South Carolina General Assembly
119th Session, 2011-2012

Download This Version in Microsoft Word format

Bill 1125

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter


(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT AMENDED AND ADOPTED

March 28, 2012

S. 1125

Introduced by Senators Bright, Bryant, S. Martin, Thomas, Gregory, Knotts, Campbell, Rose, Cromer, Fair, Campsen, Grooms and Peeler

S. Printed 3/28/12--S.

Read the first time January 24, 2012.

            

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTION 41-35-120 OF THE 1976 CODE, RELATING TO DISQUALIFICATION FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS, TO PROVIDE THAT A PERSON DISCHARGED FROM EMPLOYMENT FOR CAUSE IS INELIGIBLE FOR BENEFITS FOR TWENTY WEEKS BEGINNING WITH THE DATE THE PERSON FILED A BENEFITS REQUEST.

Amend Title To Conform

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

SECTION    1.    Section 41-35-120(2) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"(2)    Discharge for cause misconduct connected with the employment. If the department finds that he has been discharged for cause misconduct connected with his most recent work prior to filing a request for determination of insured status or a request for initiation of a claim series within an established benefit year, with ineligibility beginning with the effective date of the 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 must be determined by the department in each case according to the seriousness of the cause for discharge. A charge finding of discharge for cause connected with the employment misconduct may not be made for failure to meet production requirements unless the failure is occasioned by wilful failure or neglect of duty discharge resulting from circumstances related to an extreme hardship, emergency, sickness, or other extraordinary circumstance. 'Cause connected with the employment' as used in this item requires more than a failure in good performance of the employee as the result of inability or incapacity. For the purposes of this item, 'misconduct' is limited to conduct evincing such wilfull and wanton disregard of an employer's interests as is found in deliberate violations or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of his employee, or in the carelessness or negligence of such degree or recurrence as to manifest equal culpability, wrongful intent, or evil design, or to show an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer's interest or of the employee's duties and obligations to his employer. However, mere inefficiency, unsatisfactory conduct, failure in good performance as the result of inability or incapacity, inadvertencies, or ordinary negligence in isolated instances, or good-faith errors in judgment or discretion are not misconduct for the purposes of this item."

SECTION    2.    Section 41-35-130 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:

"(M)(1)    For the purposes of this subsection, 'most recent bona fide employer' means the work or employer from which an individual was discharged regardless of work subsequent to his discharge in which he earned less than eight times his weekly benefit amount.

(2)    A benefit paid to a claimant must not be charged against the account of an employer if the department determines that the claimant's most recent bona fide employer discharged him for misconduct connected with his employment."

SECTION    3.    Section 41-41-40 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding a new subsection to read:

"(D)    Upon the determination of fraudulent overpayments by the department, an employer from whose account the overpayment was debited must be credited for the amount of the overpayment regardless of the outcome of the action for recoupment or recovery of the overpayment."

SECTION    4.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on March 28, 2012 at 4:41 PM