97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
SB2543

 

Introduced 12/13/2011, by Sen. Kyle McCarter

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
820 ILCS 405/500  from Ch. 48, par. 420

    Amends the Unemployment Insurance Act. Provides that, with respect to any benefit year beginning on or after January 1, 2012, to be monetarily eligible for any benefits, a worker must have been paid wages of $4,290 or more in his or her base period by employers subject to the Unemployment Insurance Act and at least $2,145 of these wages must have been paid to him or her outside the calendar quarter in which he or she was paid the highest amount of wages.


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A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning employment.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by
5changing Section 500 as follows:
 
6    (820 ILCS 405/500)  (from Ch. 48, par. 420)
7    Sec. 500. Eligibility for benefits. An unemployed
8individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect
9to any week only if the Director finds that:
10    A. He has registered for work at and thereafter has
11continued to report at an employment office in accordance with
12such regulations as the Director may prescribe, except that the
13Director may, by regulation, waive or alter either or both of
14the requirements of this subsection as to individuals attached
15to regular jobs, and as to such other types of cases or
16situations with respect to which he finds that compliance with
17such requirements would be oppressive or inconsistent with the
18purposes of this Act, provided that no such regulation shall
19conflict with Section 400 of this Act.
20    B. He has made a claim for benefits with respect to such
21week in accordance with such regulations as the Director may
22prescribe.
23    C. He is able to work, and is available for work; provided

 

 

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1that during the period in question he was actively seeking work
2and he has certified such. Whenever requested to do so by the
3Director, the individual shall, in the manner the Director
4prescribes by regulation, inform the Department of the places
5at which he has sought work during the period in question.
6Nothing in this subsection shall limit the Director's approval
7of alternate methods of demonstrating an active search for work
8based on regular reporting to a trade union office.
9        1. If an otherwise eligible individual is unable to
10    work or is unavailable for work on any normal workday of
11    the week, he shall be eligible to receive benefits with
12    respect to such week reduced by one-fifth of his weekly
13    benefit amount for each day of such inability to work or
14    unavailability for work. For the purposes of this
15    paragraph, an individual who reports on a day subsequent to
16    his designated report day shall be deemed unavailable for
17    work on his report day if his failure to report on that day
18    is without good cause, and on each intervening day, if any,
19    on which his failure to report is without good cause. As
20    used in the preceding sentence, "report day" means the day
21    which has been designated for the individual to report to
22    file his claim for benefits with respect to any week. This
23    paragraph shall not be construed so as to effect any change
24    in the status of part-time workers as defined in Section
25    407.
26        2. An individual shall be considered to be unavailable

 

 

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1    for work on days listed as whole holidays in "An Act to
2    revise the law in relation to promissory notes, bonds, due
3    bills and other instruments in writing," approved March 18,
4    1874, as amended; on days which are holidays in his
5    religion or faith, and on days which are holidays according
6    to the custom of his trade or occupation, if his failure to
7    work on such day is a result of the holiday. In determining
8    the claimant's eligibility for benefits and the amount to
9    be paid him, with respect to the week in which such holiday
10    occurs, he shall have attributed to him as additional
11    earnings for that week an amount equal to one-fifth of his
12    weekly benefit amount for each normal work day on which he
13    does not work because of a holiday of the type above
14    enumerated.
15        3. An individual shall be deemed unavailable for work
16    if, after his separation from his most recent employing
17    unit, he has removed himself to and remains in a locality
18    where opportunities for work are substantially less
19    favorable than those in the locality he has left.
20        4. An individual shall be deemed unavailable for work
21    with respect to any week which occurs in a period when his
22    principal occupation is that of a student in attendance at,
23    or on vacation from, a public or private school.
24        5. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, an
25    individual shall not be deemed unavailable for work or to
26    have failed actively to seek work, nor shall he be

 

 

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1    ineligible for benefits by reason of the application of the
2    provisions of Section 603, with respect to any week,
3    because he is enrolled in and is in regular attendance at a
4    training course approved for him by the Director:
5            (a) but only if, with respect to that week, the
6        individual presents, upon request, to the claims
7        adjudicator referred to in Section 702 a statement
8        executed by a responsible person connected with the
9        training course, certifying that the individual was in
10        full-time attendance at such course during the week.
11        The Director may approve such course for an individual
12        only if he finds that (1) reasonable work opportunities
13        for which the individual is fitted by training and
14        experience do not exist in his locality; (2) the
15        training course relates to an occupation or skill for
16        which there are, or are expected to be in the immediate
17        future, reasonable work opportunities in his locality;
18        (3) the training course is offered by a competent and
19        reliable agency, educational institution, or employing
20        unit; (4) the individual has the required
21        qualifications and aptitudes to complete the course
22        successfully; and (5) the individual is not receiving
23        and is not eligible (other than because he has claimed
24        benefits under this Act) for subsistence payments or
25        similar assistance under any public or private
26        retraining program: Provided, that the Director shall

 

 

