Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

       Florida Senate - 2023                                    SB 1518
       
       
        
       By Senator Pizzo
       
       
       
       
       
       37-01128-23                                           20231518__
                      A bill to be entitled                      
       An act relating to reemployment assistance; amending
       s. 443.036, F.S.; defining and revising terms for
       purposes of the Reemployment Assistance Program Law;
       amending s. 443.091, F.S.; revising requirements for
       reemployment assistance benefits eligibility; creating
       s. 443.092, F.S.; prohibiting the Department of
       Economic Opportunity from denying a person
       reemployment assistance solely on the basis of
       pregnancy; amending s. 443.111, F.S.; requiring that
       an alternative base period be used under certain
       circumstances when calculating wages in determining
       qualification for reemployment assistance benefits;
       requiring the department to contact an individual’s
       employer if certain wage information is unavailable
       through specified means; specifying that wages that
       fall within an alternative base period are not
       available for reuse in subsequent benefit years;
       requiring the department to adopt rules; revising the
       weekly benefit amounts an individual may receive;
       replacing the term “Florida average unemployment rate”
       with “most recent monthly unemployment rate”; defining
       the term “most recent unemployment rate”; increasing
       the cap on the total benefit amount an individual is
       entitled to receive during a benefit year; increasing
       the duration of benefits; amending ss. 215.425,
       443.1216, and 443.131, F.S.; conforming cross
       references; reenacting ss. 443.041(2)(b) and
       443.1116(6), (7), and (8)(a), F.S., relating to fees
       and short-time compensation, respectively, to
       incorporate the amendments made to s. 443.111, F.S.,
       in references thereto; providing an effective date.
        
