SB 196

This bill makes various changes regarding the unemployment insurance (UI) law, which is administered by the Department of Workforce Development.

Suitable work; work search

Current law requires that, as a condition of being eligible for UI benefits for a given week, a claimant must 1) be able to work and available for work; 2) register for work in the manner prescribed by DWD; and 3) conduct a reasonable search for suitable work. Separately, current law also makes a claimant ineligible for UI benefits if a claimant fails, without good cause, to accept suitable work when offered.

The bill provides that an employer may report to DWD whenever 1) an individual declines a job interview or job offer; 2) an individual fails to respond to a job interview offer or job offer; 3) an individual cancels or fails to attend a scheduled job interview without attempting to reschedule the job interview; 4) a UI claimant is unavailable for, or unable to perform, work actually available within a given week; or 5) under certain circumstances, the employer recalls a former employee receiving UI benefits who fails to return to work. The bill requires DWD to consider these reports in determining claimants’ attachment to the labor market. The bill also provides that a UI claimant is not considered to have conducted a reasonable search for suitable work in a given week, and is therefore ineligible for benefits for that week, if the claimant declined a job interview, failed to respond to a job interview offer, or canceled or failed to attend a job interview in that week. The bill, however, provides that a report of a canceled or missed interview is to be disregarded if the claimant demonstrates that he or she promptly attempted to reschedule the interview and allows reports to be disregarded upon certain showings by a claimant. The bill requires a claimant to provide weekly verification of all job offers, job interview offers, recalls to return to work, and any other offers of work received or responded to by the claimant since the prior week’s verification, as further prescribed by DWD, and requires DWD to investigate reports from employers as needed to determine their effect on claimants’ eligibility for benefits. A disqualification of a claimant from receiving benefits for a given week based upon the claimant’s failure to conduct a reasonable search for suitable work does not reduce the claimant’s total UI benefit entitlement and does not preclude the claimant from receiving UI benefits in subsequent weeks, if the claimant is otherwise eligible for those weeks.

The bill requires DWD to include information on reports submitted by employers under the bill in its annual UI fraud report made to the Council on Unemployment Insurance, including actions taken by DWD in response to the reports and their effect on claimants’ eligibility for benefits. In addition, the bill requires that this annual fraud report be submitted to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature.

The bill requires DWD to have in effect methods to address any circumstances in which a claimant for UI benefits fails to return to work or to accept suitable work without good cause or is unavailable for work or unable to work, including reporting methods for employers and a notice from DWD to claimants about the laws governing such circumstances.

Recovery of overpayments

Current law allows DWD to act to recover overpayments in certain circumstances and allows overpayments to be required to be repaid in cases where an individual makes misrepresentations to obtain benefits in the name of another person. This bill makes such recoveries mandatory, instead of permissive.