CHAPTER 212
HB 1366 – FINAL VERSION
7Mar2012… 0903h
05/02/12 1835s
2012 SESSION
08/09
HOUSE BILL 1366
AN ACT relative to employer charges for unemployment compensation benefits and relative to suitable work and eligibility requirements for claimants for unemployment compensation benefits.
SPONSORS: Rep. Infantine, Hills 13
COMMITTEE: Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services
This bill increases the number of weeks a non-reimbursing employer must provide employment before its separate account becomes chargeable for unemployment compensation benefits. This bill also amends the criteria for establishing suitable work and the eligibility and disqualification provisions for unemployment compensation claimants.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
7Mar2012… 0903h
05/02/12 1835s
12-2265
08/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
AN ACT relative to employer charges for unemployment compensation benefits and relative to suitable work and eligibility requirements for claimants for unemployment compensation benefits.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
212:1 Unemployment Compensation; Most Recent Employer. Amend RSA 282-A:12 to read as follows:
282-A:12 Most Recent Employer. “Most recent employer” means the last non-reimbursing employer prior to the effective date of the initial claim with whom an individual’s work record exceeded [4] 12 consecutive weeks of employment while such individual received no benefits under RSA 282-A provided that the employer provided employment, or from which wages in employment were paid or are payable, between the beginning of the base period, whether primary or alternate, and the benefit year ending of the claim year.
212:2 Unemployment Benefits; Benefit Eligibility Conditions. Amend RSA 282-A:31, I(d) to read as follows:
(d) He or she is available for and seeking permanent, full-time or part-time work for which he or she is qualified provided that[,] :
(1) He or she must also be available for and seeking temporary, full-time or part-time work for which he or she is qualified if the commissioner determines that permanent full-time or part-time work for which he or she is qualified is not immediately available within the individual’s labor market area; and
(2) He or she must instead be available for and seeking temporary, full-time or part-time work for which he or she is qualified if the commissioner determines that the individual reasonably expects to be recalled in 4 to 26 weeks to permanent full-time or part-time work from which the individual is temporarily separated and equivalent or better work for which he or she is qualified is not immediately available within the individual’s labor market area; and
(3) The wages, hours, or other conditions of the temporary work are not substantially less favorable to the individual than those prevailing for similar temporary or permanent work in the locality; and
(4) If availability is limited to part-time work, the claim for unemployment benefits is based on wages earned in part-time work.
212:3 Disqualifications for Benefits. Amend RSA 282-A:32, I(a)(1) to read as follows:
(1) An unemployed individual, not under a disqualification, accepts employment which would not have been deemed suitable work under subparagraph (d) and terminates such employment within a period of not more than [4] 12 consecutive weeks of employment with or without good cause;
212:4 Disqualifications for Benefits. Amend RSA 282-A:32, I(d) to read as follows:
(d) [He] The individual has failed, without good cause, either to apply for available, suitable work when so directed by the employment office or the commissioner or to accept suitable work when offered him or her, or to return to his or her customary self-employment (if any) when so directed by the commissioner.
(1) [The commissioner, in determining whether or not any work is suitable for an individual, shall consider the following] If the commissioner determines that work in the individual’s customary occupation, at the individual’s customary rate of pay, is immediately available within the individual’s labor market area, the commissioner, to find that any work is suitable for an individual, shall determine each of the following:
(A) That the degree of risk involved to [his] the individual’s health, safety and morals in performing such work is reasonable; and
(B) [His] That the individual’s physical fitness reasonably allows the individual to perform the essential functions of the work; and
(C) [His] That the individual’s prior training and experience reasonably allow the individual to successfully perform or to acquire those skills necessary to perform the work; and
(D) [His experience; and
(E) His prospects for securing, in his labor market area, work in his customary occupation; and
(F)] That the distance of the available work from [his] the individual’s residence is reasonable; but such distance shall not be considered reasonable if it is both substantially greater than that distance to all those places to which others living in the same town or city travel for work which utilizes similar or related skills or services, and also substantially greater than the distance to where [he] the individual acquired his or her currently available annual earnings; and
(E) That the rate of pay for the work is reasonable in light of the individual’s
[(G) His] prior earnings and length of unemployment, but in determining whether the rate of pay is reasonable his or her prior earnings shall be given more weight than his or her length of unemployment.
