Bill Text: MI HB5291 | 2009-2010 | 95th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Employment security; benefits; unemployment eligibility for employee who loses a required license; clarify. Amends sec. 29 of 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1 (MCL 421.29).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 14-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-09-09 - Printed Bill Filed 09/03/2009 [HB5291 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2009-HB5291-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 5291

 

September 2, 2009, Introduced by Reps. Agema, Genetski, Rick Jones, Walsh, McMillin, Kurtz, Elsenheimer, Denby, Marleau, Calley, Meekhof, Knollenberg, Proos and Pearce and referred to the Committee on Labor.

 

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

 

"Michigan employment security act,"

 

by amending section 29 (MCL 421.29), as amended by 2008 PA 480.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 29. (1) Except as provided in subsection (5), an

 

individual is disqualified from receiving benefits if he or she:

 

     (a) Left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to

 

the employer or employing unit. An individual who left work is

 

presumed to have left work voluntarily without good cause

 

attributable to the employer or employing unit. An employee is

 

presumed to have left work voluntarily if a license or endorsement

 

that is necessary to perform the work is revoked or otherwise lost

 

because of a voluntary act of the employee that violates the

 

conditions on which the license or endorsement is granted. An

 

individual claiming benefits under this act has the burden of proof

 

to establish that he or she left work involuntarily or for good

 

cause that was attributable to the employer or employing unit.

 

However, if either of the following conditions is met, the leaving

 

does not disqualify the individual:

 

     (i) The individual has an established benefit year in effect

 

and during that benefit year leaves unsuitable work within 60 days

 

after the beginning of that work.

 

     (ii) The individual is the spouse of a full-time member of the

 

United States armed forces, and the leaving is due to the military

 

duty reassignment of that member of the United States armed forces

 

to a different geographic location.

 

     (b) Was suspended or discharged for misconduct connected with

 

the individual's work or for intoxication while at work.

 

     (c) Failed without good cause to apply for available suitable

 

work after receiving from the employment office or the commission

 

notice of the availability of that work.

 

     (d) Failed without good cause while unemployed to report to

 

the individual's former employer or employing unit within a

 

reasonable time after that employer or employing unit provided

 

notice of the availability of an interview concerning available

 

suitable work with the former employer or employing unit.

 

     (e) Failed without good cause to accept suitable work offered

 

to the individual or to return to the individual's customary self-

 

employment, if any, when directed by the employment office or the

 

commission. An employer that receives a monetary determination

 

under section 32 may notify the unemployment agency regarding the

 

availability of suitable work with the employer on the monetary

 

determination or other form provided by the unemployment agency.

 

Upon receipt of the notice of the availability of suitable work,

 

the unemployment agency shall notify the claimant of the

 

availability of suitable work.

 

     (f) Lost his or her job due to absence from work resulting

 

from a violation of law for which the individual was convicted and

 

sentenced to jail or prison. This subdivision does not apply if

 

conviction of an individual results in a sentence to county jail

 

under conditions of day parole as provided in 1962 PA 60, MCL

 

801.251 to 801.258, or if the conviction was for a traffic

 

violation that resulted in an absence of less than 10 consecutive

 

work days from the individual's place of employment.

 

     (g) Is discharged, whether or not the discharge is

 

subsequently reduced to a disciplinary layoff or suspension, for

 

participation in either of the following:

 

     (i) A strike or other concerted action in violation of an

 

applicable collective bargaining agreement that results in

 

curtailment of work or restriction of or interference with

 

production.

 

     (ii) A wildcat strike or other concerted action not authorized

 

by the individual's recognized bargaining representative.

 

     (h) Was discharged for an act of assault and battery connected

 

with the individual's work.

 

     (i) Was discharged for theft connected with the individual's

 

work.

 

     (j) Was discharged for willful destruction of property

 

connected with the individual's work.

 

     (k) Committed a theft after receiving notice of a layoff or

 

discharge, but before the effective date of the layoff or

 

discharge, resulting in loss or damage to the employer who would

 

otherwise be chargeable for the benefits, regardless of whether the

 

individual qualified for the benefits before the theft.

