General Assembly Raised Bill No. 100
February Session, 2016 LCO No. 1005
*01005_______GAE*
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 100
February Session, 2016
LCO No. 1005
*01005_______GAE*
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
AN ACT CONCERNING ELIGIBILITY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BENEFITS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (c) of section 31-225a of the 2016 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective January 1, 2017):
(c) (1) (A) Any week for which the employer has compensated the claimant in the form of wages in lieu of notice, dismissal payments or any similar payment for loss of wages shall be considered a week of employment for the purpose of determining employer chargeability. (B) No benefits shall be charged to any employer who paid wages of (i) five hundred dollars or less to the claimant in his or her base period, if such base period commenced prior to January 1, 2017, or (ii) two thousand dollars or less to the claimant in his or her base period, if such base period commenced on or after January 1, 2017. (C) No dependency allowance paid to a claimant shall be charged to any employer. (D) In the event of a natural disaster declared by the President of the United States, no benefits paid on the basis of total or partial unemployment which is the result of physical damage to a place of employment caused by severe weather conditions including, but not limited to, hurricanes, snow storms, ice storms or flooding, or fire except where caused by the employer, shall be charged to any employer. (E) If the administrator finds that (i) an individual's most recent separation from a base period employer occurred under conditions which would result in disqualification by reason of subdivision (2), (6) or (9) of subsection (a) of section 31-236, or (ii) an individual was discharged for violating an employer's drug testing policy, provided the policy has been adopted and applied consistent with sections 31-51t to 31-51aa, inclusive, section 14-261b and any applicable federal law, no benefits paid thereafter to such individual with respect to any week of unemployment which is based upon wages paid by such employer with respect to employment prior to such separation shall be charged to such employer's account, provided such employer shall have filed a notice with the administrator within the time allowed for appeal in section 31-241. (F) No base period employer's account shall be charged with respect to benefits paid to a claimant if such employer continues to employ such claimant at the time the employer's account would otherwise have been charged to the same extent that he or she employed him or her during the individual's base period, provided the employer shall notify the administrator within the time allowed for appeal in section 31-241. (G) If a claimant has failed to accept suitable employment under the provisions of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 31-236 and the disqualification has been imposed, the account of the employer who makes an offer of employment to a claimant who was a former employee shall not be charged with any benefit payments made to such claimant after such initial offer of reemployment until such time as such claimant resumes employment with such employer, provided such employer shall [make application] apply therefor in a form acceptable to the administrator. The administrator shall notify such employer whether or not [his or her] such employer's application is granted. Any decision of the administrator denying suspension of charges as herein provided may be appealed within the time allowed for appeal in section 31-241. (H) Fifty per cent of benefits paid to a claimant under the federal-state extended duration unemployment benefits program established by the federal Employment Security Act shall be charged to the experience accounts of the claimant's base period employers in the same manner as the regular benefits paid for such benefit year. (I) No base period employer's account shall be charged with respect to benefits paid to a claimant who voluntarily left suitable work with such employer (i) to care for a seriously ill spouse, parent or child or (ii) due to the discontinuance of the transportation used by the claimant to get to and from work, as provided in subparagraphs (A)(ii) and (A)(iii) of subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of section 31-236. (J) No base period employer's account shall be charged with respect to benefits paid to a claimant who has been discharged or suspended because the claimant has been disqualified from performing the work for which he or she was hired due to the loss of such claimant's operator license as a result of a drug or alcohol test or testing program conducted in accordance with section 14-44k, 14-227a or 14-227b while the claimant was off duty.
(2) All benefits paid which are not charged to any employer shall be pooled.
(3) The noncharging provisions of this chapter, except subdivisions (1)(D) and (1)(F) of this subsection, shall not apply to reimbursing employers.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 January 1, 2017 31-225a(c)
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
January 1, 2017
31-225a(c)
Statement of Purpose:
To change the minimum eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits from five hundred dollars or less to two thousand dollars or less earned during the claimant's base period.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]