October 26, 2007, Introduced by Reps. Miller, Dean, Meisner, Tobocman, Young, Kathleen Law and Accavitti and referred to the Committee on Families and Children's Services.
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. The unemployment agency shall
include information concerning eligibility for the state's programs
for child health insurance for persons with limited income with the
initial notification of the determination that is sent to the
claimant. The department of community health shall aid the
department in selecting the appropriate child health insurance
eligibility information for inclusion.
(b)(1)
For benefit years established before the conversion
date
prescribed in section 75 October
1, 2000, 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.
(5)
For benefit years established after the conversion date
prescribed
in section 75 October 1, 2000, 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.
New, additional, or corrected information received by the
unemployment agency after the 10-day period shall be considered a
request for reconsideration by the employer of the monetary
determination and shall be reviewed as provided in section 32a.
(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),
(j), (l), or (m) 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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.