 

     (l) Was employed by a temporary help firm, which as used in

 

this section means an employer whose primary business is to provide

 

a client with the temporary services of 1 or more individuals under

 

contract with the employer, to perform services for a client of

 

that firm if each of the following conditions is met:

 

     (i) The temporary help firm provided the employee with a

 

written notice before the employee began performing services for

 

the client stating in substance both of the following:

 

     (A) That within 7 days after completing services for a client

 

of the temporary help firm, the employee is under a duty to notify

 

the temporary help firm of the completion of those services.

 

     (B) That a failure to provide the temporary help firm with

 

notice of the employee's completion of services pursuant to under

 

sub-subparagraph (A) constitutes a voluntary quit leaving that will

 

affect the employee's eligibility for unemployment compensation

 

should the employee seek unemployment compensation following

 

completion of those services.

 

     (ii) The employee did not provide the temporary help firm with

 

notice that the employee had completed his or her services for the

 

client within 7 days after completion of his or her services for

 

the client.

 

     (m) Was discharged for illegally ingesting, injecting,

 

inhaling, or possessing a controlled substance on the premises of

 

the employer; refusing to submit to a drug test that was required

 

to be administered in a nondiscriminatory manner; or testing

 

positive on a drug test, if the test was administered in a

 

nondiscriminatory manner. If the worker disputes the result of the

 

testing, a generally accepted confirmatory test shall be

 

administered and shall also indicate a positive result for the

 

presence of a controlled substance before a disqualification of the

 

worker under this subdivision. As used in this subdivision:

 

     (i) "Controlled substance" means that term as defined in

 

section 7104 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.7104.

 

     (ii) "Drug test" means a test designed to detect the illegal

 

use of a controlled substance.

 

     (iii) "Nondiscriminatory manner" means administered impartially

 

and objectively in accordance with a collective bargaining

 

agreement, rule, policy, a verbal or written notice, or a labor-

 

management contract.

 

     (2) A disqualification under subsection (1) begins the week in

 

which the act or discharge that caused the disqualification occurs

 

and continues until the disqualified individual requalifies under

 

subsection (3), except that for benefit years beginning before

 

October 1, 2000, the disqualification does not prevent the payment

 

of benefits if there are credit weeks, other than multiemployer

 

credit weeks, after the most recent disqualifying act or discharge.

 

     (3) After the week in which the disqualifying act or discharge

 

described in subsection (1) occurs, an individual who seeks to

 

requalify for benefits is subject to all of the following:

 

     (a) For benefit years established before October 1, 2000, the

 

individual shall complete 6 requalifying weeks if he or she was

 

disqualified under subsection (1)(c), (d), (e), (f), (g), or (l), or

 

13 requalifying weeks if he or she was disqualified under

 

subsection (1)(h), (i), (j), (k), or (m). A requalifying week

 

required under this subdivision is each week in which the

 

individual does any of the following:

 

     (i) Earns or receives remuneration in an amount at least equal

 

to an amount needed to earn a credit week, as that term is defined

 

in section 50.

 

     (ii) Otherwise meets all of the requirements of this act to

 

receive a benefit payment if the individual were not disqualified

 

under subsection (1).

 

     (iii) Receives a benefit payment based on credit weeks

 

subsequent to the disqualifying act or discharge.

 

     (b) For benefit years established before October 1, 2000, if

 

the individual is disqualified under subsection (1)(a) or (b), he

 

or she shall requalify, after the week in which the disqualifying

 

discharge occurred by earning in employment for an employer liable

 

under this act or the unemployment compensation act of another

 

state an amount equal to, or in excess of, 7 times the individual's

 

potential weekly benefit rate, calculated on the basis of

 

employment with the employer involved in the disqualification, or

 

by earning in employment for an employer liable under this act or

 

the unemployment compensation act of another state an amount equal

 

to, or in excess of, 40 times the state minimum hourly wage times

 

7, whichever is the lesser amount.

 

     (c) For benefit years established before October 1, 2000, a

 

benefit payable to an individual disqualified under subsection

 

(1)(a) or (b) shall be charged to the nonchargeable benefits

 

account, and not to the account of the employer with whom the

 

individual was involved in the disqualification.

