February 20, 2013, Introduced by Senators CASWELL, COLBECK, NOFS, MARLEAU, BOOHER, JANSEN, HANSEN, ROBERTSON and JONES and referred to the Committee on Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing.
A bill to amend 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1, entitled
"Michigan employment security act,"
by amending section 20 (MCL 421.20), as amended by 2011 PA 269.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 20. (a) Benefits paid shall be charged against the
employer's account as of the quarter in which the payments are
made. If the unemployment agency determines that any benefits
charged against an employer's account were improperly paid, an
amount equal to the charge based on those benefits shall be
credited to the employer's account and a corresponding charge shall
be made to the nonchargeable benefits account as of the date of the
charge. Benefits paid to an individual as a result of an employer's
failure to provide the unemployment agency with separation,
employment, and wage data as required by section 32 shall be
considered as benefits properly paid to the extent that the
benefits are chargeable to the noncomplying employer.
(b)
For benefit years established before October 1, 2000,
benefits
paid to an individual shall be based upon the credit weeks
earned
during the individual's base period and shall be charged
against
the experience accounts of the contributing employers or
charged
to the accounts of the reimbursing employers from whom the
individual
earned credit weeks. If the individual earned credit
weeks
from more than 1 employer, a separate determination shall be
made
of the amount and duration of benefits based upon the total
credit
weeks and wages earned with each employer. Benefits paid in
accordance
with the determinations shall be charged against the
experience
account of a contributing employer or charged to the
account
of a reimbursing employer beginning with the most recent
employer
first and thereafter as necessary against other base
period
employers in inverse order to that in which the claimant
earned
his or her last credit week with those employers. If there
is
any disqualifying act or discharge under section 29(1) with an
employer,
benefits based upon credit weeks earned from that
employer
before the disqualifying act or discharge shall be charged
only
after the exhaustion of charges as provided above. Benefits
based
upon those credit weeks shall be charged first against the
experience
account of the contributing employer involved or to the
account
of the reimbursing employer involved in the most recent
disqualifying
act or discharge and thereafter as necessary in
similar
inverse order against other base period employers involved
in
disqualifying acts or discharges. The order of charges
determined
as of the beginning date of a benefit year shall remain
fixed
during the benefit year. For
benefit years established on or
after October 1, 2000, the claimant's full weekly benefit rate
shall be charged to the account or experience account of the
claimant's most recent separating employer for each of the first 2
weeks of benefits payable to the claimant in the benefit year in
accordance with the monetary determination issued pursuant to
section 32. However, if the total sum of wages paid by an employer
totals $200.00 or less, those wages shall be used for purposes of
benefit payment, but any benefit charges attributable to those
wages shall be charged to the nonchargeable benefits account.
Thereafter, remaining weeks of benefits payable in the benefit year
shall be paid in accordance with the monetary determination and
shall be charged proportionally to all base period employers, with
the charge to each base period employer being made on the basis of
the ratio that total wages paid by the employer in the base period
bears to total wages paid by all employers in the base period.
However, if the claimant did not perform services for the most
recent separating employer or employing entity and receive earnings
for performing the services of at least 40 times the state minimum
hourly wage times 7 during the claimant's most recent period of
employment with the employer or employing entity, then all weeks of
benefits payable in the benefit year shall be charged
proportionally to all base period employers, with the charge to
each base period employer being made on the basis of the ratio that
total wages paid by the employer in the base period bears to total
wages paid by all employers in the base period. If the claimant
performed services for the most recent separating employing entity
and received earnings for performing the services of at least 40
times the state minimum hourly wage times 7 during the claimant's
most recent period of employment for the employing entity but the
separating employing entity was not a liable employer, the first 2
weeks of benefits payable to the claimant shall be charged
proportionally to all base period employers, with the charge to
each base period employer made on the basis of the ratio that total
wages paid by the employer in the base period bears to total wages
paid
by all employers in the base period. The
(c) For purposes of this section, the "separating employer" is
the employer that caused the individual to be unemployed as defined
in section 48.
(c)
For benefit years established before October 1, 2000, and
except
as otherwise provided in section 11(d) or (g) or section
46a,
the charges for regular benefits to any reimbursing employer
or
to any contributing employer's experience account shall not
exceed
the weekly benefit rate multiplied by 3/4 the number of
credit
weeks earned by the individual during his or her base period
from
that employer. If the resultant product is not an even
multiple
of 1/2 the weekly benefit rate, the amount shall be raised
to
an amount equal to the next higher multiple of 1/2 the weekly
benefit
rate, and in the case of an individual who was employed by
only
1 employer in his or her base period and who earned 34 credit
weeks
with that employer, the product shall be raised to the next
higher
multiple of the weekly benefit rate.