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

       Section 1. Present subsections (3) through (46) of section
443.036, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (4)
through (47), respectively, a new subsection (3) is added to
that section, and present subsection (24) of that section is
amended, to read:
       443.036 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, the term:
       (3) “Alternative base period” means the four most recently
completed calendar quarters before an individual’s benefit year,
if such quarters qualify the individual for benefits and were
not previously used to establish a prior valid benefit year.
       (25)(24) “High quarter” means the quarter in an
individual’s base period, or in the individual’s alternative
base period if an alternative base period is used for
determining benefits eligibility, in which the individual has
the greatest amount of wages paid, regardless of the number of
employers paying wages in that quarter.
       Section 2. Paragraphs (d) and (g) of subsection (1) of
section 443.091, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
       443.091 Benefit eligibility conditions.—
       (1) An unemployed individual is eligible to receive
benefits for any week only if the Department of Economic
Opportunity finds that:
       (d) She or he is able to work and is available for work. In
order to assess eligibility for a claimed week of unemployment,
the department shall develop criteria to determine a claimant’s
ability to work and availability for work. A claimant must be
actively seeking work in order to be considered available for
work. This means engaging in systematic and sustained efforts to
find work, including contacting at least three five prospective
employers for each week of unemployment claimed. For the
purposes of meeting the requirements of this paragraph, a
claimant may contact a prospective employer by submitting a
resume to an employer through an online job search service. A
claimant who submits a resume to at least three employers
through an online job search service satisfies the work search
requirements of this paragraph. The department may require the
claimant to provide proof of such efforts to the one-stop career
center as part of reemployment services. A claimant’s proof of
work search efforts may not include the same prospective
employer at the same location in 3 consecutive weeks, unless the
employer has indicated since the time of the initial contact
that the employer is hiring. The department shall conduct random
reviews of work search information provided by claimants. As an
alternative to contacting at least three five prospective
employers for any week of unemployment claimed, a claimant may,
for that same week, report in person to a one-stop career center
to meet with a representative of the center and access
reemployment services of the center. The center shall keep a
record of the services or information provided to the claimant
and shall provide the records to the department upon request by
the department. However:
       1. Notwithstanding any other provision of this paragraph or
paragraphs (b) and (e), an otherwise eligible individual may not
be denied benefits for any week because she or he is in training
with the approval of the department, or by reason of s.
443.101(2) relating to failure to apply for, or refusal to
accept, suitable work. Training may be approved by the
department in accordance with criteria prescribed by rule. A
claimant’s eligibility during approved training is contingent
upon satisfying eligibility conditions prescribed by rule.
       2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, an
otherwise eligible individual who is in training approved under
s. 236(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, may not be
determined ineligible or disqualified for benefits due to
enrollment in such training or because of leaving work that is
not suitable employment to enter such training. As used in this
subparagraph, the term “suitable employment” means work of a
substantially equal or higher skill level than the worker’s past
adversely affected employment, as defined for purposes of the
Trade Act of 1974, as amended, the wages for which are at least
80 percent of the worker’s average weekly wage as determined for
purposes of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended.
       3. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, an
otherwise eligible individual may not be denied benefits for any
week because she or he is before any state or federal court
pursuant to a lawfully issued summons to appear for jury duty.
       4. Union members who customarily obtain employment through
a union hiring hall may satisfy the work search requirements of
this paragraph by reporting daily to their union hall.
       5. The work search requirements of this paragraph do not
apply to persons who are unemployed as a result of a temporary
layoff or who are claiming benefits under an approved short-time
compensation plan as provided in s. 443.1116.
       6. In small counties as defined in s. 120.52(19), a
claimant engaging in systematic and sustained efforts to find
work must contact at least two three prospective employers for
each week of unemployment claimed.
       7. The work search requirements of this paragraph do not
apply to persons required to participate in reemployment
services under paragraph (e).
       (g) She or he has been paid wages for insured work equal to
1.5 times her or his high quarter wages during her or his base
period, except that an unemployed individual is not eligible to
receive benefits if the base period wages are less than $3,400.
If an unemployed individual is ineligible for benefits based on
base period wages, his or her wages must be calculated using the
alternative base period and his or her claim shall be
established using such wages.
       Section 3. Section 443.092, Florida Statutes, is created to
read:
       443.092 Denial of reemployment assistance solely on the
basis of pregnancy prohibited.—The department may not deny a
person reemployment assistance solely on the basis of pregnancy.
       Section 4. Subsections (2) and (3) and paragraphs (a), (b),
and (c) of subsection (5) of section 443.111, Florida Statutes,
are amended, and paragraph (b) of subsection (1) is republished,
to read:
       443.111 Payment of benefits.—
       (1) MANNER OF PAYMENT.—Benefits are payable from the fund
in accordance with rules adopted by the Department of Economic
Opportunity, subject to the following requirements:
       (b) As required under s. 443.091(1), each claimant must
report at least biweekly to receive reemployment assistance
benefits and to attest to the fact that she or he is able and
available for work, has not refused suitable work, is seeking
work and has met the requirements of s. 443.091(1)(d), and, if
she or he has worked, to report earnings from that work. Each
claimant must continue to report regardless of any appeal or
pending appeal relating to her or his eligibility or
disqualification for benefits.
       (2) QUALIFYING REQUIREMENTS.—