 

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

 

after the week in which the disqualifying act or discharge

 

occurred, an individual shall complete 13 requalifying weeks if he

 

or she was disqualified under subsection (1)(c), (d), (e), (f),

 

(g), or (l), or 26 requalifying weeks if he or she was disqualified

 

under subsection (1)(h), (i), (j), (k), or (m). A requalifying week

 

required under this subdivision is each week in which the

 

individual does any of the following:

 

     (i) Earns or receives remuneration in an amount equal to at

 

least 1/13 of the minimum amount needed in a calendar quarter of

 

the base period for an individual to qualify for benefits, rounded

 

down to the nearest whole dollar.

 

     (ii) Otherwise meets all of the requirements of this act to

 

receive a benefit payment if the individual was not disqualified

 

under subsection (1).

 

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

 

and beginning before April 26, 2002, if the individual is

 

disqualified under subsection (1)(a) or (b), he or she shall

 

requalify, after the week in which the disqualifying act or

 

discharge occurred by earning in employment for an employer liable

 

under this act or the unemployment compensation law of another

 

state at least the lesser of the following:

 

     (i) Seven times the individual's weekly benefit rate.

 

     (ii) Forty times the state minimum hourly wage times 7.

 

     (f) For benefit years beginning on or after April 26, 2002, if

 

the individual is disqualified under subsection (1)(a), he or she

 

shall requalify, after the week in which the disqualifying act or

 

discharge occurred, by earning in employment for an employer liable

 

under this act or the unemployment compensation law of another

 

state at least 12 times the individual's weekly benefit rate.

 

     (g) For benefit years beginning on or after April 26, 2002, if

 

the individual is disqualified under subsection (1)(b), he or she

 

shall requalify, after the week in which the disqualifying act or

 

discharge occurred by earning in employment for an employer liable

 

under this act or the unemployment compensation law of another

 

state at least 17 times the individual's weekly benefit rate.

 

     (h) A benefit payable to the individual disqualified or

 

separated under disqualifying circumstances under subsection (1)(a)

 

or (b), shall be charged to the nonchargeable benefits account, and

 

not to the account of the employer with whom the individual was

 

involved in the separation. Benefits payable to an individual

 

determined by the commission to be separated under disqualifying

 

circumstances shall not be charged to the account of the employer

 

involved in the disqualification for any period after the employer

 

notifies the commission of the claimant's possible ineligibility or

 

disqualification. If a disqualifying act or discharge occurs during

 

the individual's benefit year, any benefits that may become payable

 

to the individual in a later benefit year based on employment with

 

the employer involved in the disqualification shall be charged to

 

the nonchargeable benefits account.

 

     (4) The maximum amount of benefits otherwise available under

 

section 27(d) to an individual disqualified under subsection (1) is

 

subject to all of the following conditions:

 

     (a) For benefit years established before October 1, 2000, if

 

the individual is disqualified under subsection (1)(c), (d), (e),

 

(f), (g), or (l) and the maximum amount of benefits is based on

 

wages and credit weeks earned from an employer before an act or

 

discharge involving that employer, the amount shall be reduced by

 

an amount equal to the individual's weekly benefit rate as to that

 

employer multiplied by the lesser of either of the following:

 

     (i) The number of requalifying weeks required of the individual

 

under this section.

 

     (ii) The number of weeks of benefit entitlement remaining with

 

that employer.

 

     (b) If the individual has insufficient or no potential benefit

 

entitlement remaining with the employer involved in the

 

disqualification in the benefit year in existence on the date of

 

the disqualifying determination, a reduction of benefits described

 

in this subsection applies in a succeeding benefit year with

 

respect to any benefit entitlement based upon credit weeks earned

 

with the employer before the disqualifying act or discharge.

 

     (c) For benefit years established before October 1, 2000, an

 

individual disqualified under subsection (1)(h), (i), (j), (k), or

 

(m) is not entitled to benefits based on wages and credit weeks

 

earned before the disqualifying act or discharge with the employer

 

involved in the disqualification.

 

     (d) The benefit entitlement of an individual disqualified

 

under subsection (1)(a) or (b) is not subject to reduction as a

 

result of that disqualification.

 

     (e) A denial or reduction of benefits under this subsection

 

does not apply to benefits based upon multiemployer credit weeks.

