May 1, 2012, Introduced by Senators CASWELL, NOFS and GREEN 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 46 (MCL 421.46), as amended by 2011 PA 269.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec.
46. (a) Subject to subsections (d) through (g), (f), for
benefit
years beginning before the conversion date prescribed in
section
75, October 1, 2000, "benefit year" means the period of 52
consecutive calendar weeks beginning the first calendar week in
which an individual files a claim in accordance with section 32 and
meets all of the following conditions:
(1) The individual has earned 20 credit weeks in the 52
consecutive calendar weeks before the week he or she files the
claim for benefits.
(2) The individual is unemployed and meets all requirements of
section 28 for the week for which he or she files a claim for
benefits.
(3) Except for a disqualification under section 29 (8)
involving a labor dispute during the individual's most recent
period of employment with the most recent employer with whom the
individual earned a credit week, the individual is not disqualified
or subject to disqualification for the week for which he or she
files a claim.
(4) The individual does not have a benefit year already in
effect at the time of the claim.
(b) For benefit years beginning on or after October 1, 2000,
"benefit year" means the period of 52 consecutive calendar weeks
beginning the first calendar week in which an individual files a
claim in accordance with section 32. However, a benefit year shall
not be established unless the individual meets either of the
following conditions:
(1) The total wages paid to the individual in the base period
of the claim equals not less than 1.5 times the wages paid to the
individual in the calendar quarter of the base period in which the
individual was paid the highest wages.
(2) The individual was paid wages in 2 or more calendar
quarters of the base period totaling at least 20 times the state
average weekly wage as determined by the unemployment agency.
(c) For benefit years beginning after October 1, 2000, the
state average weekly wage for a calendar year shall be computed on
the basis of the 12 months ending the June 30 preceding that
calendar year. A benefit year shall not be established if the
individual was not paid wages of at least the state minimum hourly
wage multiplied by 388.06 rounded down to the nearest dollar in at
least 1 calendar quarter of the base period. A benefit year shall
not be established based on base period wages previously used to
establish a benefit year that resulted in the payment of benefits.
However, if a calendar quarter of the base period contains wages
that were previously used to establish a benefit year that resulted
in the payment of benefits, a claimant may establish a benefit year
using the wages in the remaining calendar quarters from among the
first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters, or if a benefit
year cannot be established using those quarters, then by using
wages from among the last 4 completed calendar quarters. A benefit
year shall not be established unless, after the beginning of the
immediately preceding benefit year during which the individual
received benefits, the individual worked and received remuneration
in an amount equal to at least 5 times the individual's most recent
state weekly benefit rate in effect during the individual's
immediately preceding benefit year. If a quarterly wage report has
not been submitted in a timely manner by the employer as provided
in section 13 for any of the quarters of the base period, or if
wage information is not available for use by the unemployment
agency for the most recent completed calendar quarter, the
unemployment agency shall obtain and use the claimant's statement
of wages paid during the calendar quarters for which the wage
reports are missing to establish a benefit year. However, the
claimant's statement of wages shall only be used to establish a
benefit year if the claimant also provides to the unemployment
agency documentary or other evidence of those wages that is
satisfactory to the unemployment agency. A determination based on
the claimant's statement of wages paid during any of these calendar
quarters shall be redetermined if the quarterly wage report from
the employer is later received and would result in a change in the
claimant's weekly benefit amount or duration, or both, or if the
quarterly wage report from the employer later becomes available for
use by the unemployment agency and would result in a change in the
claimant's benefit amount or duration, or both. If the
redetermination results from the employer's failure to submit the
quarterly wage report in a timely manner, the redetermination shall
be effective as to benefits payable for weeks beginning after the
receipt of information not previously submitted by the employer.
(d) If an individual files a claim for a 7-day period under
section 27(c), his or her benefit year begins the calendar week
containing the first day of that 7-day period.
(e) If all or part of a claimant's right to benefits during
his or her benefit year is canceled under section 62(b), the
benefit year is terminated on the effective date of the
cancellation.
(f) An individual may request a redetermination of his or her
benefit rights and cancellation of a previously established benefit
year if he or she has not completed a compensable period. Under
circumstances described in this subsection, the benefit year begins
the first day of the first week in which the request for
redetermination of benefit rights is duly filed.
(g)
Notwithstanding subsection (a), for services performed on
or
after January 2, 1983, and with respect to benefit years
established
before October 1, 2000, an individual is not entitled
to
establish a benefit year based in whole or in part on credit
weeks
for service in the employ of an employing unit, not otherwise
excluded
under section 43(g), in which more than 50% of the
proprietary
interest is owned by the individual or his or her son,
daughter,
or spouse, or any combination of these individuals, or in
which
more than 50% of the proprietary interest is owned by the
mother
or father of a child under the age of 18, or mother and
father
combined, unless both the individual and the employer notify
the
commission, in response to the commission's request for
information,
of the individual's relationship to the owners of the
proprietary
interest in the employing unit. Upon timely
notification
to the commission, a benefit year may be established
for
the individual, if the individual meets all of the following
conditions:
(1) has earned 20 credit weeks in the 52 consecutive
calendar
weeks preceding the week with respect to which the
individual
filed an application for benefits; (2) with respect to
the
week for which the individual is filing an application for
benefits
is unemployed, and meets all of the other requirements of
section
28; (3) with respect to the week for which the individual
is
filing an application for benefits the individual is not
disqualified
nor subject to disqualification, except in case of a
labor
dispute under section 29(8), with respect to the most recent
period
of employment with the most recent employer with whom the
individual
earned a credit week. If an individual files an
application
for a 7-day period as provided in section 27(c), the
benefit
year with respect to the individual shall begin with the
calendar
week which contains the first day of that 7-day period.
(h)
For benefit years established on or after July 1, 1983,
not
more than 10 credit weeks based on services shall be used to
pay
benefits. For the purpose of calculating the individual's
average
weekly wage, all base period wages and credit weeks shall
be
used. With respect to benefit years beginning on or after
October
1, 2000, and notwithstanding subsection (b), an individual
is
not entitled to establish a benefit year based in whole or in
part
on wages earned in service, not otherwise excluded under
section
43(g), in the employ of an employing unit in which more
than
50% of the proprietary interest is owned by the individual or
his
or her son, daughter, spouse, or any combination of these
individuals,
or in which more than 50% of the proprietary interest
is
owned by the mother or father of a child under the age of 18, or
mother
and father combined, unless both the individual and the
employer
notify the commission, in response to the commission's
request
for information, of the individual's relationship to the
owners
of the proprietary interest in the employing unit. Upon
timely
notification to the commission, a benefit year may be
established
for the individual if the individual meets the
requirements
of subsection (b). If wages in an individual's base
period
were earned in service in the employ of such an employing
unit,
the individual's weekly benefit rate shall be calculated in
accordance
with section 27(b)(1) but the portion of the benefit
rate
attributable to this service shall be payable for not more
than
7 weeks. The weekly benefit payment shall be reduced
thereafter
by the percentage of charge attributable to service with
this
employer, in accordance with section 20.