ARTICLE 22 SUBSTITUTE A AS AMENDED
RELATING TO
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
SECTION 1. Section 28-44-6 of the General Laws in Chapter
28-44 entitled
“Employment Security –
Benefits” is hereby amended to read as follows:
28-44-6. Weekly
benefits for total unemployment – Year established – Dependents'
allowance. -- (a) The benefit rate payable
under this chapter to any eligible individual with
respect to any week of his or her total unemployment, when
that week occurs within a benefit
year, shall be, for benefit years beginning on or after
October 1, 1989, four and sixty-two
hundredths percent (4.62%) of the wages paid to the individual
in that calendar quarter of the
base period in which the individual's wages were highest;
(2) Provided, that the
benefit rate shall not be more than sixty-seven percent (67%) of the
average weekly wage paid to individuals in employment covered
by the Employment Security
Act for the preceding calendar year ending December
31. If the maximum weekly benefit rate is
not an exact multiple of one dollar ($1.00), then the
rate shall be rounded to the next lower
multiple of one dollar ($1.00).
(3) The average weekly
wage of individuals in covered employment shall be computed as
follows: On or before May 31 of each year, the total annual
wages paid to individuals in covered
employment for the preceding calendar year by all employers
shall be divided by the monthly
average number of individuals in covered employment during
that preceding calendar year, and
the quotient shall be divided by fifty-two (52). That
weekly benefit rates shall be effective
throughout benefit years beginning on or after July 1 of that
year and prior to July 1, of the
succeeding calendar year.
(4) The benefit rate of
any individual, if not an exact multiple of one dollar ($1.00), shall
be rounded to the next lower multiple of one dollar
($1.00).
(b) An individual to
whom benefits for total or partial unemployment are payable under
this chapter with respect to any week shall, in addition
to those benefits, be paid with respect to
each week a dependents' allowance of ten dollars
($10.00) fifteen dollars ($15.00) or five percent
(5%) of the individual's benefit rate whichever is
greater for each of that individual's children,
including adopted and stepchildren, or that individual's court
appointed wards who, at the
beginning of the individual's benefit year, is under eighteen
(18) years of age, and who is at that
time in fact dependent on that individual, including
individuals who have been appointed the
legal guardian of such child by the appropriate court. The
total dependents’ allowance paid to any
individual shall not exceed the greater of fifty dollars ($50)
or twenty-five percent (25%) of the
individual's benefit rate. Notwithstanding the above, the total
amount of the dependents’
allowance paid to individuals receiving partial unemployment
benefits for any week shall be
based on the percentage that their partial weekly benefit
rate is compared to their full weekly
benefit rate.
(2) The dependent's
allowance shall also be paid to the individual for any child, including
an adopted child or a stepchild, eighteen (18) years of
age or over, incapable of earning any
wages because of mental or physical incapacity, and who is
dependent on that individual in fact at
the beginning of the individual's benefit year.
(3) In no instance shall
the number of dependents for which an individual may receive
dependents' allowances exceed five (5) in total.
(4) The weekly total of
dependents' allowances payable to any individual, if not an exact
multiple of one dollar ($1.00), shall be rounded to the next
lower multiple of one dollar ($1.00).
(5) The number of an
individual's dependents, and the fact of their dependency, shall be
determined as of the beginning of that individual's benefit
year. Only one individual shall be
entitled to a dependent's allowance for the same dependent
with respect to any week. As to two
(2) or more parties making
claim for an allowance for the same dependent for the same week, the
benefit shall be provided to the party who has actual custody
of the dependent or in the case of
joint custody, to the party who has physical possession of
the dependent.
(6) Each individual who
claims a dependent's allowance shall establish his or her claim to
it to the satisfaction of the director under procedures
established by the director.
(7) This subsection shall
be effective for all benefit years beginning on or after July 1,
1985 January 1, 2011.
SECTION 2. Section 28-44-17 of the General Laws in Chapter
28-44 entitled
“Employment Security –
Benefits” is hereby amended to read as follows:
28-44-17. Voluntary leaving without good cause. -- (a) An individual who leaves work
voluntarily without good cause shall be ineligible for waiting
period credit or benefits for the
week in which the voluntary quit occurred and until he or
she establishes to the satisfaction of the
director that he or she has subsequent to that leaving had at
least eight (8) weeks of work, and in
each of those eight (8) weeks has had earnings of at least
twenty (20) times the minimum hourly
wage as defined in chapter 12 of this title for performing
services in employment for one or more
employers subject to chapters 42 – 44 of this title. For the
purposes of this section, "voluntarily
leaving work with good cause" shall include:
(1) sexual harassment against members of either sex;
(2) voluntarily leaving work with an employer to accompany, join
or follow his or her
spouse to a place, due to a change in location of the
spouse’s employment, from which it is
impractical for such individual to commute; and
(3) the need to take care for a member of the individual’s
immediate family due to illness
or disability as defined by the Secretary of Labor;
provided that the individual shall not be
eligible for waiting period credit or benefits until he or she
is able to work and is available for
work. For the purposes of this provision, the following
terms apply:
(i)
“immediate family member” means a spouse, parents,
mother-in-law, father-in-law
and children under the age of eighteen (18);
(ii) “illness” means a verified illness which necessitates the
care of the ill person for a
period of time longer than the employer is willing to grant
leave, paid or otherwise; and
(iii) “disability” means all types of verified disabilities,
including mental and physical
disabilities, permanent and temporary disabilities, and partial
and total disabilities.
