Date of enactment:
2023 Assembly Bill 149 Date of publication*:
2023 WISCONSIN ACT
AN ACT to renumber 108.04 (2) (ae); to renumber and amend 108.14 (19); to amend 108.04 (2) (bm), 108.04 (2)
(g) 2., 108.04 (11) (cm), 108.14 (21) and 108.22 (8) (a); and to create 108.04 (1) (hg), 108.04 (2) (ae) 1., 108.04 (2)
(hL), 108.14 (19) (b) and 108.14 (28) of the statutes; relating to: various changes to the unemployment insurance
law.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in
senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. 108.04 (1) (hg) of the statutes is created
to read:
108.04 (1) (hg) 1. An employing unit may report to
the department whenever any of the following occurs:
a. An individual declines a job interview or job offer
with the employing unit.
b. An individual fails to respond to a job interview
offer or job offer made by the employing unit.
c. An individual fails to attend a scheduled job inter-
view with the employing unit, unless the individual
attempts to reschedule the job interview.
d. An employee claiming benefits is unavailable for,
or unable to perform, work actually available within a
given week as described in par. (a).
e. The employing unit recalls an employee who fails
to return to work as described in sub. (8) (c).
2. The department shall investigate each report sub-
mitted under subd. 1. as needed to determine whether the
report affects a claimant’s eligibility under sub. (2) (hL).
SECTION 2. 108.04 (2) (ae) of the statutes is renum-
bered 108.04 (2) (ae) 2.
SECTION 3. 108.04 (2) (ae) 1. of the statutes is created
to read:
108.04 (2) (ae) 1. In determining whether a claimant
is available for work under par. (a) 1. and has maintained
an attachment to the labor market, the department shall
consider reports made by employing units under sub. (1)
(hg).
SECTION 4. 108.04 (2) (bm) of the statutes is
amended to read:
108.04 (2) (bm) A claimant is ineligible to receive
benefits for any week for which there is a determination
that the claimant failed to comply with the registration for
work and work search requirements under par. (a) 2. or
3. or failed to provide verification to the department that
the claimant complied with those requirements, unless
the department has waived those requirements under par.
(b), (bb), or (bd) or s. 108.062 (10m). If the department
has paid benefits to a claimant for any such week, the
department may shall act to recover the overpayment
under s. 108.22.
SECTION 5. 108.04 (2) (g) 2. of the statutes is
amended to read:
108.04 (2) (g) 2. If a claimant’s security credentials
are used in the filing of an initial or continued claim for
benefits or any other transaction, the individual using the
security credentials is presumed to have been the
claimant or the claimant’s authorized agent. This pre-
* Section 991.11, WISCONSIN STATUTES: Effective date of acts. “Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the governor’s
partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication.” − 2 −2023 Wisconsin Act 2023 Assembly Bill 149
sumption may be rebutted by a preponderance of evi-
dence showing that the claimant who created the security
credentials or the claimant’s authorized agent was not the
person who used the credentials in a given transaction.
If a claimant uses an agent to engage in any transaction
with the department using the claimant’s security creden-
tials, the claimant is responsible for the actions of the
agent. If a claimant who created security credentials or
the claimant’s authorized agent divulges the credentials
to another person, or fails to take adequate measures to
protect the credentials from being divulged to an unau-
thorized person, and the department pays benefits to an
unauthorized person because of the claimant’s action or
inaction, the department may recover from the claimant
the benefits that were paid to the unauthorized person
shall, in the same manner as provided for overpayments
to claimants under s. 108.22 or under s. 108.245, act to
recover from the claimant the benefits that were paid to
the unauthorized person. If a claimant who created secu-
rity credentials or the claimant’s authorized agent
divulges the credentials to another person, or fails to take
adequate measures to protect the credentials from being
divulged to an unauthorized person, the department is not
obligated to pursue recovery of, or to reimburse the
claimant for, benefits payable to the claimant that were
erroneously paid to another person.
SECTION 6. 108.04 (2) (hL) of the statutes is created
to read:
108.04 (2) (hL) 1. Subject to subd. 2., if a claimant
is subject to the requirement under par. (a) 3. to conduct
a reasonable search for suitable work for a given week
and the department received one or more credible reports
in that week that the claimant declined or failed to
respond to a job interview offer or failed to attend a
scheduled job interview, the claimant shall not be consid-
ered to have conducted a reasonable search for suitable
work in that week under par. (a) 3.
