HB-4953, As Passed House, September 26, 2013
September 4, 2013, Introduced by Rep. Goike and referred to the Committee on Commerce.
A bill to amend 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1, entitled
"Michigan employment security act,"
by amending section 32 (MCL 421.32), as amended by 2002 PA 192.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 32. (a) Claims for benefits shall be made pursuant to
regulations prescribed by the unemployment agency. The unemployment
agency shall designate representatives who shall promptly examine
claims and make a determination on the facts. The unemployment
agency may establish rules providing for the examination of claims,
the determination of the validity of the claims, and the amount and
duration of benefits to be paid. The claimant and other interested
parties shall be promptly notified of the determination and the
reasons for the determination.
(b)(1)
For benefit years established before the conversion
date
prescribed in section 75, the unemployment agency may
prescribe
regulations for notifying and shall notify the employer,
whose
experience account may be charged, and the employing unit
where
the claimant last worked that the claimant has filed an
application
for benefits. The notice shall require the employer and
employing
unit to furnish information to the unemployment agency
necessary
to determine the claimant's benefit rights.
(2)
Upon receipt of the employer's reports, the unemployment
agency
shall promptly make a determination based upon the available
information.
The claimant and the employer, whose experience
account
may be charged pursuant to the determination, shall be
promptly
notified of the determination. The notice shall show the
name
and account number of the employer whose experience account
may
be charged pursuant to the determination, the weekly benefit
amount
and the maximum number of credit weeks against which the
claimant
may draw benefits, and whether or not the claimant is
eligible
and qualified to draw benefits. An employer may designate
in
writing to the unemployment agency an individual or another
employer
or an employing unit to receive any notice required to be
given
by the unemployment agency to that employer or to represent
that
employer in any proceeding before the unemployment agency as
provided
in section 31.
(3)
If an employer or employing unit fails to respond within
10
days after mailing of the request for information, the
unemployment
agency shall make a determination upon the available
information.
In the absence of a showing by the employer satisfying
the
unemployment agency that the employer reasonably could not
submit
the requested information, the determination shall be final
as
to the noncomplying employer, as to benefits paid before the
week
following the receipt of the employer's reply, and chargeable
against
the employer's experience account as a result of the
employer's
late reply, and the payments shall be considered to have
been
proper payments. The unemployment agency may require an
employer
who consistently fails to meet the unemployment agency's
requirements,
as to submission of reports covering employment of
individuals,
to provide the reports automatically upon the
separation
of individuals from employment, in the manner and within
the
time limits the unemployment agency prescribes by regulation
necessary
to carry out this section. An employer may be permitted
to
provide the reports automatically upon separation of individuals
from
employment, in the manner and within the time limits
prescribed
by the unemployment agency.
(4)
After an application for benefits is filed, the
unemployment
agency's determination shall include only the most
recent
employer. Subsequently, as necessary, the unemployment
agency
shall issue determinations covering other base period
employers,
individually in inverse order to that in which the
claimant
earned his or her last credit week with the employers.
(b) (5)
For benefit years established after the conversion
date
prescribed in section 75, the The unemployment agency shall
mail to the claimant, to each base period employer or employing
unit, and to the separating employer or employing unit, a monetary
determination. The monetary determination shall notify each of
these employers or employing units that the claimant has filed an
application for benefits and the amount the claimant reported as
earned with the separating employer or employing unit, and shall
state the name of each employer or employing unit in the base
period and the name of the separating employer or employing unit.
The monetary determination shall also state the claimant's weekly
benefit rate, the amount of base period wages paid by each base
period employer, the maximum benefit amount that could be charged
to each employer's account or experience account, and the reason
for separation reported by the claimant. The monetary determination
shall also state whether the claimant is monetarily eligible to
receive unemployment benefits. Except for separations under section
29(1)(a), no further reconsideration of a separation from any base
period employer will be made unless the base period employer
notifies the unemployment agency of a possible disqualifying
separation within 30 days of the separation in accordance with this
subsection.
Benefits paid in accordance with the monetary
determination
shall be considered proper payments and shall not be
changed
unless the unemployment agency receives new, corrected, or
additional
information from the employer, within 10 calendar days
after
the mailing of the monetary determination, and the
information
results in a change in the monetary determination.
