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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 26, 2013 11:40 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Brendan F. Boyle |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Unemployment Compensation – Overpayments and Employers’ Failure to Respond to Requests for Information |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation to prohibit employers from obtaining relief from unemployment compensation charges if they cause an overpayment by failing to timely respond to a request for information about the claim by the Department of Labor and Industry (L&I). Please note that this change to the state’s Unemployment Compensation (UC) Law is required to be in place by October 21, 2013, under the federal Unemployment Compensation Integrity Act of 2011, which required states to enact changes that will reduce overpayments. As you may know, UC overpayments can often be caused by the failure to provide correct, adequate, or timely information about a UC applicant’s work or the nature of the job separation. Nonetheless, the UC program is federally required to make timely determinations on benefit applications and payments to eligible claimants, so the consequences of late or inadequate responses from employers can be far reaching. When late information is provided and benefit payments are subsequently determined to be improper, the department must attempt to recover those payments from claimants who initially believed they were eligible and may have little ability to repay such a debt. Specifically, my legislation will prohibit employers from being relieved of charges for benefits that are subsequently determined to be overpaid, if the employer failed without good cause to respond timely or adequately to requests for information about the claim. Furthermore, the bill will prohibit collection of the overpayment from the claimant when the employer is at such fault. Lastly, my legislation will add an important provision that has long been lacking to our UC Law – that which allows the department to waive overpayments for certain claimants if recovery of those payments is against equity and good conscience. I hope that you will join me in co-sponsoring this important measure. If you have any questions, please contact Laurie Fouse-Miller at 717-787-3055. |
Introduced as HB1127