HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2992

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO THE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY LAW.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


SECTION 1.  Act 170, Session Laws of Hawaii 2009, is amended by amending section 4 to read as follows:

     "SECTION 4.  Section 383-29, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  An unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week only if the department finds that:

     (1)  The individual has made a claim for benefits with respect to that week in accordance with rules the department may prescribe and with section 383-29.7 for partially unemployed individuals;

     (2)  The individual has registered for work, as defined in section 383-1, and thereafter continued to report, at an employment office in accordance with rules the department may prescribe, except that the department, by rule, may waive or alter either or both of the requirements of this paragraph for partially unemployed individuals pursuant to section 383-29.8, individuals attached to regular jobs, and other types of cases or situations with respect to which it finds that compliance with those requirements would be oppressive, or would be inconsistent with the purpose of this chapter; provided that no rule shall conflict with section 383-21;

     (3)  The individual is able to work and is available for work; provided that no claimant shall be considered ineligible with respect to any week of unemployment for failure to comply with this paragraph if the failure is due to an illness or disability, as evidenced by a physician's certificate, which occurs during an uninterrupted period of unemployment with respect to which benefits are claimed and no work which would have been suitable prior to the beginning of the illness and disability has been offered the claimant;

     (4)  The individual has been unemployed for a waiting period of one week within the individual's benefit year.  No week shall be counted as a waiting period:

         (A)  If benefits have been paid with respect thereto;

         (B)  Unless the individual was eligible for benefits with respect thereto as provided in this section and section 383-30, except for the requirements of this paragraph;

     (5)  In the case of an individual whose benefit year begins:

         (A)  On or after January 2, 1966, but prior to October 1, 1989, the individual has had during the individual's base period a total of fourteen or more weeks of employment, as defined in section 383-1, and has been paid wages for insured work during the individual's base period in an amount equal to at least thirty times the individual's weekly benefit amount as determined under section 383-22(b).  For the purposes of this subparagraph, wages for insured work shall include wages paid for services:

              (i)  Which were not employment, as defined in section 383-2, or pursuant to an election under section 383-77 prior to January 1, 1978, at any time during the one-year period ending December 31, 1975; and

             (ii)  Which are agricultural labor, as defined in section 383-9 except service excluded under section [383-7(a)(1)], or are domestic service except service excluded under section [383-7(a)(2)]; except to the extent that assistance under Title II of the Emergency Jobs and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974 was paid on the basis of those services;

         (B)  On and after October 1, 1989, to January 4, 1992, the individual has been employed, as defined in section 383-2, and has been paid wages for insured work during the individual's base period in an amount equal to not less than thirty times the individual's weekly benefit amount, as determined under section 383-22(b), and the individual has been paid wages for insured work during at least two quarters of the individual's base period; provided that no otherwise eligible individual who established a prior benefit year under this chapter or the unemployment compensation law of any other state, shall be eligible to receive benefits in a succeeding benefit year until, during the period following the beginning of the prior benefit year, that individual worked in covered employment for which wages were paid in an amount equal to at least five times the weekly benefit amount established for that individual in the succeeding benefit year; and

         (C)  After January 4, 1992, the individual has been employed, as defined in section 383-2, and has been paid wages for insured work during the individual's base period in an amount equal to not less than twenty-six times the individual's weekly benefit amount, as determined under section 383-22(b), and the individual has been paid wages for insured work during at least two quarters of the individual's base period; provided that no otherwise eligible individual who established a prior benefit year under this chapter or the unemployment compensation law of any other state, shall be eligible to receive benefits in a succeeding benefit year until, during the period following the beginning of the prior benefit year, that individual worked in covered employment for which wages were paid in an amount equal to at least five times the weekly benefit amount established for that individual in the succeeding benefit year.

          For purposes of this paragraph, wages and weeks of employment shall be counted for benefit purposes with respect to any benefit year only if the benefit year begins subsequent to the dates on which the employing unit by which the wages or other remuneration, as provided in the definition of weeks of employment in section 383-1, were paid has satisfied the conditions of section 383-1 with respect to becoming an employer.

              Effective for benefit years beginning January 1, 2004, and thereafter, if an individual fails to establish a valid claim for unemployment insurance benefits under this paragraph, the department shall make a redetermination of entitlement based upon the alternative base period, as defined in section 383-1; provided further that the individual shall satisfy the conditions of section 383-29(a)(5) that apply to claims filed using the base period, as defined in section 383-1, and the establishment of claims using the alternative base period shall be subject to the terms and conditions of sections 383-33 and 383-94; [and]

     (6)  Effective November 24, 1994, an individual who has been referred to reemployment services pursuant to the profiling system under section 383-92.5 shall participate in those services or in similar services.  The individual may not be required to participate in reemployment services if the department determines the individual has completed those services, or there is justifiable cause for the claimant's failure to participate in those services[.] and

     (7)  The individual is able to volunteer and shall volunteer at least twenty hours of work at no wage or salary compensation to the claimant from an employer; provided that no claimant shall be considered ineligible with respect to any week of unemployment for failure to comply with this paragraph if the failure is due to an illness or disability, as evidenced by a physician's certificate, which occurs during an uninterrupted period of unemployment with respect to which benefits are claimed and no work which would have been suitable prior to the beginning of the illness and disability has been offered the claimant. 

          (A)  In order to meet the criteria of this subparagraph, an individual shall have an active registration for volunteering for work with an employment office in the local community in which the individual is seeking volunteering opportunities or, if prior to or within seven calendar days after applying for benefits or as instructed by the department, the individual registers at an employment office or such other place as the department may approve and completes registration procedures as authorized by the department.

          (B)  A person shall be deemed able to volunteer and volunteering within the meaning of this section if the individual is able and actually volunteers during the customary work week which falls within the week for which a claim is filed.

          (C)  A person may be considered able to volunteer and volunteering within the meaning of this section if:

              (i)  the individual makes a minimum of three volunteer search contacts each week, unless otherwise provided in this subparagraph; and

              (ii) the individual maintains a record of all volunteer search contacts and may be required to submit such record upon request by the department.

     If an individual is injured in the course of volunteering pursuant to subparagraph (7), reasonable hospital and medical expenses shall be provided pursuant to section 386-171.

     Volunteering for high-risk industries or occupations, such as window washers, explosives transporters, construction workers, or hazardous materials workers and volunteering for a position with an employer previously held by the individual or volunteering for a position created by an employer through laying off a current employee, displacement of current employees, reduction of work hours for current employees, or infringement on promotion of regular employees shall not be defined as "able to volunteer and shall volunteer" in subparagraph (7).

     Nothing in this section shall create an obligation or mandate for an employer to retain a volunteer under subparagraph (7) for any reason.  No civil or criminal cause of action shall arise from an employer choosing not to retain a volunteer.

     For the purposes of this subsection, employment and wages used to establish a benefit year shall not thereafter be reused to establish another benefit year."

     SECTION 2.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2010, provided that the amendments made to section 383-29 by section 1 of this Act shall not be repealed when section 383-29 is repealed and reenacted on July 1, 2012 by Act 170, Session Laws of Hawaii 2009, section 7.

 

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

 

 


 


 

Report Title:

Employment security

 

Description:

Provides criteria of volunteerism to qualification for unemployment benefits.

 

 

 

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