2. a. A claimant may demonstrate to the department
that a report described in subd. 1. was inaccurate, that an
interview was for a job that the claimant was not required
to accept under sub. (8) (d) to (em), or that the claimant
had other good cause for the declination or failure
reported. If the department so determines, the report
shall be disregarded for purposes of subd. 1.
b. The first credible report described in subd. 1.
received during a claimant’s benefit year that is not other-
wise disregarded under subd. 2. a. shall be disregarded
for purposes of subd. 1.
SECTION 7. 108.04 (11) (cm) of the statutes is
amended to read:
108.04 (11) (cm) If any person makes a false state-
ment or representation in order to obtain benefits in the
name of another person, the benefits received by that per-
son constitute a benefit overpayment. Such person may
shall, by a determination or decision issued under s.
108.095, be required to repay the amount of the benefits
obtained and be assessed an administrative assessment in
an additional amount equal to the amount of benefits
obtained.
SECTION 8. 108.14 (19) of the statutes is renumbered
108.14 (19) (intro.) and amended to read:
108.14 (19) (intro.) No later than March 15 annually,
the department shall prepare and furnish to the council on
unemployment insurance and to the chief clerk of each
house of the legislature, for distribution to the appropri-
ate standing committees under s. 13.172 (3), a report
summarizing the department’s activities related to detec-
tion and prosecution of unemployment insurance fraud in
the preceding year. The department shall include all of
the following in the report information:
(a) Information about audits conducted by the depart-
ment under sub. (20), including the number and results of
audits performed, in the previous year.
SECTION 9. 108.14 (19) (b) of the statutes is created
to read:
108.14 (19) (b) Information on reports submitted by
employing units under s. 108.04 (1) (hg) 1., including
actions taken by the department in response to the reports
as required under s. 108.04 (1) (hg) 2. and their effect on
claimants’ eligibility for benefits under s. 108.04 (2) (ae)
1. and (hL).
SECTION 10. 108.14 (21) of the statutes is amended
to read:
108.14 (21) The department shall maintain a portal
on the Internet that allows employers employing units to
log in and file with the department complaints related to
the administration of this chapter and reports under s.
108.04 (1) (hg).
SECTION 11. 108.14 (28) of the statutes is created to
read:
108.14 (28) The department shall have in effect
methods to address circumstances in which an employee
fails to return to work or to accept suitable work without
good cause as described in s. 108.04 (8) or in which the
employee is unavailable for work or unable to perform
work under s. 108.04 (1) (a). The methods shall include
all of the following:
(a) Reporting methods, including a telephone line, an
electronic mail address, and an online portal, for an
employing unit to notify the department when an
employee refuses an offer of work.
(b) A plain−language notice provided to employees
by the department when applying for benefits about the
application of s. 108.04 (8) (a) to (c), including what con-
stitutes suitable work under s. 108.04 (8) (d) and (dm),
and an employee’s right to fail to accept suitable work for
good cause under s. 108.04 (8) (em); about the applica-
tion of s. 108.04 (1) (a); and including information on
contesting the denial of a claim that has been denied due
to a report by an employing unit that an employee failed
to return to work, failed to accept suitable work, or was
unavailable for work or unable to perform work. − 3 − 2023 Wisconsin Act 2023 Assembly Bill 149
SECTION 12. 108.22 (8) (a) of the statutes is amended
to read:
108.22 (8) (a) If benefits are erroneously paid to an
individual, the individual’s liability to reimburse the fund
for the overpayment may shall be set forth in a determina-
tion or decision issued under s. 108.09. Any determina-
tion which that establishes or increases an overpayment
shall include a finding concerning whether waiver of
benefit recovery is required under par. (c). If any decision
of an appeal tribunal, the commission or any court estab-
lishes or increases an overpayment and the decision does
not include a finding concerning whether waiver of bene-
fit recovery is required under par. (c), the tribunal, com-
mission or court shall remand the issue to the department
for a determination.
SECTION 13.0Initial applicability.
(1) The renumbering of s. 108.04 (2) (ae) and the cre-
ation of s. 108.04 (2) (ae) 1. and (hL) first apply to weeks
of unemployment beginning on the effective date of this
subsection.
SECTION 14.0Effective dates. This act takes effect on
the Sunday after publication, except as follows:
(1) The treatment of s. 108.14 (28) takes effect on the
first Sunday after the 180th day after publication.