HB 2362 -- Unemployment Compensation

Sponsor:  Jones (89)

This bill changes the laws regarding unemployment compensation.
In its main provisions, the bill:

(1)  Requires a claimant to make a claim for unemployment
compensation benefits within 14 days from the last day of the
week being claimed.  This time period can be extended to 28 days
for good cause, and claims under the Shared Work Unemployment
Compensation Program or the Federal Trade Act will be considered
timely if filed within 28 days from the last day of the week
being claimed;

(2)  Requires a claimant to report to an employment office to
participate in a re-employment assessment and re-employment
services as directed by the deputy of the claims office unless
the deputy determines that good cause exists for the claimant's
failure to participate;

(3)  Specifies that re-employment services include providing
orientation to employment services, job search assistance, and
labor market analysis;

(4)  Specifies that ineligibility to receive benefits begins the
first day of the week in which the claimant was scheduled to
appear for re-employment services and ends on the last day of the
week preceding the week the claimant reports to the employment
office for re-employment services;

(5)  Allows a Missouri resident who served in any state's
National Guard deployed as a part of his or her military unit
after September 11, 2001, to qualify as a war on terror veteran.
Currently, a resident has to have served in Missouri's National
Guard to qualify;

(6)  Requires the Division of Employment Security within the
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to recover any
overpayment of benefits to a war on terror veteran through
billing, setoffs against state and federal tax refunds,
intercepts of lottery winnings, and other collection efforts;

(7)  Relieves the division from its responsibility to notify by
mail any contributing base period employer of a worker's initial
claim for benefits if the employer paid gross wages of $400 or
less during the claimant's base period;

(8)  Specifies that a last employer or any base period employer
will be deemed an interested party to any determination
concerning a claimant's refusal to work if the employer files a
written protest against the allowance of benefits based upon the
claimant's refusal to accept suitable work within 10 days of the
refusal;

(9)  Specifies that any employer who employed the claimant during
the claimant's base period who files a protest against the
allowance of benefits based upon the claimant not being able to
work will be deemed an interested party in any determination of
benefits; and

(10)  Allows any notice of a claim or notice of determination to
be transmitted electronically by the division to an employer or
claimant if this method is requested.  The date of the
transmission will be considered the date mailed for the purpose
of filing a protest to the notice of claim or filing an appeal
concerning a notice of determination.

The bill becomes effective October 1, 2008.

Missouri House of Representatives
94th General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated October 15, 2008 at 3:12 pm