxes) based on the performance of the services.

Work-share programs Current law allows an employer to create a work-share program within a work unit of the employer. Under a work-share program, the working hours of all of the full-time employees in the program are reduced in an equitable manner in lieu of a layoff of some of the employees and a continuation of full-time employment by the other employees. A claimant for UI benefits who is included in a work-share program may receive UI benefits during his or her continued employment with the work-share employer in an amount equal to the claimant's benefit for total unemployment reduced by the same percentage as the percentage reduction in the claimant's normal working hours that the claimant incurs under the program.

Former law provided also for the temporary modification of certain requirements that apply to work-share programs with respect to work-share programs submitted on or after April 17, 2020, and before July 4, 2021.

The bill makes a number of the former-law modifications permanent. Among other things, it eliminates a requirement that work-share programs be limited to particular work units, reduces the minimum number of employees who must be covered under a work-share program from 20 to two, and eliminates a requirement that working hours be reduced equitably among employees. In addition, the bill allows a work-share program to remain in effect for 12 months in any five-year period instead of six months in any five-year period.

Collection of debt by Department of Revenue Subject to certain exceptions, current law requires a state agency and the Department of Revenue to enter into a written agreement to have DOR collect certain amounts owed to the state agency. The bill provides that this requirement does not apply to amounts owed to DWD under the UI law or other federal unemployment programs administered by DWD.

Fiscal agent election of employer status Generally, under current law, an individual who receives long-term support services in his or her home through certain government-funded care programs is considered to be an employer under the UI law of a person who provides those services to the individual. Such individuals may use fiscal agents, whose responsibilities include remitting any federal UI taxes or state UI contributions owed by the individual as a result of that employment.

The bill allows a private agency that serves as a fiscal agent or contracts with a fiscal intermediary to serve as a fiscal agent to such an individual receiving long-term support services to elect to instead be the employer of one or more employees providing those services, subject to certain requirements.

Other changes The bill makes various changes to a) reorganize, clarify, and update provisions relating in the UI law; and b) address numerous out-of-date or erroneous cross-references in the UI law, including all of the following:

1. Changing certain out-of-date cross-references to federal law to reflect current federal law and the current numbering under the U.S. Code.

2. Repealing certain provisions that reference federal laws that have been repealed.

3. Correcting various cross-references that are otherwise incomplete or erroneous.

4. Replacing certain references to provisions in federal acts or to the Internal Revenue Code with references to the U.S. Code in order to facilitate accessibility to federal law.

5. Making other nonsubstantive changes to the UI law to improve organization, modernize language, and provide further clarity, specificity, and consistency in the law.