HB5042 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB095 15836 WGH 45465 b

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008
HB5042

Introduced , by Rep. William B. Black

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

820 ILCS 405/603

from Ch. 48, par. 433

Amends the Unemployment Insurance Act. Provides that if, after a layoff, an employer notifies an individual by letter of the employer's recall of the individual for suitable work, and the employee fails to respond within a reasonable time to the recall notice, the individual shall be deemed to have failed, without good cause, to have accepted suitable work for purposes of this Section. Provides that the fact that an individual did not receive the recall letter because the individual changed his or her address is not a defense if the individual did not notify the employer of the address change. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning employment.

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 Section 603 as follows:

(820 ILCS 405/603) (from Ch. 48, par. 433)

Sec. 603. Refusal of work. An individual shall be ineligible for benefits if he has failed, without good cause, either to apply for available, suitable work when so directed by the employment office or the Director, or to accept suitable work when offered him by the employment office or an employing unit, or to return to his customary self-employment (if any) when so directed by the employment office or the Director. Such ineligibility shall continue for the week in which such failure occurred and, thereafter, until he has become reemployed and has had earnings equal to or in excess of his current weekly benefit amount in each of four calendar weeks which are either for services in employment, or have been or will be reported pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act by each employing unit for which such services are performed and which submits a statement certifying to that fact.

If, after a layoff, an employer notifies an individual by letter of the employer's recall of the individual for suitable work, and the employee fails to respond within a reasonable time to the recall notice, the individual shall be deemed to have failed, without good cause, to have accepted suitable work for purposes of this Section. The fact that an individual did not receive the recall letter because the individual changed his or her address is not a defense if the individual did not notify the employer of the address change.

In determining whether or not any work is suitable for an individual, consideration shall be given to 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 prospects for securing local work in his customary occupation, and the distance of the available work from his residence.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, no work shall be deemed suitable and benefits shall not be denied under this Act to any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new work under any of the following conditions:

If the position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout, or other labor dispute; 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; 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; if the position offered is a transfer to other work offered to the individual by the employing unit under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement or pursuant to an established employer plan, program, or policy, when the acceptance of such other work by the individual would require the separation from that work of another individual currently performing it.

(Source: P.A. 82-22.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.