The proposed rules have no fiscal effect on state or local governments.
Agency contact person
Copy of the rules and submission of written comment
Elaine Pridgen
Office of Legal Counsel
Dept. of Workforce Development
P.O. Box 7946
Madison, WI 53707-7946
(608) 267-9403
fax: (608) 266-1784
elaine.pridgen@dwd.state.wi.us
Written comments on the proposed rules received at the above address, email, or fax no later than July 26, 2006, will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.
Notice of Hearing
Workforce Development
(Unemployment Insurance)
Hearing Information
July 25, 2006
|
MADISON
|
(Tuesday)
1:30 p.m.
|
G.E.F. 1 Building
Room H306
|
|
201 E. Washington Avenue
|
Interested persons are invited to appear at the hearings and will be afforded the opportunity to make an oral presentation of their positions. Persons making oral presentations are requested to submit their facts, views, and suggested rewording in writing.
Visitors to the GEF 1 building are requested to enter through the left East Washington Avenue door and register with the customer service desk. The entrance is accessible via a ramp from the corner of Webster Street and East Washington Avenue. If you have special needs or circumstances regarding communication or accessibility at the hearing, please call (608) 267-9403 at least 10 days prior to the hearing date. Accommodations such as ASL interpreters, English translators, or materials in audiotape format will be made available on request to the fullest extent possible.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Workforce Development
Explanation of agency authority. Section
108.08 (1), Stats., provides that to receive unemployment insurance benefits for any given week of employment, a claimant shall give notice to the department with respect to such week of unemployment within such time and in such manner as the department may by rule prescribe.
Section
108.06 (2) (bm), Stats., provides that an employee's benefit year begins on the Sunday of the week in which the employee files a valid request to establish a benefit year with the department, except that the department may permit an employee to begin a benefit year prior to that time under circumstances prescribed by rule of the department.
Section
108.06 (2) (d), Stats., provides that a claimant may request that the department set aside a benefit year by filing a written, verbal or electronic request in the manner that the department prescribes by rule. If the statutory criteria for set aside are not met, the department shall not set aside the benefit year unless the department defines by rule exceptional circumstances in which a claimant may be permitted to set aside a request to establish a benefit year and the claimant qualifies to make such a request under the circumstances described in the rule.
Section
108.14 (2), Stats., provides that the department may adopt and enforce all rules which it finds necessary or suitable to carry out Chapter
108, Stats., regarding unemployment insurance.
Summary of proposed rule
Initiating a claim. Section
108.08 (1), Stats., provides that to receive unemployment insurance benefits for any given week of unemployment, a claimant shall give notice to the department with respect to such week of unemployment within such time and such manner as the department may by rule prescribe. Section
DWD 129.01 (1) currently provides that a claimant is eligible only if, as of the first week being claimed, the claimant notifies the department in person, by telephone, or as otherwise prescribed by the department during that week or within 7 days after the close of that week, of the claimant's intent to initiate the claim. The proposed rules repeal the phrase “as of the first week being claimed." This clarifies that all claims can be backdated one week. The current language does not clearly state when a claim can be automatically backdated, which has resulted in the provision being applied inconsistently. The proposed rules also remove in-person as a specified option for filing an initial claim. It would still be an option under the “as otherwise prescribed" phrase. The proposed rules also add the option of filing via the Internet. Internet filing has been allowed since 2003 under the “as otherwise prescribed" language.
Continuing a claim. Section
DWD 129.01 (2) describes the requirements for continuing a claim by filing a weekly certification. The current rule provides that the claimant is eligible for benefits for any week only if the claimant files a weekly certification in the manner prescribed by the department within 14 days following the end of the week for which benefits are claimed. The 14-day deadline is extended to 19 days for claimants who claim through the interstate system.
The proposed rules are rewritten for clarity, specify the option of filing a weekly certification via the Internet, and repeal the extended 19-day deadline for interstate claims. Since the vast majority of claims are filed by telephone or Internet, extra time for interstate claims is not needed. In addition, the proposed rules repeal the requirement that the claimant contact the department to receive directions on how to proceed if neither a check nor a reason for not receiving a check is received within 7 days after submitting weekly claim. This language has no bearing on the payment of benefits.
Resuming a claim. If a weekly certification is not filed for a benefit week as described in s.
DWD 129.01 (2) on continuing a claim, the claim becomes inactive as of the first week after the last week in which a timely weekly certification could have been filed. The subsection on resuming a claim, s.
DWD 129.01 (3), currently provides that a claim may be resumed by filing the notice required for initiating a claim under s.
DWD 129.01 (1), except the deadline for resuming a claim is within 14 days after the close of the week falling between the week for which the untimely weekly certification was submitted and the week in which the claimant notifies the department. The proposed rules on resuming a claim are rewritten for clarity and repeal the provision that allows payment for the 14 days prior to a resumed claim so that all initial claim applications, including resuming a claim, have the same time limit, which is “within 7 days after the close of the first week being claimed."
Waiver for exceptional circumstances. Section
DWD 129.01 (4) lists criteria under which the department will waive the requirements for initiating a claim, continuing a claim, resuming a claim, or backdating a benefit year. The proposed rule adds the general criteria, “other exceptional circumstances over which the claimant has no control."
