State of Illinois
Public Acts
92nd General Assembly

[ Home ]  [ ILCS ] [ Search ] [ Bottom ]
 [ Other General Assemblies ]

Public Act 92-0396

SB858 Enrolled                                 LRB9201212RCcd

    AN ACT in relation to unemployment insurance.

    Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:

    Section  5.  The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by
changing Sections 500 and 703 as follows:

    (820 ILCS 405/500) (from Ch. 48, par. 420)
    Sec.  500.   Eligibility  for  benefits.    An unemployed
individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect
to any week only if the Director finds that:
    A.  He has registered for  work  at  and  thereafter  has
continued  to  report  at  an employment office in accordance
with such regulations as the Director may  prescribe,  except
that  the  Director may, by regulation, waive or alter either
or  both  of  the  requirements  of  this  subsection  as  to
individuals attached to regular jobs, and as  to  such  other
types  of  cases or situations with respect to which he finds
that compliance with such requirements would be oppressive or
inconsistent with the purposes of this Act, provided that  no
such regulation shall conflict with Section 400 of this Act.
    B.  He has made a claim for benefits with respect to such
week  in accordance with such regulations as the Director may
prescribe.
    C.  He is able  to  work,  and  is  available  for  work;
provided  that  during the period in question he was actively
seeking work and he has certified such.   Whenever  requested
to do so by the Director, the individual shall, in the manner
the  Director prescribes by regulation, inform the Department
of the places at which he has sought work during  the  period
in  question.    Nothing  in  this subsection shall limit the
Director's approval of alternate methods of demonstrating  an
active search for work  based on regular reporting to a trade
union office.
         1.  If an otherwise eligible individual is unable to
    work  or is unavailable for work on any normal workday of
    the week, he shall be eligible to receive  benefits  with
    respect  to  such week reduced by one-fifth of his weekly
    benefit amount for each day of such inability to work  or
    unavailability  for  work.   For  the  purposes  of  this
    paragraph,  an individual who reports on a day subsequent
    to his designated report day shall be deemed  unavailable
    for  work  on  his report day if his failure to report on
    that day is without good cause, and on  each  intervening
    day,  if  any,  on which his failure to report is without
    good cause.  As used in the preceding  sentence,  "report
    day"  means  the  day  which  has been designated for the
    individual to report to file his claim for benefits  with
    respect  to  any  week.   This  paragraph  shall  not  be
    construed  so  as  to  effect any change in the status of
    part-time workers as defined in Section 407.
         2.  An  individual  shall  be   considered   to   be
    unavailable  for work on days listed as whole holidays in
    "An Act to revise  the  law  in  relation  to  promissory
    notes,   bonds,   due  bills  and  other  instruments  in
    writing," approved March 18, 1874, as  amended;  on  days
    which  are holidays in his religion or faith, and on days
    which are holidays according to the custom of  his  trade
    or  occupation,  if  his failure to work on such day is a
    result of the holiday.   In  determining  the  claimant's
    eligibility  for  benefits and the amount to be paid him,
    with respect to the week in which such holiday occurs, he
    shall have attributed to him as additional  earnings  for
    that  week  an  amount  equal  to one-fifth of his weekly
    benefit amount for each normal work day on which he  does
    not   work  because  of  a  holiday  of  the  type  above
    enumerated.
         3.  An individual shall be  deemed  unavailable  for
    work  if,  after  his  separation  from  his  most recent
    employing unit, he has removed himself to and remains  in
    a locality where opportunities for work are substantially
    less favorable than those in the locality he has left.
         4.  An  individual  shall  be deemed unavailable for
    work with respect to any week which occurs  in  a  period
    when  his  principal  occupation  is that of a student in
    attendance at, or on vacation from, a public  or  private
    school.
         5.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provisions  of this
    Act, an individual shall not be  deemed  unavailable  for
    work  or  to have failed actively to seek work, nor shall
    he  be  ineligible  for  benefits  by   reason   of   the
    application  of  the  provisions  of  Section  603,  with
    respect  to any week, because he is enrolled in and is in
    regular attendance at a training course approved for  him
    by the Director:
              (a)  but  only  if,  with respect to that week,
         the individual presents, upon request, to the claims
         adjudicator referred to in Section 702  a  statement
         executed  by a responsible person connected with the
         training course, certifying that the individual  was
         in  full-time  attendance  at such course during the
         week.  The Director may approve such course  for  an
         individual only if he finds that (1) reasonable work
         opportunities  for which the individual is fitted by
         training  and  experience  do  not  exist   in   his
         locality;  (2)  the  training  course  relates to an
         occupation or skill for  which  there  are,  or  are
         expected  to  be in the immediate future, reasonable
         work opportunities in his locality; (3) the training
         course  is  offered  by  a  competent  and  reliable
         agency, educational institution, or employing  unit;
         (4)  the  individual has the required qualifications
         and aptitudes to complete the  course  successfully;
         and  (5)  the individual is not receiving and is not
         eligible (other than because he has claimed benefits
         under this Act) for subsistence payments or  similar
         assistance  under  any  public or private retraining
         program:  Provided,  that  the  Director  shall  not
         disapprove  such  course  solely by reason of clause
         (5) if the subsistence payment or similar assistance
         is subject to reduction by an amount  equal  to  any