Charges to the employer and payments to the claimant shall be as
described in section 20(a). New, additional, or corrected
information
received by the unemployment agency after the 10-day
period
more than 10 days after
mailing the monetary determination
shall be considered a request for reconsideration by the employer
of the monetary determination and shall be reviewed as provided in
section 32a.
(c) (6)
For the purpose of determining a
claimant's
nonmonetary eligibility and qualification for benefits, if the
claimant's most recent base period or benefit year separation was
for a reason other than the lack of work, then a determination
shall be issued concerning that separation to the claimant and to
the separating employer. If a claimant is not disqualified based on
his or her most recent separation from employment and has satisfied
the requirements of section 29, the unemployment agency shall issue
a nonmonetary determination as to that separation only. If a
claimant is not disqualified based on his or her most recent
separation from employment and has not satisfied the requirements
of section 29, the unemployment agency shall issue 1 or more
nonmonetary determinations necessary to establish the claimant's
qualification for benefits based on any prior separation in inverse
chronological order. The unemployment agency shall consider all
base period separations involving disqualifications under section
29(1)(h),
(i), (j), (l), or (k), (m),
or (n) in determining a
claimant's nonmonetary eligibility and qualification for benefits.
An employer may designate in writing to the unemployment agency an
individual or another employer or an employing unit to receive any
notice required to be given by the unemployment agency to that
employer or to represent that employer in any proceeding before the
unemployment agency as provided in section 31.
(d) (7)
If the unemployment agency requests
additional
monetary or nonmonetary information from an employer or employing
unit and the unemployment agency fails to receive a written
response from the employer or employing unit within 10 calendar
days after the date of mailing the request for information, the
unemployment agency shall make a determination based upon the
available
information at the time the determination is made. The
determination
shall be final and any payment made shall be
considered
a proper payment with respect to benefits paid before
the
week following the receipt of the employer's reply and
chargeable
against the employer's account or experience account as
a
result of the employer's late reply.Charges to the employer and
payments to the claimant shall be as described in section 20(a).
(e) (c)
The claimant or interested party
may file an
application with an office of the unemployment agency for a
redetermination in accordance with section 32a.
(f) (d)
The issuance of each benefit check
shall be considered
a determination by the unemployment agency that the claimant
receiving the check was covered during the compensable period, and
eligible and qualified for benefits. A chargeable employer, upon
receipt of a listing of the check as provided in section 21(a), may
protest by requesting a redetermination of the claimant's
eligibility or qualification as to that period and a determination
as to later weeks and benefits still unpaid that are affected by
the protest. Upon receipt of the protest or request, the
unemployment agency shall investigate and redetermine whether the
claimant is eligible and qualified as to that period. If, upon the
redetermination, the claimant is found ineligible or not qualified,
the unemployment agency shall investigate and determine whether the
claimant obtained benefits, for 1 or more preceding weeks within
the series of consecutive weeks that includes the week covered by
the redetermination, improperly as the result of administrative
error, false statement, misrepresentation, or nondisclosure of a
material fact. If the unemployment agency finds that the claimant
has obtained benefits through administrative error, false
statement, misrepresentation, or nondisclosure of a material fact,
the unemployment agency shall proceed under the appropriate
provisions of section 62.
(g) (e)
If a claimant commences to file
continued claims
through a different state claim office in this state or elsewhere,
the unemployment agency promptly shall issue written notice of that
fact to the chargeable employer.
(h) (f)
If a claimant refuses an offer of
work, or fails to
apply for work of which the claimant has been notified, as provided
in section 29(1)(c) or (e), the unemployment agency shall promptly
make a written determination as to whether or not the refusal or
failure requires disqualification under section 29. Notice of the
determination, specifying the name and address of the employing
unit offering or giving notice of the work and of the chargeable
employer, shall be sent to the claimant, the employing unit
offering or giving notice of the work, and the chargeable employer.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect
unless all of the following bills of the 97th Legislature are
enacted into law:
(a) Senate Bill No. ____ or House Bill No. 4950(request no.
02824'13).
(b) Senate Bill No. ____ or House Bill No. 4951(request no.
02825'13).
(c) Senate Bill No. ____ or House Bill No. 4952(request no.
02826'13).
(d) Senate Bill No. ____ or House Bill No. 4949(request no.
02987'13).
(e) Senate Bill No. ____ or House Bill No. 4954(request no.
03302'13).