Bill Text: FL S1148 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Unemployment Compensation
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2017-05-05 - Died in Commerce and Tourism [S1148 Detail]
Download: Florida-2017-S1148-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2017 SB 1148
By Senator Rader
29-00431A-17 20171148__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to unemployment compensation; amending
3 s. 443.091, F.S.; requiring the Department of Economic
4 Opportunity to designate an alternative base period in
5 certain circumstances for benefit years commencing
6 after a specified date; defining the term “alternative
7 base period”; providing for the determination of
8 eligibility for benefits when certain information is
9 inaccessible; authorizing the department to consider
10 an affidavit from the claimant attesting to wages;
11 requiring that benefits be adjusted in certain
12 circumstances; requiring the department to request by
13 mail information on wages from employers in certain
14 circumstances; requiring employers to provide wage
15 information to support an individual’s eligibility for
16 benefits upon request of the department; providing a
17 penalty for employers who fail to timely provide that
18 information; providing that certain wages in a base
19 period may not be used in the calculation of
20 eligibility for benefits in a subsequent benefit year;
21 amending s. 443.101, F.S.; redefining the term “good
22 cause”; providing an effective date.
23
24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
25
26 Section 1. Paragraph (g) of subsection (1) of section
27 443.091, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
28 443.091 Benefit eligibility conditions.—
29 (1) An unemployed individual is eligible to receive
30 benefits for any week only if the Department of Economic
31 Opportunity finds that:
32 (g) She or he has been paid wages for insured work equal to
33 1.5 times her or his high quarter wages during her or his base
34 period, except that an unemployed individual is not eligible to
35 receive benefits if the base period wages are less than $3,400.
36 1. For a benefit year commencing on or after January 1,
37 2018, if an individual is not eligible in the base period to
38 qualify for benefits, the department must designate an
39 alternative base period. As used in this paragraph, the term
40 “alternative base period” means the four completed calendar
41 quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual’s
42 benefit year. If the department is unable to access wage
43 information through its mainframe database for determining
44 eligibility for benefits based on the individual’s alternative
45 base period, the department may base the determination on
46 information submitted in an affidavit submitted by the claimant
47 attesting to his or her wages for those calendar quarters. The
48 individual must also furnish payroll information, if available,
49 in support of the affidavit. Benefits based on an alternative
50 base period must be adjusted if the quarterly report of wage
51 information received from the employer under s. 443.141 results
52 in a change in the monetary determination.
53 2. If information regarding wages for the calendar quarters
54 immediately preceding the benefit year has not been entered into
55 the department’s mainframe database from the Employers Quarterly
56 Reports (UCT-6) submitted under s. 443.163 or is otherwise
57 unavailable, the department shall request the information from
58 the employer by mail. The employer shall provide the requested
59 information within 10 days after the department mails the
60 request. An employer who fails to provide the requested wage
61 information within the required time is subject to the penalty
62 for delinquent reports imposed under s. 443.141.
63 3. Base period wages that were used in the calculation of
64 eligibility for benefits in 1 benefit year may not be used in
65 the calculation of eligibility in a subsequent benefit year.
66 Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
67 443.101, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
68 443.101 Disqualification for benefits.—An individual shall
69 be disqualified for benefits:
70 (1)(a) For the week in which he or she has voluntarily left
71 work without good cause attributable to his or her employing
72 unit or has been discharged by the employing unit for misconduct
73 connected with his or her work, based on a finding by the
74 Department of Economic Opportunity. As used in this paragraph,
75 the term “work” means any work, whether full-time, part-time, or
76 temporary.
77 1. Disqualification for voluntarily quitting continues for
78 the full period of unemployment next ensuing after the
79 individual has left his or her full-time, part-time, or
80 temporary work voluntarily without good cause and until the
81 individual has earned income equal to or greater than 17 times
82 his or her weekly benefit amount. As used in this subsection,
83 the term “good cause” includes only that cause attributable to
84 the employing unit which would compel a reasonable employee to
85 cease working or attributable to the individual’s illness or
86 disability requiring separation from his or her work. Any other
87 disqualification may not be imposed. An individual is not
88 disqualified under this subsection for voluntarily leaving
89 temporary work to return immediately when called to work by the
90 permanent employing unit that temporarily terminated his or her
91 work within the previous 6 calendar months, or for voluntarily
92 leaving work to relocate as a result of his or her military
93 connected spouse’s permanent change of station orders,
94 activation orders, or unit deployment orders.
95 2. Disqualification for being discharged for misconduct
96 connected with his or her work continues for the full period of
97 unemployment next ensuing after having been discharged and until
98 the individual is reemployed and has earned income of at least
99 17 times his or her weekly benefit amount and for not more than
100 52 weeks immediately following that week, as determined by the
101 department in each case according to the circumstances or the
102 seriousness of the misconduct, under the department’s rules
103 adopted for determinations of disqualification for benefits for
104 misconduct.
105 3. If an individual has provided notification to the
106 employing unit of his or her intent to voluntarily leave work
107 and the employing unit discharges the individual for reasons
108 other than misconduct before the date the voluntary quit was to
109 take effect, the individual, if otherwise entitled, shall
110 receive benefits from the date of the employer’s discharge until
111 the effective date of his or her voluntary quit.
112 4. If an individual is notified by the employing unit of
113 the employer’s intent to discharge the individual for reasons
114 other than misconduct and the individual quits without good
115 cause, as described in sub-subparagraph 5.a., before the date
116 the discharge was to take effect, the claimant is ineligible for
117 benefits pursuant to s. 443.091(1)(d) for failing to be
118 available for work for the week or weeks of unemployment
119 occurring before the effective date of the discharge.
120 5. As used in this subsection, the term “good cause” means:
121 a. Cause attributable to the employing unit which would
122 compel a reasonable employee to cease working;
123 b. Cause attributable to an illness or disability of the
124 individual which requires separation from work; or
125 c. Domestic violence, as defined in s. 741.28, verified by
126 reasonable and confidential documentation, which causes the
127 individual reasonably to believe that such individual’s
128 continued employment would jeopardize his or her safety, the
129 safety of any member of his or her immediate family, or the
130 safety of other employees.
131 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.
