AB1156,,116 (4) Amount of benefits. (a) For the purposes of this subsection, average weekly earnings shall be calculated as set forth in s. 102.11 (1). Subject to pars. (b) and (c), the amount of family or medical leave insurance benefits for a week of leave for which those benefits are payable is as follows:

AB1156,,117 1. For the amount of the covered individual’s average weekly earnings that are up to 50 percent of the state average weekly earnings as determined under s. 108.05, 90 percent of that individual’s average weekly earnings.

AB1156,,118 2. For the amount of the covered individual’s average weekly earnings that are more than 50 percent of the state average weekly earnings as determined under s. 108.05, 50 percent of that individual’s average weekly earnings.

AB1156,,119 (b) The amount of family or medical leave insurance benefits for a fractional week of leave for which those benefits are payable is one-seventh of the covered individual’s weekly benefit amount under par. (a), multiplied by the number of days of leave taken that week. Family or medical leave insurance benefits are not payable for a period of leave of less than one day in duration.

AB1156,,120 (c) The maximum weekly benefit amount of a covered individual’s family or medical leave insurance benefits is the state average weekly earnings, as determined under s. 108.05. The department shall annually have the maximum amount of the weekly benefit published in the Wisconsin Administrative Register.

AB1156,,121 (d) Subject to the maximum amount provided under this subsection, the benefit amount for a covered individual shall be based on the proportion of the covered individual’s typical workweek spent at the employment from which the covered individual is taking family or medical leave. A covered individual who has more than one employer and who is receiving benefits based on the individual’s employment with one employer may continue to work and receive pay from another employer.

AB1156,,122 (5) Duration of benefits. (a) The maximum number of weeks for which family or medical leave insurance benefits are payable in an application year is 12 weeks for any leave specified under ss. 103.10 (3) (b) 1. to 8 and 103.11 and 14 weeks for any combination of leave specified under ss. 103.10 (3) and (4) and 103.11. A covered individual may be paid family or medical leave insurance benefits continuously or, at the option of the covered individual, intermittently.

AB1156,,123 (b) Family or medical leave insurance benefits are payable beginning on the first day that a covered individual takes family or medical leave. The first payment of family or medical leave insurance benefits shall be made no later than one week after a covered individual files a claim for those benefits or within one week of the first day the claim is approved, whichever is later. Subsequent payments shall be made no less often than semimonthly.

AB1156,,124 (6) Employer-provided benefits. (a) Nothing in this section prohibits an employer from providing employees with rights to family or medical leave insurance benefits that are more generous to the employee than the benefits provided under this section. Except as provided in par. (b), no employer may require an employee to use or exhaust paid leave or other benefits provided by an employer before or while receiving benefits under this section. An employee may use any accrued paid leave benefits while receiving benefits under this section, unless the aggregate amount of money would exceed the employee’s average weekly earnings.

AB1156,,125 (b) An employer may require that benefits paid under this section be coordinated with payments under the terms of a short-term disability policy, a stand-alone bank of paid leave designated solely for family or medical leave, or under a collective bargaining agreement or employer policy. An employer shall provide employees with written notice of this requirement.

AB1156,,126 (7) Position upon return from leave. (a) When an employee who receives benefits under this section returns from family leave or medical leave, the employee’s employer shall follow the procedures set forth in s. 103.10 (8) to place the employee in a position with the employer.

AB1156,,127 (b) No employer may, because an employee received family or medical leave insurance benefits, reduce or deny an employment benefit that accrued to the employee before the employee’s leave began or, consistent with s. 103.10 (8), accrued after the employee’s leave began.

AB1156,,128 (8) Tax treatment of benefits. With respect to the federal income taxation of family or medical leave insurance benefits, the department shall do all of the following:

AB1156,,129 (a) Request an opinion from the internal revenue service on the taxability of the benefits under federal law.