         benefits payable to the individual under this Act in
         the  absence  of  the  clause.  In the event that an
         individual's   weekly   unemployment    compensation
         benefit   is   less   than  his  certified  training
         allowance, that person shall be eligible to  receive
         his  entire unemployment compensation benefits, plus
         such supplemental  training  allowances  that  would
         make  an  applicant's total weekly benefit identical
         to the original certified training allowance.
              (b)  The Director shall have the  authority  to
         grant  approval  pursuant  to subparagraph (a) above
         prior to an individual's  formal  admission  into  a
         training  course. Requests for approval shall not be
         made more than 30 days prior to the actual  starting
         date  of  such course. Requests shall be made at the
         appropriate unemployment office. Notwithstanding any
         other provision to the contrary, the Director  shall
         approve  a course for an individual if the course is
         provided to the individual under Title  III  of  the
         federal Job Training Partnership Act.
              (c)  The   Director   shall   for  purposes  of
         paragraph C have the authority to  issue  a  blanket
         approval  of  training programs implemented pursuant
         to the federal  Workforce  Investment  Act  of  1998
         Comprehensive  Employment  and  Training Act and the
         Job Training Partnership Act if  both  the  training
         program   and   the  criteria  for  an  individual's
         participation in such training meet the requirements
         of this paragraph C.
              (d)  Notwithstanding   the   requirements    of
         subparagraph   (a),  the  Director  shall  have  the
         authority to  issue  blanket  approval  of  training
         programs implemented under the terms of a collective
         bargaining agreement.
         6.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provisions  of this
    Act, an individual shall not be  deemed  unavailable  for
    work  or  to have failed actively to seek work, nor shall
    he  be  ineligible  for  benefits,  by  reason   of   the
    application of the provisions of Section 603 with respect
    to  any  week  because  he  is in training approved under
    Section 236 (a)(1) of the federal Trade Act of 1974,  nor
    shall  an individual be ineligible for benefits under the
    provisions of Section  601  by  reason  of  leaving  work
    voluntarily  to  enter  such training if the work left is
    not of a substantially equal or higher skill  level  than
    the  individual's  past  adversely affected employment as
    defined under the federal Trade Act of 1974 and the wages
    for such work are less than 80%  of  his  average  weekly
    wage as determined under the federal Trade Act of 1974.
    D.  If  his  benefit year begins prior to July 6, 1975 or
subsequent to January 2, 1982, he has been unemployed  for  a
waiting  period  of  1  week during such benefit year. If his
benefit year begins on or after July 6, l975,  but  prior  to
January 3, 1982, and his unemployment continues for more than
three  weeks  during  such benefit year, he shall be eligible
for benefits with respect to each week of such  unemployment,
including  the  first  week thereof.   An individual shall be
deemed to be unemployed within the meaning of this subsection
while  receiving  public  assistance  as   remuneration   for
services  performed on work projects financed from funds made
available to governmental agencies for such purpose.  No week
shall be counted as a week of unemployment for  the  purposes
of this subsection:
         1.  Unless  it  occurs within the benefit year which
    includes the week with respect to which he claims payment
    of benefits, provided that, for benefit  years  beginning
    prior  to  January  3,  1982,  this requirement shall not
    interrupt the payment of benefits for  consecutive  weeks
    of  unemployment;  and  provided  further  that  the week
    immediately preceding a benefit  year,  if  part  of  one
    uninterrupted period of unemployment which continues into
    such  benefit  year,  shall be deemed (for the purpose of
    this subsection only and with respect  to  benefit  years
    beginning  prior  to  January 3, 1982, only) to be within
    such benefit  year,  as  well  as  within  the  preceding
    benefit  year, if the unemployed individual would, except
    for the provisions of the first paragraph and paragraph 1
    of this subsection and of Section 605,  be  eligible  for
    and entitled to benefits for such week.
         2.  If benefits have been paid with respect thereto.
         3.  Unless  the individual was eligible for benefits
    with respect thereto except for the requirements of  this
    subsection and of Section 605.
    E.  With  respect  to any benefit year beginning prior to
January 3, 1982, he has been  paid  during  his  base  period
wages  for insured work not less than the amount specified in
Section 500E of this Act as amended and in effect on  October
5,  1980.  With  respect  to any benefit year beginning on or
after January 3, 1982, he  has  been  paid  during  his  base
period  wages for insured work equal to not less than $1,600,
provided that he has been paid wages for insured  work  equal
to  at  least  $440 during that part of his base period which
does not include the calendar quarter in which the wages paid
to him were highest.
    F.  During that week he has participated in  reemployment
services  to  which  he  has been referred, including but not
limited to job search  assistance  services,  pursuant  to  a
profiling  system  established  by  the  Director  by rule in
conformity with  Section  303(j)(1)  of  the  federal  Social
Security Act, unless the Director determines that:
         1.  the individual has completed such services; or
         2.  there  is  justifiable  cause for the claimant's
    failure to participate in such services.
    This subsection F is added by this amendatory Act of 1995
to clarify authority already provided under subsections A and
C in connection  with  the  unemployment  insurance  claimant
profiling  system  required  under  subsections  (a)(10)  and
(j)(1) of Section 303 of the federal Social Security Act as a
condition  of  federal  funding for the administration of the
Unemployment Insurance Act.
(Source: P.A. 89-21, eff. 6-6-95; 90-554, eff. 12-12-97.)