Set aside a benefit year. Section
108.06 (2) (d), Stats., provides that a claimant may request that the department set aside a benefit year by filing a written, verbal, or electronic request in the manner that the department prescribes by rule. The department shall grant the request and cancel the benefit year if the request is voluntary, benefits have not been paid to the claimant and at the time the department acts upon the request for that benefit year the claimant's benefit eligibility is not suspended. If the claimant does not meet these requirements, the department shall not set aside the benefit year unless the department defines by rule exceptional circumstances in which a claimant may be permitted to set aside a benefit year and the claimant qualifies to make such a request under the circumstances described in the rule.
The current s.
DWD 129.04 provides that the request to set aside a benefit year must be in writing and that the department has recovered, or has waived the recovery of, all benefits paid to the claimant for that benefit year or offsets this amount against benefits the claimant would otherwise be eligible to receive at the time the request to set aside a benefit year is made. If the statutory criteria for set aside are not met, the department may set aside the benefit year under other conditions. Other conditions include the following:
• The department terminates coverage of an employer previously subject to ch.
108, Stats., for whom the claimant performed services in the base period and the claimant could not have foreseen this termination of coverage.
• The department makes an error relating to the claimant's establishing of a benefit year;
• The wage data used by the department to establish the benefit year is erroneous.
• The claimant elects alternative filing because the claimant's benefit year was established in the last month of a calendar quarter and benefits were paid to the claimant prior to the department advising the claimant of the choice of alternative filing.
The proposed rules repeal the requirement that a request to set aside a benefit year be in writing and create new exceptional circumstances when set aside of a benefit year may be allowed. The new exceptional circumstances are as follows:
• The claimant's first payment in the benefit year was made after an additional initial claim was filed.
• The claimant is eligible to start a benefit year in another state.
• The cancellation of wage credits under s.
108.04 (5), Stats., reduces the claimant's maximum benefit amount to less than 5 times the weekly benefit rate.
• Other exceptional circumstances exist over which the claimant has no control that are related to establishing a benefit year.
Summary of factual data and analytical methodologies
The proposed rules are modernized to specify the Internet as a method for filing initial claims and weekly certifications. The proposed rules also remove the specified in-person filing option since initial claims are no longer routinely filed at local offices. It would still be an option under the “as otherwise prescribed" phrase. New exceptional circumstances are added to allow the set aside of a benefit year based on the department's experience with appropriate circumstances that have occurred with some frequency.
Comparison with federal law
There are no federal standards or regulations for unemployment insurance benefits regarding filing or notice requirements.
Comparison with rules in adjacent states
Minnesota. Applications for unemployment benefits are effective the Sunday of the calendar week in which the completed application is submitted. Applications and weekly certifications may be submitted by Internet, telephone, or mail. An account that has become inactive may be reactivated effective the Sunday of the calendar week in which the account was reactivated.
Iowa. An initial claim may be filed by telephone, in person, or by other means prescribed by the department. Claims are deemed filed as of Sunday of the week in which the claim is filed. A claimant must generally complete a voice response telephone claim to continue benefits. A request to set aside a benefit year must be in writing. Iowa lists numerous reasons to allow set aside of a benefit year. Reasons in common with Wisconsin include that a claimant could refile after the change of a calendar quarter to obtain an increase in the maximum benefit amount if the benefit year cancellation were allowed; if a claimant would receive more benefits from another state; or if a claimant received erroneous information from an employee of the department.
Michigan. The Michigan administrative rules provide that a claimant shall file an initial claim, continued claim, or resumed claim as directed by the agency. To be considered a timely filing and effective as of the beginning of the claimant's first week of unemployment, a new claim shall be received by the agency not later than the Friday after the end of the week containing the claimant's last day of work. A continued claim shall be received by the agency not later than the Friday after the end of the last week of the period for which the claimant is instructed to report. A resumed claim is effective as of the beginning of the week in which it is received by the agency. If a claimant does not file a new, continued, or resumed claim pursuant to these deadlines but files the new or resumed claim not later than the 14th day after these time limits, the claim is consider filed on time if the claimant has good cause for the lateness of the filing.
A claimant who has established a benefit year but has not received a benefit check may request a redetermination of benefit rights and cancellation of the established benefit year and may file a new claim to establish a new benefit year.
Illinois. An initial claim for benefits must be filed in person at the local office unless a claimant is otherwise instructed by the agency. An initial claim for benefits should be filed no later than the end of the first week in which the claimant is separated from work and the claim shall begin in the week in which it was filed. Filing by mail may be allowed for claimants with special circumstances, such as lack of transportation or physical disabilities. Claimants generally file a certification for continuing benefits by telephone. Claimants are given a certification day in which they call and respond to questions concerning their claims for the prior 2 weeks. If the claimant misses the certification day, a call may be placed on Thursday or Friday of that week, or on the designated certification day or Thursday or Friday of the next week. Filing a certification by mail may be allowed in special circumstances, such as language issues, hearing impairment, or lack of access to a touch tone phone.
Effect on small business
The proposed rules do not add or change any requirements for small businesses. There are no reporting, bookkeeping, or other procedures required for compliance with the proposed rule and no professional skills are required. The DWD Small Business Regulatory Coordinator is Jennifer Jirschele, (608) 266-1023,
jennifer.jirschele@dwd.state.wi.us.
Fiscal impact
The proposed rules have no fiscal effect on state or local governments.
Agency contact person
Copy of the rules and submission of written comment
Elaine Pridgen
Office of Legal Counsel
Dept. of Workforce Development
P.O. Box 7946
Madison, WI 53707-7946
(608) 267-9403
fax: (608) 266-1784
elaine.pridgen@dwd.state.wi.us
Written comments on the proposed rules received at the above address, email, or fax no later than July 26, 2006, will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.