(b) For the
purposes of this section, "voluntarily leaving work without good
cause" shall
include voluntarily leaving work with an employer to accompany,
join or follow his or her spouse
in a new locality in connection with the retirement of
his or her spouse, or failure by a temporary
employee to contact the temporary help agency upon completion
of the most recent work
assignment to seek additional work unless good cause is shown
for that failure; provided, that the
temporary help agency gave written notice to the individual
that the individual is required to
contact the temporary help agency at the completion of the
most recent work assignment to seek
additional work.
SECTION 3. Sections 28-43-8 and 28-43-8.5 of the
General Laws in Chapter 28-43
entitled "Employment Security - Contributions" are
hereby amended to read as follows:
28-43-8.
Experience rates -- Tables. -- (a) (1) Whenever, as of September 30,
1987, or
any subsequent computation date, the amount in the
employment security fund available for
benefits is six and four tenths percent (6.4%) or more of
total payrolls as determined in section
28-43-1(9), an experience rate for each eligible
employer for the immediately following calendar
year shall be determined in accordance with schedule A in
this subsection.
(2) Whenever, as of
September 30, 1987, or any subsequent computation date, the
amount in the employment security fund available for
benefits is six and one-tenth percent (6.1%)
but less than six and four-tenths (6.4%) of total
payrolls as determined in section 28-43-1(9), an
experience rate for each eligible employer for the immediately
following calendar year shall be
determined in accordance with schedule B in this subsection.
(3) Whenever, as of
September 30, 1987, or any subsequent computation date the
amount in the employment security fund available for
benefits is five and eight-tenths percent
(5.8%) but less than six and one-tenth (6.1%) of total
payrolls as determined in section 28-43-
1(9), an experience rate for each eligible employer
for the immediately following calendar year
shall be determined in accordance with schedule C in this
subsection.
(4) Whenever, as of
September 30, 1987, or any subsequent computation date the
amount in the employment security fund available for
benefits is five and three-tenths percent
(5.3%) but less than five and eight-tenths (5.8%) of total
payrolls as determined in section 28-43-
1(9), an experience rate for each eligible employer
for the immediately following calendar year
shall be determined in accordance with schedule D in this
subsection.
(5) Whenever, as of
September 30, 1987, or any subsequent computation date the
amount in the employment security fund available for
benefits is four and seven-tenths percent
(4.7%) but less than five and three-tenths (5.3%) of
total payrolls as determined in section 28-43-
1(9), an experience rate for each eligible employer
for the immediately following calendar year
shall be determined in accordance with schedule E in this
subsection.
(6) Whenever, as of
September 30, 1987, or any subsequent computation date the
amount in the employment security fund available for
benefits is three and six-tenths percent
(3.6%) but less than four and seven-tenths (4.7%) of
total payrolls as determined in section 28-
43-1(9), an experience rate for each eligible employer
for the immediately following calendar
year shall be determined in accordance with schedule F in
this subsection.
(7) Whenever, as of
September 30, 1987, or any subsequent computation date the
amount in the employment security fund available for
benefits is three percent (3%) but less than
three and six-tenths (3.6%) of total payrolls as determined
in section 28-43-1(9), an experience
rate for each eligible employer for the immediately
following calendar year shall be determined in
accordance with schedule G in this subsection.
(8) Whenever, as of
September 30, 1987, or any subsequent computation date the
amount in the employment security fund available for
benefits is two and seventy five hundredths
percent (2.75%) but less than 3 percent (3%) of total
payrolls as determined in section 28-43-1(9),
an experience rate for each eligible employer for the
immediately following calendar year shall be
determined in accordance with schedule H in this subsection.
(9) Whenever, as of
September 30, 1987, or any subsequent computation date the
amount in the employment security fund available for
benefits is less than two and seventy five
hundredths percent (2.75%) of total payrolls as determined in
section 28-43-1(9), an experience
rate for each eligible employer for the immediately
following calendar year shall be determined in
accordance with schedule I in this subsection.
