Bill 2809

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               2809
Ratification Number:       404
Act Number                 340
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Relating to exempted employment under the
                           employment security law

(A340, R404, H2809)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 41-27-260, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO EXEMPTED EMPLOYMENT UNDER THE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY LAW, SO AS TO EXEMPT CERTAIN "AGRICULTURAL LABOR"; TO AMEND SECTION 41-27-310, RELATING TO THE DEFINITION OF AN INSURED WORKER FOR PURPOSES OF UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BENEFITS, SO AS TO REVISE SUCH DEFINITION; TO AMEND SECTION 41-35-110, RELATING TO THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH AN INSURED WORKER SHALL BE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BENEFITS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT AN INSURED WORKER SHALL BE ENTITLED TO SUCH BENEFITS IF HE IS SEPARATED, THROUGH NO FAULT OF HIS OWN, FROM HIS MOST RECENT BONA FIDE EMPLOYER AND TO DEFINE THE TERM MOST RECENT BONA FIDE EMPLOYER; AND TO AMEND SECTION 41-36-120, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE GROUNDS FOR WHICH AN INSURED WORKER SHALL BE INELIGIBLE FOR SUCH BENEFITS, SO AS TO REVISE THE TERMS OF THE GROUND "DICHARGE FOR MISCONDUCT", TO DEFINE THE TERM "MISCONDUCT", AND TO REVISE THE TERMS OF THE GROUND "FAILURE TO ACCEPT WORK".

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Definition of insured worker

Section 1. Section 41-27-310 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 41-27-310. An 'insured worker' is an individual who has been paid wages in his base period for insured work equal to or exceeding one and one-half times the total of his wages paid in the quarter of such base period in which his wages for insured work were highest; provided, however, that no individual shall qualify as an insured worker unless he has been paid at least nine hundred dollars in his base period for insured work and five hundred forty dollars in that quarter of his base period in which such wages were highest."

Definition--"recent bona fide employer"

Section 2. Section 41-35-110 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"(5) Claimant is separated, through no fault of his own, from his most recent bona fide employer; provided, however, the term 'most recent bona fide employer' shall mean the work or employer from which the individual separated regardless of any work subsequent to his separation in which he earned less than eight times his weekly benefit amount ;".

Eligibility for workers' compensation benefits

Section 3. Subsection (2) of Section 41-35-120 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"(2) Discharge for misconduct.--If the Commission finds that he has been discharged for misconduct connected with his most recent work prior to filing a request œor determination of insured status or a request for initiation of a claim series within an established benefit year, with such ineligibility beginning with the effective date of such request, and continuing not less than five nor more than the next twenty-six weeks (in addition to the waiting period) with a corresponding and mandatory reduction of the insured worker's benefits to be calculated by multiplying his weekly benefit amount by the number of weeks of his disqualification. The ineligibility period shall be determined by the Commission in each case according to the seriousness of the misconduct. Provided, no charge or misconduct shall be made for failure to meet production requirements unless such failure is occasioned by wilful failure or neglect of duty. The term 'misconduct' as used herein shall require more than a failure in good performance of the employee as the result of inability or incapacity."

Grounds for insured worker to be ineligible for benefits

Section 4. Subsection (3) of Section 41-35-120 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"(3) Failure to accept work.--(a) If the Commission finds that he has failed, without good cause, (i) either to apply for available suitable work, when so directed by the employment office or the Commission, (ii) to accept available suitable work when offered to him by the employment office or an employer or (iii) to return to his customary self-employment (if any) when so directed by the Commission, such ineligibility shall begin with the week such failure occurred and shall continue until he has secured employment and shows to the satisfaction of the Commission that he has performed services in employment as defined in Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title and earned wages for such services equal to at least eight times his weekly benefit amount of his claim.

(b) In determining whether or not any work is suitable for an individual, the Commission shall consider, based on a standard of reasonableness as it relates to the particular individual concerned, the degree of risk involved to his health, safety and morals, his physical fitness and prior training, his experience and prior earnings, his length of unemployment and prospects for securing local work in his customary occupation and the distance of the available work from his residence.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provisions of Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title, no work shall be deemed suitable and benefits shall not be denied under such chapters to any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new work under any of the following conditions: (i) If the position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout or other labor dispute, (ii) if the wages, hours or other conditions of the work offered are substantially less favorable to the individual than those prevailing for similar work in the locality or (iii) if as a condition of being employed the individual would be required to join a company union or to resign from or refrain from joining any bona fide labor organization.

(d) Notwithstanding any other provisions of Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title, no otherwise eligible individual shall be denied benefits for any week for failure to apply for, or refusal to accept, suitable work because he is in training with the approval of the Commission."

Definition--Agricultural labor

Section 5. Section 41-27-260 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 108 of 1981, is further amended by adding a new item which shall read:

"(16) 'Agricultural labor' as such term is defined by Section 41-27-120 when performed by students who are enrolled and regularly attending classes for at least five months during a particular year at a secondary school or at an accredited college, university, or technical school and also when performed by part-time persons who do not qualify as students hereunder but who at the conclusion of their agricultural labor would not qualify for any benefits under the provisions of the South Carolina Employment Security Law."

Time effective

Section 6. This act shall take effect upon the approval by the Governor.