BILL NUMBER: AB 274INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Garrick FEBRUARY 7, 2011 An act to amend Sections 1030, 1327, and 1328 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to unemployment insurance. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 274, as introduced, Garrick. Unemployment insurance benefits: claims: right to respond. Existing law requires the Employment Development Department to provide notice of the filing of an unemployment claim to the claimant' s last employing unit, and requires the employing unit to submit, within 10 days after the mailing of the notice, any facts that may affect the claimant's eligibility for benefits, as specified. This bill would extend the time in which the employing unit is required to submit those facts to 30 days and would make conforming changes to other related provisions. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 1030 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended to read: 1030. (a) Any employer who is entitled under Section 1327 to receive notice of the filing of a new or additional claim may, within1030 days after mailing of the notice, submit to the department any facts within its possession disclosing whether the claimant left the employer's employ voluntarily and without good cause or left under one of the following circumstances: (1) The claimant was discharged from the employment for misconduct connected with his or her work. (2) The claimant's discharge or quitting from his or her most recent employer was the result of an irresistible compulsion to use or consume intoxicants including alcoholic beverages. (3) The claimant was a student employed on a temporary basis and whose employment began within, and ended with his or her leaving to return to school at the close of, his or her vacation period. (4) The claimant left the employer's employ to accompany his or her spouse or domestic partner to a place or to join him or her at a place from which it is impractical to commute to the employment, and to which a transfer of the claimant by the employer is not available. (5) The claimant left the employer's employ to protect his or her family or himself or herself from domestic violence abuse. The period during which the employer may submit these facts may be extended by the director for good cause. (b) Any base period employer that is not entitled under Section 1327 to receive notice of the filing of a new or additional claim and is entitled under Section 1329 to receive notice of computation may, within 15 days after mailing of the notice of computation, submit to the department any facts within its possession disclosing whether the claimant left the employer's employ voluntarily and without good cause or left under one of the following circumstances: (1) The claimant was discharged from the employment for misconduct connected with his or her work. (2) The claimant was a student employed on a temporary basis and whose employment began within, and ended with his or her leaving to return to school at the close of, his or her vacation period. (3) The claimant left the employer's employ to accompany his or her spouse or domestic partner to a place or join him or her at a place from which it is impractical to commute to the employment, and to which a transfer of the claimant by the employer is not available. (4) The claimant left the employer's employ to protect his or her family or himself or herself from domestic violence abuse. The period during which the employer may submit these facts may be extended by the director for good cause. (c) The department shall consider these facts together with any information in its possession. If the employer is entitled to a ruling under subdivision (b) or to a determination under Section 1328, the department shall promptly notify the employer of its ruling as to the cause of the termination of the claimant's employment. The employer may appeal from a ruling or reconsidered ruling to an administrative law judge within 20 days after mailing or personal service of notice of the ruling or reconsidered ruling. The 20-day period may be extended for good cause, which includes, but is not limited to, mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. The director is an interested party to any appeal. The department may for good cause reconsider any ruling or reconsidered ruling within either five days after the date an appeal to an administrative law judge is filed or, if no appeal is filed, within 20 days after mailing or personal service of notice of the ruling or reconsidered ruling. However, a ruling or reconsidered ruling that relates to a determination that is reconsidered pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1332 may also be reconsidered by the department within the time provided for reconsideration of that determination. (d) For purposes of this section only, if the claimant voluntarily leaves the employer's employ without notification to the employer of the reasons for the leaving, and if the employer submits all of the facts within its possession concerning the leaving within the applicable time period referred to in this section, the leaving is presumed to be without good cause. (e) An individual whose employment is terminated under the compulsory retirement provisions of a collective bargaining agreement to which the employer is a party shall not be deemed to have voluntarily left his or her employment without good cause. (f) For purposes of this section "spouse" includes a person to whom marriage is imminent, and "domestic partner" includes a person to whom a domestic partnership, as described in Section 297 of the Family Code, is imminent. SEC. 2. Section 1327 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended to read: 1327. The department shall give a notice of the filing of a new or additional claim to the employing unit by which the claimant was last employed immediately preceding the filing of the claim unless the additional claim is the result of the filing of a partial claim as defined by the department, there has not been a subsequent employing unit which is designated as the last employer, and there is no separation issue. The employing unit so notified shall submit within1030 days after the mailing of the notice any facts then known that may affect the claimant's eligibility for benefits, including, but not limited to, facts pertaining to eligibility under Section 1256. The10-day30-day period may be extended for good cause. If after the10-day30-day period the employing unit acquires knowledge of facts that may affect the eligibility of the claimant and facts could not reasonably have been known within the period, the employing unit shall, within1030 days of acquiring the knowledge, submit the facts to the department, and the10-day30-day period may also be extended for good cause. SEC. 3. Section 1328 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended to read: 1328. The department shall consider the facts submitted by an employer pursuant to Section 1327 and make a determination as to the claimant's eligibility for benefits. The department shall promptly notify the claimant and any employer who prior to the determination has submitted any facts or given any notice pursuant to Section 1327 or this section and authorized regulations of the determination or reconsidered determination and the reasons therefor. If after notice of a determination or reconsidered determination the employing unit acquires knowledge of facts which may affect the eligibility of the claimant and those facts could not reasonably have been known within the10-day30-day period provided by Section 1327, the employing unit shall within 10 days of acquiring that knowledge submit those facts to the department, and the 10-day period may be extended for good cause. The claimant and any such employer may appeal from a determination or reconsidered determination to an administrative law judge within 20 days from mailing or personal service of notice of the determination or reconsidered determination. The 20-day period may be extended for good cause, which shall include, but not be limited to, mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. The director shall be an interested party to any appeal.