 

     (f) For benefit years established on or after October 1, 2000,

 

if the individual is disqualified under subsection (1)(c), (d),

 

(e), (f), (g), or (l), the maximum number of weeks otherwise

 

applicable in calculating benefits for the individual under section

 

27(d) shall be reduced by the lesser of the following:

 

     (i) The number of requalifying weeks required of the individual

 

under this section.

 

     (ii) The number of weeks of benefit entitlement remaining on

 

the claim.

 

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

 

the benefits of an individual disqualified under subsection (1)(h),

 

(i), (j), (k), or (m) shall be reduced by 13 weeks and any weekly

 

benefit payments made to the claimant thereafter shall be reduced

 

by the portion of the payment attributable to base period wages

 

paid by the base period employer involved in a disqualification

 

under subsection (1)(h), (i), (j), (k), or (m).

 

     (5) If an individual leaves work to accept permanent full-time

 

work with another employer and performs services for that employer,

 

or if an individual leaves work to accept a recall from a former

 

employer, all of the following apply:

 

     (a) Subsection (1) does not apply.

 

     (b) Wages earned with the employer whom the individual last

 

left, including wages previously transferred under this subsection

 

to the last employer, for the purpose of computing and charging

 

benefits, are wages earned from the employer with whom the

 

individual accepted work or recall, and benefits paid based upon

 

those wages shall be charged to that employer.

 

     (c) When issuing a determination covering the period of

 

employment with a new or former employer described in this

 

subsection, the commission shall advise the chargeable employer of

 

the name and address of the other employer, the period covered by

 

the employment, and the extent of the benefits that may be charged

 

to the account of the chargeable employer.

 

     (6) In determining whether work is suitable for an individual,

 

the commission shall consider the degree of risk involved to the

 

individual's health, safety, and morals, the individual's physical

 

fitness and prior training, the individual's length of unemployment

 

and prospects for securing local work in the individual's customary

 

occupation, and the distance of the available work from the

 

individual's residence. Additionally, the commission shall consider

 

the individual's experience and prior earnings, but an unemployed

 

individual who refuses an offer of work determined to be suitable

 

under this section shall be denied benefits if the pay rate for

 

that work is at least 70% of the gross pay rate he or she received

 

immediately before becoming unemployed.

 

     (7) Work is not suitable and benefits shall not be denied

 

under this act to an otherwise eligible individual for refusing to

 

accept new work under any of the following conditions:

 

     (a) If the position offered is vacant due directly to a

 

strike, lockout, or other labor dispute.

 

     (b) If the remuneration, hours, or other conditions of the

 

work offered are substantially less favorable to the individual

 

than those prevailing for similar work in the locality.

 

     (c) If as a condition of being employed, the individual would

 

be required to join a company union or to resign from or refrain

 

from joining a bona fide labor organization.

 

     (8) All of the following apply to an individual who seeks

 

benefits under this act:

 

     (a) An individual is disqualified from receiving benefits for

 

a week in which the individual's total or partial unemployment is

 

due to either of the following:

 

     (i) A labor dispute in active progress at the place at which

 

the individual is or was last employed, or a shutdown or start-up

 

operation caused by that labor dispute.

 

     (ii) A labor dispute, other than a lockout, in active progress

 

or a shutdown or start-up operation caused by that labor dispute in

 

any other establishment within the United States that is both

 

functionally integrated with the establishment described in

 

subparagraph (i) and operated by the same employing unit.

 

     (b) An individual's disqualification imposed or imposable

 

under this subsection is terminated if the individual performs

 

services in employment with an employer in at least 2 consecutive

 

weeks falling wholly within the period of the individual's total or

 

partial unemployment due to the labor dispute, and in addition

 

earns wages in each of those weeks in an amount equal to or greater

 

than the individual's actual or potential weekly benefit rate with

 

respect to those weeks based on the individual's employment with

 

the employer involved in the labor dispute.

 

     (c) An individual is not disqualified under this subsection if

 

the individual is not directly involved in the labor dispute. An

 

individual is not directly involved in a labor dispute unless any

 

of the following are established:

 

     (i) At the time or in the course of a labor dispute in the

 

establishment in which the individual was then employed, the

 

individual in concert with 1 or more other employees voluntarily

 

stopped working other than at the direction of the individual's

 

employing unit.