(d) For benefit years beginning on or after October 1, 2000,
and except as otherwise provided in section 11(d) or (g) or section
46,
46a, the charges for regular benefits to any reimbursing
employer's account or to any contributing employer's experience
account shall not exceed either the amount derived by multiplying
by 2 the weekly benefit rate chargeable to the employer in
accordance with subsection (b) if the employer is the separating
employer and is chargeable for the first 2 weeks of benefits, or
the amount derived from the percentage of the weekly benefit rate
chargeable to the employer in accordance with subsection (b),
multiplied by the number of weeks of benefits chargeable to base
period employers based on base period wages, to which the
individual is entitled as provided in section 27(d), if the
employer is a base period employer, or both of these amounts if the
employer was both the chargeable separating employer and a base
period employer.
(e)
For benefit years beginning before October 1, 2000:
(1)
If an individual has multiemployer credit weeks in his or
her
base period, and if it becomes necessary to use those credit
weeks
as a basis for benefit payments, a single determination shall
be
made of the individual's weekly benefit rate and maximum amount
of
benefits based on the individual's multiemployer credit weeks
and
the wages earned in those credit weeks. Each employer involved
in
the individual's multiemployer credit weeks shall be an
interested
party to the determination. The proviso in section 29(2)
does
not apply to multiemployer credit weeks, nor does the
reduction
provision of section 29(4) apply to benefit entitlement
based
upon those credit weeks.
(2)
The charge for benefits based on multiemployer credit
weeks
shall be allocated to each employer involved on the basis of
the
ratio that the total wages earned during the total
multiemployer
credit weeks counted under section 50(b) with the
employer
bears to the total amount of wages earned during the total
multiemployer
credit weeks counted under section 50(b) with all
such
employers, computed to the nearest cent. However, if an
adjusted
weekly benefit rate is determined in accordance with
section
27(f), the charge to the employer who has contributed to
the
financing of the retirement plan shall be reduced by the same
amount
by which the weekly benefit rate was adjusted under section
27(f).
Benefits for a week of unemployment allocated under this
subsection
to a contributing employer shall be charged to the
nonchargeable
benefits account if the claimant during that week
earns
remuneration with that employer that equals or exceeds the
amount
of benefits allocated to that employer.
(3)
Benefits paid in accordance with the determination based
on
multiemployer credit weeks shall be allocated to each employer
involved
and charged as of the quarter in which the payments are
made.
Notice of charges made under this subsection shall be given
to
each employer by means of a current listing of charges, at least
weekly,
or of a quarterly statement of charges. The listing or
statement
shall specify the weeks for which benefits were paid
based
on multiemployer credit weeks and the amount of benefits paid
chargeable
to that employer for each week. The notice shall be
considered
to satisfy the requirements of sections 21(a) and 32(d)
that
notification be given each employer of benefits charged
against
that employer's account by means of a listing of the
benefit
payment, and all protest and appeal rights applicable to
benefit
payment listings shall also apply to the notice of charges.
If
an employer receives both a current listing of charges and a
quarterly
statement of charges under this subsection, all protest
and
appeal rights shall only apply to the first notice given.
(e) (f)
For benefit years beginning on or
after October 1,
2000 and before January 1, 2014, if a base period contributing
employer notifies the unemployment agency that it paid gross wages
to a claimant in a week at least equal to the employer's benefit
charge for that claimant for the week, then the unemployment agency
shall issue a monetary redetermination noncharging the account of
the employer for that week and for the remaining weeks of the
benefit year for benefits payable to the claimant that would
otherwise be charged to the employer's account.
(f) For benefit years beginning on or after January 1, 2014,
benefits payable to an individual for a week and for each remaining
payable week in the benefit year shall be charged to the
nonchargeable benefits account if either of the following occurs:
(1) The individual reports gross earnings in the week with a
contributing
base period employer at least equal
to the employer's
benefit charges for that individual for the week.
(2)
A contributing base period employer timely protests a
determination charging benefits to its account for a week in which
the employer paid gross wages to an individual at least equal to
the employer's charges for benefits paid to that individual for
that week.
(g)
For benefit years beginning before October 1, 2000:
(1)
Training benefits as provided in section 27(g), and
extended
benefits as provided in section 64, shall be allocated to
each
reimbursing employer involved in the individual's base period
of
the claim to which the benefits are related, on the basis of the
ratio
that the total wages earned during the total credit weeks
counted
under section 50(b) with a reimbursing employer bears to
the
total amount of wages earned during the total credit weeks
counted
under section 50(b) with all employers.
