Bill Text: MI HB4915 | 2017-2018 | 99th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Employment security; hearings; appeal process for recipient of improperly paid unemployment benefits; provide for. Amends sec. 62 of 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1 (MCL 421.62).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-09-13 - Bill Electronically Reproduced 09/12/2017 [HB4915 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2017-HB4915-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 4915

 

 

September 7, 2017, Introduced by Reps. Durhal, Love, Gay-Dagnogo, Lasinski, Chirkun, Cochran, Sabo, Faris, Geiss, Elder, Sneller, Green, Clemente, Sowerby, Chang, Camilleri, Brinks, Moss, Hammoud, Wittenberg, Peterson, Zemke, Santana and Dianda and referred to the Committee on Commerce and Trade.

 

     A bill to amend 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1, entitled

 

"Michigan employment security act,"

 

by amending section 62 (MCL 421.62), as amended by 2016 PA 522.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 62. (a) If the unemployment agency determines that a

 

person has obtained benefits to which that person is not entitled,

 

or a subsequent determination by the agency or a decision of an

 

appellate authority reverses a prior qualification for benefits,

 

the agency may recover a sum equal to the amount received plus

 

interest by 1 or more of the following methods: deduction from

 

benefits or wages payable to the individual, payment by the

 

individual in cash, or deduction from a tax refund payable to the

 

individual as provided under section 30a of 1941 PA 122, MCL

 

205.30a. Deduction from benefits or wages payable to the individual

 

is limited to not more than 50% of each payment due the claimant.

 

The unemployment agency shall issue a determination requiring

restitution within 3 years after the date of finality of a

 

determination, redetermination, or decision reversing a previous

 

finding of benefit entitlement. Except in the case of benefits

 

improperly paid because of suspected identity fraud, the

 

unemployment agency shall not initiate administrative or court

 

action to recover improperly paid benefits from an individual more

 

than 3 years after the date that the last determination,

 

redetermination, or decision establishing restitution is final.

 

Except in the case of benefits improperly paid because of suspected

 

identity fraud, the unemployment agency shall issue a determination

 

on an issue within 3 years from the date the claimant first

 

received benefits in the benefit year in which the issue arose, or

 

in the case of an issue of intentional false statement,

 

misrepresentation, or concealment of material information in

 

violation of section 54(a) or (b) or sections 54a to 54c, within 3

 

years after the receipt of the improperly paid benefits unless the

 

unemployment agency filed a civil action in a court within the 3-

 

year period ; the individual made an intentional false statement,

 

misrepresentation, or concealment of material information to obtain

 

the benefits; or the unemployment agency or issued a determination

 

requiring restitution within the 3-year period. The time limits in

 

this section do not prohibit the unemployment agency from pursuing

 

collection methods to recover the amounts found to have been

 

improperly paid. Except in a case of an intentional false

 

statement, misrepresentation, or concealment of material

 

information, the unemployment agency shall waive recovery of an

 

improperly paid benefit if the payment was not the fault of the

individual and if repayment would be contrary to equity and good

 

conscience and shall waive any interest. If the agency or an

 

appellate authority waives collection of restitution and interest,

 

except as provided in subdivision (ii), the waiver is prospective

 

and does not apply to restitution and interest payments already

 

made by the individual. As used in this subsection, "contrary to

 

equity and good conscience" means any of the following:

 

     (i) The claimant provided incorrect wage information without

 

the intent to misrepresent, and the employer provided either no

 

wage information upon request or provided inaccurate wage

 

information that resulted in the overpayment.

 

     (ii) The claimant's disposable household income, exclusive of

 

social welfare benefits, is at or below the annual update of the

 

poverty guidelines most recently published in the Federal Register

 

by the United States Department of Health and Human Services under

 

the authority of 42 USC 9902(2), and the claimant has applied for a

 

waiver under this subsection. A waiver granted under the conditions

 

described in this subdivision applies from the date the application

 

is filed.

 

     (iii) The improper payments resulted from an administrative or

 

clerical error by the unemployment agency. A requirement to repay

 

benefits as the result of a change in judgment at any level of

 

administrative adjudication or court decision concerning the facts

 

or application of law to a claim adjudication is not an

 

administrative or clerical error for purposes of this subdivision.

 

     (b) For benefit years beginning on or after October 1, 2000,

 

if If the unemployment agency determines that a person claimant has

intentionally made a false statement or misrepresentation or has

 

concealed material information to obtain benefits, whether or not

 

the person claimant obtains benefits by or because of the

 

intentional false statement, misrepresentation, or concealment of

 

material information, the person unemployment agency shall, in

 

addition to any other applicable interest and penalties, have his

 

or her cancel the claimant's rights to benefits for the benefit

 

year in which the act occurred canceled as of the date the claimant

 

made the false statement or misrepresentation or concealed material

 

information, and shall not use wages used to establish that benefit

 

year shall not be used to establish another benefit year. A

 

chargeable employer may protest a claim filed after October 1, 2014

 

to establish a successive benefit year under section 46(c), if

 

there was a determination by the unemployment agency or decision of

 

a court or administrative tribunal finding that the claimant made a

 

false statement, made a misrepresentation, or concealed material

 

information related to his or her the claimant's report of earnings

 

for a preceding benefit year claim. If a protest is made, the

 

unemployment agency shall not use any unreported earnings from the

 

preceding benefit year that were falsely stated, misrepresented, or

 

concealed shall not be used to establish a benefit year for a

 

successive claim. Before receiving benefits in a benefit year

 

established within 4 years after cancellation of rights to benefits

 

under this subsection, the individual, claimant, in addition to

 

making the restitution of benefits established under subsection

 

(a), may be liable for an additional amount as otherwise determined

 

by the unemployment agency under this act, which may be paid by

cash, deduction from benefits, or deduction from a tax refund. The

 

individual claimant is liable for any fee the federal government

 

imposes with respect to instituting a deduction from a federal tax

 

refund. Restitution resulting from the intentional false statement,

 

misrepresentation, or concealment of material information is not

 

subject to the 50% limitation provided in subsection (a).

 

     (c) Any determination made by the unemployment agency under

 

this section is final unless an application for a redetermination

 

is filed in accordance with section 32a. A determination that

 

benefits have been improperly paid is not final unless the

 

unemployment agency has notified the claimant of the right to

 

request an in-person or telephone hearing, at the claimant's

 

option, to appeal the determination, and to have counsel present at

 

the hearing. The unemployment agency shall not take action to

 

recover benefits improperly paid or to enforce interest, penalties,

 

or any additional amount under this section until after the

 

claimant has exercised the right to a hearing or has expressly

 

waived that right.

 

     (d) The unemployment agency shall take the action necessary to

 

recover all benefits improperly obtained or paid under this act,

 

and to enforce all interest and penalties under subsection (b). The

 

unemployment agency may conduct an amnesty program for a designated

 

period under which penalties and interest assessed against an

 

individual owing restitution for improperly paid benefits may be

 

waived if the individual pays the full amount of restitution owing

 

within the period specified by the agency.

 

     (e) Interest recovered under this section shall must be

deposited in the contingent fund.

 

     (f) An The unemployment agency shall not make a determination

 

that a claimant made an intentional false statement,

 

misrepresentation, or concealment of material information that is

 

subject to sanctions under this section shall not be based solely

 

on a computer-identified discrepancy in information supplied by the

 

claimant or employer. An unemployment agency employee or agent must

 

examine the facts and independently determine that the claimant or

 

the employer is responsible for a willful or intentional violation

 

before the agency makes a determination under this section.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.