AB1156,,130 (b) At the time a covered individual files a claim for those benefits, advise the individual that those benefits may be subject to federal income taxation, that requirements exist under federal law pertaining to estimated tax payments, and that the individual may elect to have federal income taxes withheld from the individual’s benefit payments and may change that election not more than one time in an application year.

AB1156,,131 (c) Allow the covered individual to elect to have federal income tax deducted and withheld from the individual’s benefit payments, allow the individual to change that election not more than one time in an application year, and deduct and withhold that tax in accordance with the individual’s election as provided under 26 USC 3402.

AB1156,,132 (d) Upon making a deduction under par. (c), transfer the amount deducted from the family and medical leave insurance trust fund to the federal internal revenue service.

AB1156,,133 (e) In deducting and withholding federal income taxes from a covered individual’s benefit payments, follow all procedures specified by the federal internal revenue service pertaining to the deducting and withholding of federal income tax.

AB1156,,134 (9) Family and medical leave insurance trust fund. (a) The department shall determine the amount of the required contribution by each employee, self-employed individual who elects coverage under sub. (2), and each employer. The required contribution shall be based on the employee’s wages or the self-employed individual’s earnings. Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the required contribution for an employee shall be equally shared between each employee and the employee’s employer. For an employer with 50 or fewer employees, the department shall establish tiers of reduced contribution rates based on the number of the employer’s employees. No employer contribution is required from self-employed individuals, and such individuals shall be required to pay only one-half of the required contribution.

AB1156,,135 (b) Each employer shall withhold from the wages of its employees the amount determined by the department under this subsection.

AB1156,,136 (c) The department shall collect the contributions withheld by employers and employer-required contributions under par. (a) in the same manner as the department collects contributions to the unemployment reserve fund under s. 108.17. Section 108.10 applies to issues regarding liability of employers for contributions under this subsection.

AB1156,,137 (d) The department shall collect contributions from self-employed individuals pursuant to procedures established by the department under sub. (13) (b).

AB1156,,138 (e) The department shall deposit contributions received under this subsection into the family and medical leave insurance trust fund and credit them to the appropriation account under s. 20.445 (1) (w).

AB1156,,139 (f) The department shall use moneys deposited into the family and medical leave insurance trust fund to pay benefits under sub. (3) and to pay for the administration of the family and medical leave insurance program under this section and for no other purpose.

AB1156,,140 (10) Denial of claims; overpayments. (a) A covered individual whose claim for family or medical leave insurance benefits is denied by the department, or who believes that benefits approved under this section are less than what the individual is entitled to receive, may request a hearing on the denial or approved benefits, and the department shall process the request for a hearing in the same manner that requests for hearings on unemployment insurance claims are processed under s. 108.09.

AB1156,,141 (b) If the department pays family or medical leave insurance benefits erroneously or as a result of willful misrepresentation, the department may seek repayment of those benefits in the same manner that the department recovers erroneous payments of unemployment insurance benefits under ss. 108.095, 108.22 (8), and 108.225. The department may waive recovery of an erroneous payment of family or medical leave insurance benefits if the erroneous payment was not the fault of the individual who received it and if requiring repayment would be contrary to equity and good conscience. If an individual willfully makes a false statement or representation, or willfully fails to disclose a material fact, to obtain family or medical leave insurance benefits under this section, the department may determine that the individual is disqualified from receiving those benefits for up to one year after the date of the disqualification.

AB1156,,142 (11) Prohibited acts. (a) No person may interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of any right provided under this section.

AB1156,,143 (b) No person may discharge or otherwise discriminate or retaliate against any person for exercising any right provided under this section, opposing a practice prohibited under this section, filing a complaint or attempting to enforce any right provided under this section, or testifying or assisting in any action or proceeding to enforce any right provided under this section.

AB1156,,144 (c) No collective bargaining agreement or employer policy may diminish or abridge an employee’s rights under this section, including any policy regarding employee absences. Any agreement purporting to waive or modify an employee’s rights under this section is void as against public policy and unenforceable.