    (820 ILCS 405/703) (from Ch. 48, par. 453)
    Sec. 703. Reconsideration of findings or determinations.
    The claims adjudicator may reconsider his finding at  any
time  within  thirteen  weeks  after the close of the benefit
year. He may reconsider his determination at any time  within
one  year  after  the  last  day  of  the  week for which the
determination was made, except that if the issue  is  whether
or   not,  by  reason  of  a  back  pay  award  made  by  any
governmental agency or pursuant to  arbitration  proceedings,
or  by reason of a payment of wages wrongfully withheld by an
employing unit, an individual has received wages for  a  week
with  respect  to which he or she has received benefits or if
the issue is  whether  or  not  the  claimant  misstated  his
earnings for the week, such reconsidered determination may be
made at any time within 3 two years after the last day of the
week.  No  finding  or determination shall be reconsidered at
any time after appeal therefrom has been  taken  pursuant  to
the  provisions  of Section 800, except where a case has been
remanded to the claims adjudicator by a Referee, the Director
or the Board of Review, and except, further, that if an issue
as to whether or not the claimant misstated his  earnings  is
newly discovered, the determination may be reconsidered after
and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  decision upon the
appeal  has  become  final.  Notice  of   such   reconsidered
determination or reconsidered finding shall be promptly given
to   the   parties   entitled   to  notice  of  the  original
determination or finding, as the case may  be,  in  the  same
manner  as  is  prescribed  therefor,  and  such reconsidered
determination or reconsidered finding  shall  be  subject  to
appeal  in the same manner and shall be given the same effect
as is provided for an original determination or finding.
(Source: P.A. 77-1443.)
    Passed in the General Assembly May 23, 2001.
    Approved August 16, 2001.

[ Top ]