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S. 1091
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senator Thomas
Document Path: l:\council\bills\ggs\22049ab08.doc
Introduced in the Senate on February 12, 2008
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry
Summary: Unemployment benefits
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number
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2/12/2008 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-6
2/12/2008 Senate Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry
SJ-6
View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
TO AMEND SECTION 41-35-110, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO CONDITIONS OF ELIGIBILITY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT A PERSON SEEKING OR RECEIVING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS MUST SUBMIT TO RANDOM DRUG SCREENING, AND THAT BENEFITS MUST TERMINATE IF HE TWICE FAILS THIS DRUG TEST; AND TO AMEND SECTION 41-35-120, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO DISQUALIFICATION FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS MUST TERMINATE IF THE RECIPIENT TWICE FAILS A RANDOM DRUG TEST REQUIRED AS A CONDITION TO RECEIVE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 41-35-110 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 497 of 1994, is further amended to read:
"Section 41-35-110. An unemployed insured worker shall must be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any a week only if the commission finds that he:
(1) He has made a claim for benefits with respect to such the week in accordance with such as required by regulations as the prescribed by the commission may prescribe;
(2) He has registered for work and thereafter has afterward continued to report at an employment office in accordance with such regulations as required by the commission regulations may prescribe, except that the commission may, by regulation, may waive or alter either or both of the requirements of this paragraph as to individuals regarding an individual attached to a regular jobs job;, provided, that no such the regulation shall may not conflict with Sections 41-35-10 or 41-35-30;
(3) He is able to work and is available for work at his usual trade, occupation, or business or in such other another trade, occupation, or business as for which he is qualified based on his prior training or experience shows him to be fitted or qualified; is available for such work either at a locality at which where he earned wages for insured work during his base period; or if the individual has moved to a locality where it may reasonably may be expected that work suitable for him under the provisions of Section 41-35-120(3)(b) is available; and, in addition to having complied with subsection (2), is himself actively seeking work;, provided that however,:
(a) notwithstanding any other provisions another provision of Chapters 27 through 41 of this title, no an otherwise eligible individual shall cannot be denied benefits with respect to any a week in which he is in training with the approval of the commission by reason of the application of the provision herein of this section relating to availability for work and an active search for work;
(b) No a claimant shall must not be eligible to receive benefits a benefit or waiting period credit if engaged in self-employment of such a nature as to return or promise remuneration in excess of exceeding the weekly benefit amounts he would have received if otherwise unemployed over such this period of time.
(4) He has been unemployed for a waiting period of one week, but no week shall be counted as a week of unemployment for the purposes of this paragraph:
(a) unless it occurs within the benefit year which that included the week with respect to which he claims payment of benefits,;
(b) if benefits have been paid with respect thereto nor to this period; or
(c) unless the individual was eligible for benefits with respect thereto to this period as provided in this section and Section 41-35-120, except for the requirements of this item (4) and of item (5) of Section 41-35-120.;
(5) Claimant is separated, through no fault of his own, from his most recent bona fide employer;, provided, however, the term 'most recent bona fide employer' shall mean means the work or employer from which the individual separated regardless of any work subsequent to his separation in which he earned less than eight times his weekly benefit amount.;
(6) He participates in reemployment services, such as job search assistance services, if he has been determined to be the commission determines he is likely to exhaust regular benefits and need reemployment services pursuant to a profiling system established by the commission, and unless the commission determines that:
(a) the individual has completed such these services; or
(b) there is justifiable cause exists for the claimant's failure to participate in such services.; and
(7) submits to random drug testing administered by the commission and tests positive for illegal drugs or legal prescription drugs used illegally no more than once. The commission immediately shall terminate his benefits if he twice tests positive on these tests."
SECTION 2. Section 41-35-120 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 50 of 2005, is further amended to read:
"Section 41-35-120. (A) As used in this section:
(1) 'Cause connected with employment' means a cause that is more than a failure in good performance of the employee as the result of inability or incapacity.