 

     (ii) The individual is participating in, financing, or directly

 

interested in the labor dispute that causes the individual's total

 

or partial unemployment. The payment of regular union dues, in

 

amounts and for purposes established before the inception of the

 

labor dispute, is not financing a labor dispute within the meaning

 

of this subparagraph.

 

     (iii) At any time a labor dispute in the establishment or

 

department in which the individual was employed does not exist, and

 

the individual voluntarily stops working, other than at the

 

direction of the individual's employing unit, in sympathy with

 

employees in some other establishment or department in which a

 

labor dispute is in progress.

 

     (iv) The individual's total or partial unemployment is due to a

 

labor dispute that was or is in progress in a department, unit, or

 

group of workers in the same establishment.

 

     (d) As used in this subsection, "directly interested" shall be

 

construed and applied so as not to disqualify individuals

 

unemployed as a result of a labor dispute the resolution of which

 

may not reasonably be expected to affect their wages, hours, or

 

other conditions of employment, and to disqualify individuals whose

 

wages, hours, or conditions of employment may reasonably be

 

expected to be affected by the resolution of the labor dispute. A

 

"reasonable expectation" of an effect on an individual's wages,

 

hours, or other conditions of employment exists, in the absence of

 

a substantial preponderance of evidence to the contrary, in any of

 

the following situations:

 

     (i) If it is established that there is in the particular

 

establishment or employing unit a practice, custom, or contractual

 

obligation to extend within a reasonable period to members of the

 

individual's grade or class of workers in the establishment in

 

which the individual is or was last employed changes in terms and

 

conditions of employment that are substantially similar or related

 

to some or all of the changes in terms and conditions of employment

 

that are made for the workers among whom there exists the labor

 

dispute that has caused the individual's total or partial

 

unemployment.

 

     (ii) If it is established that l of the issues in or purposes

 

of the labor dispute is to obtain a change in the terms and

 

conditions of employment for members of the individual's grade or

 

class of workers in the establishment in which the individual is or

 

was last employed.

 

     (iii) If a collective bargaining agreement covers both the

 

individual's grade or class of workers in the establishment in

 

which the individual is or was last employed and the workers in

 

another establishment of the same employing unit who are actively

 

participating in the labor dispute, and that collective bargaining

 

agreement is subject by its terms to modification, supplementation,

 

or replacement, or has expired or been opened by mutual consent at

 

the time of the labor dispute.

 

     (e) In determining the scope of the grade or class of workers,

 

evidence of the following is relevant:

 

     (i) Representation of the workers by the same national or

 

international organization or by local affiliates of that national

 

or international organization.

 

     (ii) Whether the workers are included in a single, legally

 

designated, or negotiated bargaining unit.

 

     (iii) Whether the workers are or within the past 6 months have

 

been covered by a common master collective bargaining agreement

 

that sets forth all or any part of the terms and conditions of the

 

workers' employment, or by separate agreements that are or have

 

been bargained as a part of the same negotiations.

 

     (iv) Any functional integration of the work performed by those

 

workers.

 

     (v) Whether the resolution of those issues involved in the

 

labor dispute as to some of the workers could directly or

 

indirectly affect the advancement, negotiation, or settlement of

 

the same or similar issues in respect to the remaining workers.

 

     (vi) Whether the workers are currently or have been covered by

 

the same or similar demands by their recognized or certified

 

bargaining agent or agents for changes in their wages, hours, or

 

other conditions of employment.

 

     (vii) Whether issues on the same subject matter as those

 

involved in the labor dispute have been the subject of proposals or

 

demands made upon the employing unit that would by their terms have

 

applied to those workers.

 

     (9) Notwithstanding subsections (1) to (8), if the employing

 

unit submits notice to the commission of possible ineligibility or

 

disqualification beyond the time limits prescribed by commission

 

rule, the notice shall not form the basis of a determination of

 

ineligibility or disqualification for a claim period compensated

 

before the receipt of the notice by the commission.

 

     (10) An individual is disqualified from receiving benefits for

 

any week or part of a week in which the individual has received, is

 

receiving, or is seeking unemployment benefits under an

 

unemployment compensation law of another state or of the United

 

States. If the appropriate agency of the other state or of the

 

United States finally determines that the individual is not

 

entitled to unemployment benefits, the disqualification described

 

in this subsection does not apply.