(2) If the commissioner determines that work in the individual’s customary occupation and at the individual’s customary rate of pay is not immediately available within the individual’s labor market area, the commissioner, to find that any work is suitable for an individual, shall determine each of the following:
(A) That the degree of risk involved to the individual’s health, safety and morals in performing such work is reasonable; and
(B) That the individual’s physical fitness reasonably allows the individual to perform the essential functions of the work; and
(C) That the individual’s prior training and experience reasonably allow the individual to successfully perform, or to acquire those skills necessary to perform, the work; and
(D) That the distance of the available work from the individual’s residence is reasonable; but such distance shall not be considered reasonable if it is both substantially greater than that distance to all those places to which others living in the same town or city travel for work which utilizes similar or related skills or services, and also substantially greater than the distance to where the individual acquired the individual’s currently available annual earnings; and
(E) That the work, part-time or full-time, pays minimum wage or an hourly rate which when multiplied times 40 is equal to or greater than 150 percent of the individual’s weekly benefit, whichever is greater; and
(F) That the wages, hours, or other conditions of the temporary work are not substantially less favorable to the individual than those prevailing for similar temporary or permanent work in the locality.
[(2)] (3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, no work shall be deemed suitable and benefits shall not be denied under this chapter to any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new full-time or part-time work under any of the following conditions:
(A) If the position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout, or other labor dispute;
(B) If the wages, hours, or other conditions of the work are substantially less favorable to the individual than those prevailing for similar work in the locality;
(C) 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 bona fide labor organization;
(D) If the individual is unable to apply for or accept full-time or part-time work during the hours of a particular shift because he or she is the only adult available for the care of an ill, infirm, or physically or mentally disabled family member whom a licensed physician has certified is in need of care for the activities of daily living;
(E) If the individual is unable to apply for or accept full-time or part-time work during the hours of a particular shift because he or she is the only adult available for the care of a natural, adopted, step, or foster child under the age of 16; or
(F) If the individual is permanently physically and/or mentally disabled, full-time or part-time work for such individual shall be deemed to be the hours and shifts the individual is physically able to work as certified by a licensed physician provided there is a market for the services the individual offers during such hours and shifts.
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, benefits shall not be denied under this chapter to any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new suitable, temporary, full-time, or part-time work, offered to the individual without the expectation of such work becoming permanent, for any week which follows the earlier of:
(A) The last week which includes one or more days within the maximum expected duration of the temporary work; or
(B) The fifth week of the 5 weeks in which the individual, subsequent to the date the individual refused such temporary work, meets the earnings requalification requirements of RSA 282-A:32, I.
[(3)] (5) For the purposes of section 3304(a)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, this subsection, together with RSA 282-A:31, I(c) shall be waived.
212:5 Disqualifications for Benefits. Amend RSA 282-A:32, I(a)(2) to read as follows:
(2) An individual terminates employment in good faith to accept better [full-time] employment, which is to begin within a reasonable period[, and subsequently becomes unemployed from such employment due to unavailability of work before earning the requalifying wages set forth in this section. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, such subsequent employer shall be deemed to be that individual's most recent employer];
212:6 Fund Chargeable. Amend RSA 282-A:75, IV to read as follows:
IV. Benefits are paid to an individual by reason of RSA 282-A:32, I(a)(2), (3), (4), (5), or (6).
212:7 Effective Date. This act shall take effect October 1, 2012.
Approved: June 13, 2012
Effective Date: October 1, 2012