SCS/HCS/HB 2041 - Under current law, the director of the Division of Employment Security cooperates with the Commissioner of Education to establish procedures to provide grants to certain schools. They also provide annual lists of demand occupations in the state. This act replaces the director of the Division of Employment Security with the Director of Economic Development with respect to these duties. This act requires individuals to make a claim within 14 days from the last day of the week being claimed and report to an employment office to participate in a reemployment assessment and reemployment services in order to qualify for unemployment benefits unless these requirements are waived for good cause.
A Missouri resident who is a member of a reserve unit outside of Missouri may qualify as a war on terror veteran for the purposes of receiving veterans' unemployment compensation benefits.
Overpayment for veterans' unemployment compensation benefits shall be recovered through billing, setoffs against tax refunds, intercepts of lottery winnings, and other collection efforts authorized under Missouri law for the recovery of overpayment of regular unemployment compensation benefits.
The Department of Employment Security is exempted from notifying contributing base period employers of an initial claim if the employer paid the individual $400 or less in the individual's base period.
An employer is considered an interested party for the purposes of a separation issue when the claimant was separated from the employer during a week claimed.
The act stipulates when an employer is an interested party to a refusal of work when the refusal occurs other than at a time when the initial claim is filed or a claim is renewed. An employer is an interested party in an ability to work or an availability to work issue that arises during any week the claimant claims benefits.
The Department of Employment Security may deliver notices electronically upon a claimant's or employer's request.
This act prevents the disclosure of certain unemployment information except for disclosure required by federal or state law. Persons who intentionally disclose or fail to protect the confidentiality of the information is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. Second and subsequent offenses constitute Class D felonies.
Employers shall pay five one-hundredths of one percent of total taxable wages into the unemployment automation fund to be used to purchase automated systems to be used to administer the state's unemployment insurance program.
The Federal overtime standards in place before the passage of Proposition B (2006) are reinstated.
Employers are barred from requiring employees to have microchip implants.
The unemployment provisions have an effective date of October 1, 2008 and the provisions reinstating the overtime standards carry an emergency clause.
This act is similar to SB 901 (2008), SB 1241 (2008), SB 255 (2007), SB 249 (2007), SB 279 (2007), SB 782 (2008), SB 1007 (2008), HB 1424 (2008), HB 1439 (2008), HB 1883 (2008), and HB 1581 (2008).
CHRIS HOGERTY