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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.661 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:Senate Introduced Date:20010501 Primary Sponsor:J. Verne Smith All Sponsors:J. Verne Smith Drafted Document Number:l:\s-res\jvs\002taxa.mrh.doc Residing Body:Senate Current Committee:Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee 12 SLCI Subject:Employers to make certain employee information available to Employment Security Commission, decisions of, review History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ Senate 20010501 Introduced, read first time, 12 SLCI referred to Committee Versions of This Bill
TO AMEND SECTION 41-29-120, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT STABILIZATION, TO AUTHORIZE THE COMMISSION TO COLLECT AND PUBLISH INFORMATION RELATING TO ECONOMIC ACTIVITY CONNECTED WITH EMPLOYMENT IN SOUTH CAROLINA; TO AMEND SECTION 41-29-170 RELATING TO THE PERMITTED DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY LAW; TO AMEND SECTIONS 41-35-640, 41-35-660, AND 41-35-680 TO MAKE THE TIME TO REQUEST RECONSIDERATION OR REVIEW CONSISTENT AMONG THE SECTIONS AND TO MAKE THESE PROCEDURES CONFORM TO FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS; AND TO AMEND SECTION 41-35-750, RELATING TO THE PROCEDURE TO OBTAIN JUDICIAL REVIEW OF COMMISSION DECISIONS, TO BRING THE SECTION INTO COMPLIANCE WITH THE SOUTH CAROLINA ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES ACT.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 41-29-120 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 41-29-120. (A) The Commission, with the advice and aid of its advisory councils and through its appropriate divisions, shall take all appropriate steps to reduce and prevent unemployment, to encourage and assist in the adoption of practical methods of vocational training, retraining and vocational guidance, to investigate, recommend, advise and assist in the establishment and operation, by municipalities, counties, school districts and the State, of reserves for public works to be used in times of business depression and unemployment and to promote the reemployment of unemployed workers throughout the State in every other way that may be feasible and to these ends shall carry on and publish the results of investigations and research studies.
(B) Any employing unit doing business in South Carolina shall make available to the commission such information with respect to persons, firms, or other employing units performing services for it that the commission deems necessary in connection with the effective administration of Chapters 27 through 42 of this title. The commission may require from any employing unit any sworn or unsworn reports with respect to persons employed by it that the commission deems necessary for the effective administration of Chapters 27 through 42 of this title and for the commission's cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor or its successor agency. Provided that no such report or return furnished pursuant to this section shall be used in determining whether such employing unit is an employer within the meaning of Section 41-27-210 of the Employment Security Law."
SECTION 2. Section 41-29-170 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 71 of 1997, is further amended to read:
"Section 41-29-170. (A) A claimant or a claimant's legal representative must be supplied with information from the records, to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of the claim in any proceeding under Chapters 27 through 41 of this title subject to restrictions the commission may by regulation prescribe. This information may be made available to any agency of this or any other state or any federal agency charged with the administration of a public assistance or state or national new hire directory or an unemployment compensation law or the maintenance of a system of public employment offices, and information obtained in connection with applications for placements may be made available to persons or agencies for purposes appropriate to the operation of a public employment service Upon request the commission shall furnish to an agency of the United States charged with the administration of public works or assistance through public employment and may furnish to a state agency similarly charged the name, address, ordinary occupation, and employment status of each recipient of benefits and the recipient's rights to further benefits under Chapters 27 through 41.
(B) Upon written request the commission may furnish information obtained through the administration of Chapters 27 through 42 of this title, including but not limited to, the name, address, ordinary occupation, wages, and employment status of each covered worker or recipient of benefits and the recipient's rights to further benefits under Chapters 27 through 41, to:
(1) an agency or agent of the United States charged with the administration of public works or assistance through public employment;
(2) a state agency similarly charged; or
(3) any agency or entity to which disclosure is permitted or required by federal statute or regulation or by state statute.
Such disclosure shall be made subject to restrictions the commission may by regulation prescribe.