(2)
Training benefits and extended benefits, to the extent
that
they are not reimbursable by the federal government and have
been
allocated to a reimbursing employer, shall be charged to that
reimbursing
employer. A contributing employer's experience account
shall
not be charged with training benefits. Training benefits
based
on service with a contributing employer, to the extent that
they
are not reimbursable by the federal government, shall be
charged
to the nonchargeable benefits account. Extended benefits
paid
and based on service with a contributing employer, to the
extent
that they are not reimbursable by the federal government,
shall
be charged to that employer's experience account.
(3)
If the training benefits or extended benefits are
chargeable
only to a single reimbursing employer, the benefits
shall
be charged in accordance with subsection (a). If the training
benefits
or extended benefits are chargeable to more than 1
reimbursing
employer, or to 1 or more reimbursing employers and the
nonchargeable
benefits account, the benefits shall be charged as of
the
quarter in which the payments are made.
(4)
Notice of charges made under this subsection shall be
given
to each employer by means of a current listing of charges, at
least
weekly, and subsequently by a quarterly summary statement of
charges.
The listing shall specify the name and social security
number
of each claimant paid benefits during the week, the weeks
for
which the benefits were paid, and the amount of benefits
chargeable
to that employer paid for each week. The quarterly
statement
of charges shall list each claimant by name and social
security
number and shall show total benefit payments chargeable to
that
employer and made to each claimant during the calendar
quarter.
The listing shall be considered to satisfy the
requirements
of sections 21(a) and 32(d) that notification be given
each
employer of benefits charged against that employer's account
by
means of a listing of the benefit payment. All protest and
appeal
rights applicable to benefit payment listings shall also
apply
to the notice of charges. If an employer receives both a
current
listing of charges and a quarterly statement of charges
under
this subsection, all protest and appeal rights shall only
apply
to the first notice given.
(g) (h)
For benefit years beginning on or
after October 1,
2000:
(1) Training benefits as provided in section 27(g), and
extended benefits as provided in section 64, shall be charged to
each reimbursing employer in the base period of the claim to which
the benefits are related, on the basis of the ratio that the total
wages paid by a reimbursing employer during the base period bears
to the total wages paid by all reimbursing employers in the base
period.
(2) Training benefits, and extended benefits to the extent
they are not reimbursable by the federal government and have been
allocated to a reimbursing employer, shall be charged to that
reimbursing employer. A contributing employer's experience account
shall not be charged with training benefits. Training benefits
based on service with a contributing employer, to the extent they
are not reimbursable by the federal government, shall be charged to
the nonchargeable benefits account. Extended benefits paid and
based on service with a contributing employer, to the extent they
are not reimbursable by the federal government, shall be charged to
that employer's experience account.
(3) If the training benefits or extended benefits are
chargeable only to a single reimbursing employer, the benefits
shall be charged in accordance with subsection (a). If the training
benefits or extended benefits are chargeable to more than 1
reimbursing employer, or to 1 or more reimbursing employers and the
nonchargeable benefits account, the benefits shall be charged as of
the quarter in which the payments are made.
(h) (4)
Notice of charges made under this
subsection (g) shall
be given to each employer by means of a current listing of charges,
at least weekly, and subsequently by a quarterly summary statement
of charges. The listing shall specify the name and social security
number of each claimant paid benefits in the week, the weeks for
which the benefits were paid, and the amount of benefits chargeable
to that employer paid for each week. The quarterly summary
statement of charges shall list each claimant by name and social
security number and shall show total benefit payments chargeable to
that employer and made to each claimant during the calendar
quarter. The listing shall be considered to satisfy the
requirements of sections 21(a) and 32(d) that notification be given
to each employer of benefits charged against that employer's
account by means of a listing of the benefit payment. All protest
and appeal rights applicable to benefit payment listings shall also
apply to the notice of charges. If an employer receives both a
current listing of charges and a quarterly summary statement of
charges under this subsection, all protest and appeal rights shall
only apply to the first notice given.
(i) If a benefit year is established on or after October 1,
2000, the portion of benefits paid in that benefit year that are
based on wages used to establish the immediately preceding benefit
year that began before October 1, 2000 shall not be charged to the
employer or employers who paid those wages but shall be charged
instead to the nonchargeable benefits account.
(j) For benefits years beginning after March 30, 2009,
benefits paid to a person who leaves employment to accompany a
spouse who is a full-time member of the United States armed forces
and is reassigned for military service in a different geographic
location are not chargeable to the employer, but shall be charged
to the nonchargeable benefits account.