       (a) To establish a benefit year for reemployment assistance
benefits, an individual must have:
       1.(a) Wage credits in two or more calendar quarters of the
individual’s base period or alternative base period.
       2.(b) Minimum total base period wage credits equal to the
high quarter wages multiplied by 1.5, but at least $3,400 in the
base period, or in the alternative base period if the
alternative base period is used for benefits eligibility.
       (b)1. If a worker is ineligible for benefits based on base
period wages, wages for that worker must be calculated using an
alternative base period and the claim shall be established using
such wages.
       2. If the wage information for an individual’s most
recently completed calendar quarter is unavailable to the
department from regular quarterly reports of systematically
accessible wage information, the department must promptly
contact the individual’s employer to obtain the wage
information.
       3. Wages that fall within the alternative base period of
claims established under this paragraph are not available for
reuse in qualifying for any subsequent benefit years.
       4. The department shall adopt rules to administer this
paragraph.
       (3) WEEKLY BENEFIT AMOUNT.—
       (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), an individual’s
“weekly benefit amount” is an amount equal to one twenty-sixth
of the total wages for insured work paid during that quarter of
the base period in which the total wages paid were the highest,
but not less than $100 $32 or more than $375 $275. The weekly
benefit amount, if not a multiple of $1, is rounded downward to
the nearest full dollar amount. The maximum weekly benefit
amount in effect at the time the claimant establishes an
individual weekly benefit amount is the maximum benefit amount
applicable throughout the claimant’s benefit year.
       (b) If an individual’s weekly benefit calculated pursuant
to paragraph (a) would result in a weekly benefit amount of less
than $100, the individual’s weekly benefit amount may not exceed
one-thirteenth of the total wages for insured work paid during
the quarter of the base period in which the total wages paid
were the highest or $100, whichever is less.
       (5) DURATION OF BENEFITS.—
       (a) As used in this section, the term “most recent monthly
Florida average unemployment rate” means the most recently
available month’s average of the 3 months for the most recent
third calendar year quarter of the seasonally adjusted statewide
unemployment rate rates as published by the Department of
Economic Opportunity.
       (b) Each otherwise eligible individual is entitled during
any benefit year to a total amount of benefits equal to 25
percent of the total wages in his or her base period, not to
exceed $9,375 $6,325 or the product arrived at by multiplying
the weekly benefit amount with the number of weeks determined in
paragraph (c), whichever is less. However, the total amount of
benefits, if not a multiple of $1, is rounded downward to the
nearest full dollar amount. These benefits are payable at a
weekly rate no greater than the weekly benefit amount.
       (c) For claims submitted during a month calendar year, the
duration of benefits is limited to:
       1. Fourteen Twelve weeks if this state’s most recent
monthly average unemployment rate is at or below 5 percent.
       2. An additional week in addition to the 14 12 weeks for
each 0.5 percent increment in this state’s most recent monthly
average unemployment rate above 5 percent.
       3. Up to a maximum of 25 23 weeks if this state’s most
recent monthly average unemployment rate equals or exceeds 10.5
percent.
       Section 5. Paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of section
215.425, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
       215.425 Extra compensation claims prohibited; bonuses;
severance pay.—
       (4)(a) On or after July 1, 2011, a unit of government that
enters into a contract or employment agreement, or renewal or
renegotiation of an existing contract or employment agreement,
that contains a provision for severance pay with an officer,
agent, employee, or contractor must include the following
provisions in the contract:
       1. A requirement that severance pay provided may not exceed
an amount greater than 20 weeks of compensation.
       2. A prohibition of provision of severance pay when the
officer, agent, employee, or contractor has been fired for
misconduct, as defined in s. 443.036(30) s. 443.036(29), by the
unit of government.
       Section 6. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and paragraph
(f) of subsection (13) of section 443.1216, Florida Statutes,
are amended to read:
       443.1216 Employment.—Employment, as defined in s. 443.036,
is subject to this chapter under the following conditions:
       (1)(a) The employment subject to this chapter includes a
service performed, including a service performed in interstate
commerce, by:
       1. An officer of a corporation.
       2. An individual who, under the usual common-law rules
applicable in determining the employer-employee relationship, is
an employee. However, whenever a client, as defined in s.
443.036(19) s. 443.036(18), which would otherwise be designated
as an employing unit has contracted with an employee leasing
company to supply it with workers, those workers are considered
employees of the employee leasing company. An employee leasing
company may lease corporate officers of the client to the client
and other workers to the client, except as prohibited by
regulations of the Internal Revenue Service. Employees of an
employee leasing company must be reported under the employee
leasing company’s tax identification number and contribution
rate for work performed for the employee leasing company.
       a. However, except for the internal employees of an
employee leasing company, each employee leasing company may make
a separate one-time election to report and pay contributions
under the tax identification number and contribution rate for
each client of the employee leasing company. Under the client
method, an employee leasing company choosing this option must
assign leased employees to the client company that is leasing
the employees. The client method is solely a method to report
and pay unemployment contributions, and, whichever method is
chosen, such election may not impact any other aspect of state
law. An employee leasing company that elects the client method
must pay contributions at the rates assigned to each client
company.
       (I) The election applies to all of the employee leasing
company’s current and future clients.
       (II) The employee leasing company must notify the
Department of Revenue of its election by July 1, 2012, and such
election applies to reports and contributions for the first
quarter of the following calendar year. The notification must
include:
       (A) A list of each client company and the unemployment
account number or, if one has not yet been issued, the federal
employment identification number, as established b