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1        not disapprove such course solely by reason of clause
2        (5) if the subsistence payment or similar assistance is
3        subject to reduction by an amount equal to any benefits
4        payable to the individual under this Act in the absence
5        of the clause. In the event that an individual's weekly
6        unemployment compensation benefit is less than his
7        certified training allowance, that person shall be
8        eligible to receive his entire unemployment
9        compensation benefits, plus such supplemental training
10        allowances that would make an applicant's total weekly
11        benefit identical to the original certified training
12        allowance.
13            (b) The Director shall have the authority to grant
14        approval pursuant to subparagraph (a) above prior to an
15        individual's formal admission into a training course.
16        Requests for approval shall not be made more than 30
17        days prior to the actual starting date of such course.
18        Requests shall be made at the appropriate unemployment
19        office.
20            (c) The Director shall for purposes of paragraph C
21        have the authority to issue a blanket approval of
22        training programs implemented pursuant to the federal
23        Workforce Investment Act of 1998 if both the training
24        program and the criteria for an individual's
25        participation in such training meet the requirements
26        of this paragraph C.

 

 

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1            (d) Notwithstanding the requirements of
2        subparagraph (a), the Director shall have the
3        authority to issue blanket approval of training
4        programs implemented under the terms of a collective
5        bargaining agreement.
6        6. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, an
7    individual shall not be deemed unavailable for work or to
8    have failed actively to seek work, nor shall he be
9    ineligible for benefits, by reason of the application of
10    the provisions of Section 603 with respect to any week
11    because he is in training approved under Section 236 (a)(1)
12    of the federal Trade Act of 1974, nor shall an individual
13    be ineligible for benefits under the provisions of Section
14    601 by reason of leaving work voluntarily to enter such
15    training if the work left is not of a substantially equal
16    or higher skill level than the individual's past adversely
17    affected employment as defined under the federal Trade Act
18    of 1974 and the wages for such work are less than 80% of
19    his average weekly wage as determined under the federal
20    Trade Act of 1974.
21    D. If his benefit year begins prior to July 6, 1975 or
22subsequent to January 2, 1982, he has been unemployed for a
23waiting period of 1 week during such benefit year. If his
24benefit year begins on or after July 6, l975, but prior to
25January 3, 1982, and his unemployment continues for more than
26three weeks during such benefit year, he shall be eligible for

 

 

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1benefits with respect to each week of such unemployment,
2including the first week thereof. An individual shall be deemed
3to be unemployed within the meaning of this subsection while
4receiving public assistance as remuneration for services
5performed on work projects financed from funds made available
6to governmental agencies for such purpose. No week shall be
7counted as a week of unemployment for the purposes of this
8subsection:
9        1. Unless it occurs within the benefit year which
10    includes the week with respect to which he claims payment
11    of benefits, provided that, for benefit years beginning
12    prior to January 3, 1982, this requirement shall not
13    interrupt the payment of benefits for consecutive weeks of
14    unemployment; and provided further that the week
15    immediately preceding a benefit year, if part of one
16    uninterrupted period of unemployment which continues into
17    such benefit year, shall be deemed (for the purpose of this
18    subsection only and with respect to benefit years beginning
19    prior to January 3, 1982, only) to be within such benefit
20    year, as well as within the preceding benefit year, if the
21    unemployed individual would, except for the provisions of
22    the first paragraph and paragraph 1 of this subsection and
23    of Section 605, be eligible for and entitled to benefits
24    for such week.
25        2. If benefits have been paid with respect thereto.
26        3. Unless the individual was eligible for benefits with

 

 

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1    respect thereto except for the requirements of this
2    subsection and of Section 605.
3    E. With respect to any benefit year beginning prior to
4January 3, 1982, he has been paid during his base period wages
5for insured work not less than the amount specified in Section
6500E of this Act as amended and in effect on October 5, 1980.
7With respect to any benefit year beginning on or after January
83, 1982 and before July 1, 2012, he has been paid during his
9base period wages for insured work equal to not less than
10$1,600, provided that he has been paid wages for insured work
11equal to at least $440 during that part of his base period
12which does not include the calendar quarter in which the wages
13paid to him were highest. With respect to any benefit year
14beginning on or after January 1, 2012, he or she has been paid
15during his or her base period wages for insured work equal to
16not less than $4,290, provided that he or she has been paid
17wages for insured work equal to at least $2,145 during that
18part of his or her base period which does not include the
19calendar quarter in which the wages paid to him or her were
20highest.
21    F. During that week he has participated in reemployment
22services to which he has been referred, including but not
23limited to job search assistance services, pursuant to a
24profiling system established by the Director by rule in
25conformity with Section 303(j)(1) of the federal Social
26Security Act, unless the Director determines that:

 

 

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1        1. the individual has completed such services; or
2        2. there is justifiable cause for the claimant's
3    failure to participate in such services.
4    This subsection F is added by this amendatory Act of 1995
5to clarify authority already provided under subsections A and C
6in connection with the unemployment insurance claimant
7profiling system required under subsections (a)(10) and (j)(1)
8of Section 303 of the federal Social Security Act as a
9condition of federal funding for the administration of the
10Unemployment Insurance Act.
11(Source: P.A. 92-396, eff. 1-1-02.)