(2) 'Legal prescription drug used unlawfully' means use of a legal prescription drug without a prescription.
(3) 'Suitable employment' means, with respect to an individual, work of a substantially equal or higher skill level than the individual's past adversely-affected employment, as defined for purposes of the Trade Act of 1974, and wages for the work at not less than eighty percent of the individual's average weekly wage as determined for the purposes of the Trade Act of 1974.
(4) 'Most recent work' means the work from which the individual retired regardless of work he preformed subsequent to his retirement in which he earned less than eight times his weekly benefit amount.
(B) Any An insured worker is ineligible for benefits for: leaving work voluntarily, being discharged for cause connected with the employment, failure to accept work, certain labor disputes, receiving benefits elsewhere, voluntary retirement, and noncompliance with random drug screening.
(1) Leaving work voluntarily. - If The commission shall deny benefits to an insured worker if it finds that he has left voluntarily, without good cause, his most recent work prior to filing a request for determination of insured status or a request for initiation of a claim series within an established benefit year, with ineligibility beginning with the effective date of the request and continuing until he has secured employment and shows, to the satisfaction of the commission, that he has performed services in employment as defined by Chapters 27 through 41 of this title and earned wages for such services equal to at least eight times the weekly benefit amount of his claim.
(2) Discharge for cause connected with the employment. (a) If The commission shall deny benefits to an insured worker if it finds that he has been discharged for cause connected with his most recent work prior to filing a request for determination of insured status or a request for initiation of a claim series within an established benefit year, with ineligibility beginning with the effective date of the request, and continuing not less than five nor more than the next twenty-six weeks, in addition to the waiting period, with a corresponding and mandatory reduction of the insured worker's benefits to be calculated by multiplying his weekly benefit amount by the number of weeks of his disqualification. The ineligibility period must be determined by the commission in each case according to the seriousness of the cause for discharge. A charge of discharge for cause connected with the employment may not be made for failure to meet production requirements unless the failure is occasioned by wilful failure or neglect of duty. "Cause connected with the employment" as used in this item requires more than a failure in good performance of the employee as the result of inability or incapacity.
(b) An insured worker is considered to have been discharged for cause pursuant to this item, and is ineligible for benefits if the:
(i) company has communicated a policy prohibiting the illegal use of drugs, the violation of which may result in termination; and
(ii) insured worker fails or refuses to provide a specimen pursuant to a request from the employer, or otherwise fails or refuses to cooperate by providing an adulterated specimen; or
(iii) insured worker provides a blood, hair, or urine specimen during a drug test administered on behalf of the employer, which tests positive for illegal drugs or legal prescription drugs used unlawfully, provided: (A) the sample was collected and labeled by a licensed health care professional or another individual authorized to collect and label test samples by federal or state law, including law enforcement personnel;, and (B) the test was performed by a laboratory certified by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the College of American Pathologists or the State Law Enforcement Division;, and (C) any an initial positive test was confirmed on the specimen using the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method, or an equivalent or more accurate scientifically accepted methods approved by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
(c) If an insured worker makes an admission pursuant to the employer's policy, which provides that voluntary admissions made before the employer's request to the employee to submit to testing may protect an employee from immediate termination, then the admission is inadmissible for purposes of this section as long as the:
(Ai) employer has communicated a written policy, which provides protection from immediate termination for employees who voluntarily admit prohibited drug use before the employer's request to submit to a test; and
(Bii) employee makes the admission specifically pursuant to the employer's policy.
(d) Information, interviews, reports, and drug-test results, written or otherwise, received by an employer through a drug-testing program may be used or received in evidence in proceedings conducted pursuant to the provisions of this title for the purposes of determining eligibility for unemployment compensation, including any administrative or judicial appeal.