(C) The State Employment Office shall furnish, upon request of a public agency administering the temporary assistance to needy families (TANF) and child support programs, a state agency administering food stamp coupons, the state or federal agency administering the new hire directory, or any public housing authority, any information in its possession relating to:
(1) individuals who are receiving, have received, or have applied for unemployment insurance;
(2) the amount of benefits being received;
(3) the current home address of these individuals;
(4) whether any offer of work has been refused and, if so, a description of the job and the terms, conditions, and rate of pay;
(5) in the case of requests from a public housing authority, a listing of the current employer and previous employers for the available preceding six calendar quarters;
(6) in the case of requests from the state or federal agency which issues food stamp coupons or the new hire directory, a listing of the current employer and address and any previous employers and their addresses, including wage information, for the available preceding six calendar quarters.
The requesting agency is responsible for reimbursing the South Carolina Employment Security Commission for actual costs incurred in supplying the information. This information must be provided in the most useful and economical format possible."
SECTION 3. Section 41-35-640(1) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(1) An initial determination may for good cause be reconsidered. A party entitled to notice of an initial determination may apply for a reconsideration not later than ten days after the determination was mailed to his last known address or otherwise delivered to him. Notice of the redetermination shall be promptly given, in the manner prescribed in this article with respect to notice of an initial determination."
SECTION 4. Section 41-35-660 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 41-35-660. The claimant or any other interested party may file an appeal from an initial determination, redetermination, or subsequent determination not later than ten days after the determination was mailed to his last known address, or otherwise delivered to him. The term 'any other interested party' shall mean and include the claimant's last or separating employer, and any employer whose account may be affected by the adjudication of the claim. If an appeal is duly filed with respect to a matter other than the weekly benefit amount or maximum amount of benefits payable, and the appeal tribunal affirms a determination allowing benefits, such benefits paid prior to the decision disallowing benefits shall not be recovered from any claimant regardless of any appeal which may thereafter be taken to the extent that such benefits are not charged to the account of any employer."
SECTION 5. Section 41-35-680 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 41-35-680. Unless an appeal is withdrawn, an appeal tribunal, after affording the parties reasonable opportunity for a fair hearing, after notice of not less than seven days, must make findings and conclusions promptly and on the basis thereof affirm, modify, or reverse the determination or redetermination within thirty days from the date of such hearing. Each party must be furnished promptly with a copy of the decision, together with the reasons therefore, which shall be considered to be the final decision of the commission, unless within ten days after the date of mailing or delivery of such decision a further appeal is initiated pursuant to Section Section 41-35-710."
SECTION 6. Section 41-35-750 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 55 of 1999, is further amended to read:
"Section 41-35-750. Within ten days after a decision of the commission has become final the time specified by the South Carolina Administrative Procedures Act, any party to the proceeding who claims to be aggrieved whose benefit rights or whose employer account may be affected by the Commission's decision may secure judicial review of the decision by commencing an action in the court of common pleas, either in the county in which the employee resides or the county in which he was last employed, against the commission for the review of its decision, in which action every other party to the proceeding before the commission shall be made a defendant. In such action a petition, which need not be verified but which shall state the grounds upon which a review is sought, shall be served upon a member of the commission or upon such person as the commission may designate, and such within the time specified by the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure governing such appeals. Such service shall be deemed complete service on all parties, but there shall be left with the person so served as many copies of the petition as there are defendants and the commission shall forthwith mail one such copy to each such defendant. With its answer the commission shall certify and file with the court all documents and papers and a transcript of all testimony taken in the matter together with its findings of fact and decision therein. The commission, in its discretion, also may certify to such court questions of law involved in any decision by it. In any judicial proceeding under this chapter, the findings of the commission as to the facts, if supported by evidence and in the absence of fraud, shall be conclusive and the jurisdiction of the court shall be confined to questions of law. Such actions, and the questions so certified, shall be heard in a summary manner and shall be given precedence over all other civil cases except cases arising under the Worker's Compensation laws of this State. An appeal may be taken from the decision of the court of common pleas in the manner provided by the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules. It shall not be necessary, in a judicial proceeding under this article, to enter exceptions to the rulings of the commission, and no bond shall be required for entering such appeal. Upon the final determination of such judicial proceeding, the commission shall enter an order in accordance with such determination. In no event shall a petition for judicial review act as a supersedeas or stay unless the commission shall so order."
SECTION 7. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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