(10) Whenever the
amount in the employment security fund available for benefits, net of
obligations owed to the federal government, is less than zero at
the end of the second month in
any calendar quarter, every employer subject to the
contribution provisions of this chapter shall
be required to pay a surtax of three-tenths of one
percent (.3%) of the individual employer's
taxable wages for the calendar quarter, in addition to any
other contribution which the employer
is required to make under any other provision of this
chapter; provided, however, that this surtax
shall not be imposed during any quarter of calendar years
2009 and 2010 during which the
interest on federal Title XII advances under section 1201 of
the Social Security Act has been
waived.
(b) The contribution
rate for each employer for a given calendar year shall be determined
and the employer notified of it not later than April 1
next succeeding each computation date. That
determination shall be binding unless an appeal is taken in
accordance with provisions of section
28-43-13.
28-43-8.5.
Job development assessment. -- For the tax year 2001
2011 and subsequent
tax years each employer subject to this chapter shall be
required to pay a job development
assessment of twenty-one hundredths of one percent (0.21%)
fifty-one hundredths of one percent
(0.51%) of
that employer's taxable payroll, in addition to any other payment which that
employer
is required to make under any other provision of this
chapter; provided, that the assessment shall
not be considered as part of the individual employer's
contribution rate for the purpose of
determining the individual employer's balancing charge pursuant
to section 28-43-9. The tax rate
for all employers subject to the contribution provisions
of chapters 42 -- 44 of this title shall be
reduced by twenty-one hundredths of one percent (0.21%).
SECTION 4. Section 28-42-84 of the General Laws in Chapter
28-42 entitled
"Employment Security -
General Provisions" is hereby amended to read as follows:
28-42-84. Job
development fund -- Disbursements -- Unexpended balance. -- (a) The
moneys in the job development fund shall be used for the
following purposes:
(1) To reimburse the
department of labor and training for the loss of any federal funds
resulting from the collection and maintenance of the fund by
the department;
(2) To make refunds of
contributions erroneously collected and deposited in the fund;
(3) To pay any
administrative expenses incurred by the department of labor and training
associated with the collection of the contributions for
employers paid pursuant to section 28-43-
8.5, and any other administrative expenses associated
with the maintenance of the fund, including
the payment of all premiums upon bonds required pursuant
to section 28-42-85;
(4) To provide for job
training, counseling and assessment services, and other related
activities and services. Services will include, but are not
limited to, research, development,
coordination, and training activities to promote workforce
development and business
development as established by the human resource investment
council;
(5) To support the
state's job training for economic development; and
(6) (i) Beginning January 1, 2001,
two hundredths of one percent (0.02%) out of the
twenty-one hundredths of one percent (0.21%) job development
assessment paid pursuant to
section 28-43-8.5 shall be used to support necessary core
services in the unemployment insurance
and employment services programs operated by the
department of labor and training.; and
(ii) Beginning
January 1, 2011, two hundredths of one percent (0.02%) out of the fifty-
one hundredths of one percent (0.51%) job development
assessment paid pursuant to section 28-
43-8.5 shall be used to support necessary core
services in the unemployment insurance and
employment services programs operated by the department of labor
and training; and
(7) Beginning January
1, 2011, three tenths of one percent (0.3%) out of the fifty-one
hundredths of one percent (0.51%) job development assessment
paid pursuant to section 28-
43.8.5 shall be deposited
into a restricted receipt account to be used solely to pay the principal
and/or interest due on Title XII advances received from the
federal government in accordance
with the provisions of Section 1201 of the Social Security
Act; provided, however, that if the
federal Title XII loans are repaid through a state revenue
bond or other financing mechanism,
then these funds may also be used to pay the principal
and/or interest that accrues on that debt.
(b) The general
treasurer shall pay all vouchers duly drawn by the council upon the fund,
in any amounts and in any manner that the council may
prescribe. Vouchers so drawn upon the
fund shall be referred to the controller within the department
of administration. Upon receipt of
those vouchers, the controller shall immediately record and
sign them and shall promptly transfer
those signed vouchers to the general treasurer. Those
expenditures shall be used solely for the
purposes specified in this section and its balance shall not
lapse at any time but shall remain
continuously available for expenditures consistent with this
section. The general assembly shall
annually appropriate the funds contained in the fund for the
use of the human resource investment
council and, in addition, for the use of the department of
labor and training effective July 1,
2000., and for the payment of the principal
and interest due on federal Title XII loans beginning
July 1, 2011; provided, however, that if the federal
Title XII loans are repaid through a state
revenue bond or other financing mechanism, then the funds may
also be used to pay the principal
and/or interest that accrues on that debt.
SECTION 5. Sections 1 and 2 of this Article shall take
effect on January 1, 2011, and
Sections 3 and 4 shall take
effect on July 1, 2010.