(3) Failure to accept work.--(a) If The commission shall deny benefits to an injured worker if it finds that he has failed, without good cause,;
(i) either to apply for available suitable work, when so directed by the employment office or the commission,;
(ii) to accept available suitable work when offered to him by the employment office or an employer,; or
(iii) to return to his customary self-employment, (if any), when so directed to do so by the commission, and the ineligibility begins with the week the failure occurred and continues until he has secured employment and shows to the satisfaction of the commission that he has performed services in employment as defined in Chapters 27 through 41 of this title and earned wages for services equal to at least eight times his weekly benefit amount of his claim.
(b) In determining whether or not any work is suitable for an individual, the commission shall consider, based on a standard of reasonableness as it relates to the particular individual concerned, the degree of risk involved to his health, safety, and morals, his physical fitness and prior training, his experience and prior earnings, his length of unemployment, and his prospects for securing local work in his customary occupation, and the distance of the available work from his residence.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provisions another provision of Chapters 27 through 41 of this title, no work is not considered suitable and benefits may not be denied under such these chapters to any an otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new work under any of the following conditions:
(i) if the position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout, or other labor dispute,;
(ii) if the wages, hours, or other conditions of the work offered are substantially less favorable to the individual than those prevailing for similar work in the locality,; or
(iii) if, as a condition of being employed, the individual would be required to join a company union or to resign from or refrain from joining any a bona fide labor organization.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provisions another provision of Chapters 27 through 41 of this title, no otherwise eligible individual may be denied benefits for any a week for failure to apply for, or refusal to accept, suitable work because he is in training with the approval of the commission.
(e) Notwithstanding any other another provision of this chapter, no otherwise eligible individual may be denied benefits for any a week because he is in training approved under Section 236(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, nor may the individual be denied benefits by reason of leaving work to enter training, so long as the work left is not suitable employment, or because of the application to any week in training of provisions in this law, (or any an applicable federal unemployment compensation law), relating to availability for work, active search for work, or refusal to accept work.
For purposes of this subitem, "suitable employment" means, with respect to an individual, work of a substantially equal or higher skill level than the individual's past adversely affected employment (as defined for purposes of the Trade Act of 1974), and wages for the work at not less than eighty percent of the individual's average weekly wage as determined for the purposes of the Trade Act of 1974.
(4) Labor dispute. - The commission shall deny benefits to an insured worker if, for any a week in which the Commission it finds that his total or partial unemployment is directly due to a labor dispute in active progress in the factory, establishment, or other premises at which he was last employed. This paragraph item does not apply if it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commission the commission's satisfaction that he:
(a) He is not participating in, financing, or directly interested in the labor dispute;
(b) He does not belong to a grade or class of workers of which, immediately before he became unemployed by reason of the dispute, there were members employed at the premises at which the dispute exists, any of whom are participating in or directly interested in the dispute.
If in any case separate branches of work, which are commonly conducted as separate businesses in separate premises, are conducted in separate departments of the same premises, each department for the purpose of this item subitem (4) is considered to be a separate factory, establishment, or other premises.
(5) Receiving benefits elsewhere. - The commission shall deny benefits to an insured worker if, for any a week in which or a part of a week in which he has received or is seeking unemployment benefits under an unemployment compensation law of another state or of the United States. If the appropriate agency of the other state or of the United States finally determines that he is not entitled to unemployment benefits, this disqualification does not apply.
(6) Voluntary retirement. - The commission shall deny benefits to an insured worker if the Commission it finds that he voluntarily retired from his most recent work with the ineligibility beginning with the effective date of his claim and continuing for the duration of his unemployment and until the individual submits satisfactory evidence of having had new employment and of having earned wages of not less than eight times his weekly benefit amount as defined in Section 41-35-40. For the purpose of this section "most recent work" means the work from which the individual retired regardless of any work subsequent to his retirement in which he earned less than eight times his weekly benefit amount.
(7) The commission shall deny benefits to an insured worker if it determines that he twice failed random drug testing that the department shall require of a person seeking or receiving benefits or declines to submit to the test."
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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