LRB-4346/1

MED&EAW:cjs&cdc

2021 - 2022 LEGISLATURE

2021 Assembly BILL 938

January 31, 2022 - Introduced by Representatives Armstrong, Petryk, Penterman, August, Brandtjen, Cabral-Guevara, Callahan, Dittrich, Edming, James, Katsma, Kitchens, Knodl, Krug, Kuglitsch, Loudenbeck, Macco, Magnafici, Moses, Oldenburg, Petersen, Plumer, Schraa, Snyder, Sortwell, Steffen, Tittl, Tusler, Vorpagel, Wichgers, Zimmerman and Born, cosponsored by Senators Wimberger, Bernier, Darling, Felzkowski, Feyen, Marklein, Nass and Stroebel. Referred to Committee on Workforce Development.

AB938,1,10 An Act to renumber and amend 108.04 (2) (a) 4. and 108.04 (5) (e); to amend 16.54 (2) (a) 1., 108.04 (5) (b) and 108.14 (20); and to create 16.54 (14), 108.04 (2) (a) 4. d., 108.04 (5) (e) (intro.), 108.04 (5) (e) 2., 108.04 (5) (h), 108.14 (10m), 108.14 (23m), 108.14 (29) and 108.14 (30) of the statutes; relating to: various changes to the unemployment insurance law, requiring an audit to be conducted by the Legislative Audit Bureau, requiring approval by the Joint Committee on Finance of certain federally authorized unemployment benefits, and authorizing the secretary of administration to transfer employees from any executive branch agency to the Department of Workforce Development for certain purposes.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

Unemployment insurance

This bill makes various changes in the unemployment insurance (UI) law, which is administered by the Department of Workforce Development. Significant changes include all of the following:

Misconduct

Currently, if an employee is discharged for misconduct connected with his or her employment, the employee is ineligible to receive benefits until certain requalification criteria are satisfied. In addition, all wages earned with the employer that discharges the employee are excluded in determining the amount of any future benefits to which the employee is entitled. Current law provides a general definition of misconduct and also specifies a number of specific actions that constitute misconduct. This bill does all of the following with respect to what is considered misconduct:

1. Current law specifically provides that misconduct includes theft of an employer's property or services with intent to deprive the employer of the property or services permanently, theft of currency of any value, felonious conduct connected with an employee's employment with his or her employer, or intentional or negligent conduct by an employee that causes substantial damage to his or her employer's property. This bill:

a. Deletes the requirement that the employee have the intent to deprive the employer of the property or services permanently.

b. Provides that intentional or negligent conduct by an employee that causes the destruction of an employer's records is also considered misconduct.

c. Adds unauthorized possession of an employer's property, theft or unauthorized distribution of an employer's confidential or proprietary information, and use of an employer's credit card or other financial instrument for an unauthorized or nonbusiness purpose without prior approval from the employer to the list of what is considered misconduct.

2. Current law specifically provides that misconduct includes absenteeism by an employee on more than two occasions within the 120-day period before the date of the employee's termination, unless otherwise specified by his or her employer in an employment manual of which the employee has acknowledged receipt with his or her signature, or excessive tardiness by an employee in violation of a policy of the employer that has been communicated to the employee, if the employee does not provide to his or her employer both notice and one or more valid reasons for the absenteeism or tardiness.

This bill instead provides that misconduct includes both of the following: 1) a violation of an employer's reasonable policy that covers employee absenteeism, tardiness, or both and that results in an employee's termination, if that termination is in accordance with that policy and the policy is specified by the employer in an employment manual of which the employee has acknowledged receipt with his or her signature; and 2) if an employer does not have a policy covering absenteeism that meets the criteria just described, absenteeism on more than two occasions within the 120-day period preceding an employee's termination, if the employee does not provide to the employer both notice and one or more valid reasons for the absenteeism.

3. The bill specifically provides that misconduct includes a violation by an employee of an employer's reasonable employment policy that covers the use of social media specified by the employer in an employment manual of which the employee has acknowledged receipt with his or her signature.