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Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council Meeting Minutes

Friday, October 21, 2005 10:00 a.m.

GEF 1 State Office Building, Room G411
201 East Washington Avenue
Madison, WI

Members Present / In-Person

Management: James Buchen and Daniel Petersen

Labor: Dennis Penkalski and Robert Lyons

Chair: Greg Frigo

Department staff present: Hal Bergan, Robert Whitaker, Lutfi Shahrani, Tom Smith, Elaine Pridgen, Dick Tillema, Ruth Tucker, Terese Wojick, Carla Breber, Brian Bradley and Troy Sterr

Others present: John Metcalf

Members Present / By Telephone

Management: Bob Oyler, Ed Lump and Earl Gustafson

Labor: Red Platz

MINUTES

The meeting was opened with a review of the minutes of the October 3, 2005 meeting. The minutes were corrected to reflect the language of the bill that an employer agent’s privilege to represent the employer may be suspended for one year if it is found by the ALJ that the employer represented by the agent failed to give correct and complete information in 5% of the cases appealed and the ALJ finds the failure was without good cause.

The minutes were approved with the correction.

The Council then reviewed UI Bill Draft LRB-2978/8.

Buchen raised a question about the bill having to go through the Joint Finance Committee because of the Chapter 20 provisions. It was clarified that all UI bills have to go through the finance committee. He also asked about the language being stricken on pages 12 and 13. It was explained this was correcting the current provisions. Once Reed Act money is placed in the Trust Fund, it is to stay there until spent and can be spent only for purposes authorized by appropriations. Currently the language authorized it to be moved out but that, in fact, is not allowed by the feds (DOL).

Other changes presented to the council:

§108.04(5g)—changes to “failure to give notice”: addition of words or phrases on p. 17, line 16: insert after “is late for 6” the words: “or more” and after “12-month period” the words: “preceding the date of the discharge”

line 19: insert after “is absent for 5” the words: “or more” and after “12-month period” the words: “preceding the date of the discharge”

The above changes avoid the interpretation that if there are more than 6 tardies or 5 absences then we would have to look at misconduct under 108.04(5).

p. 18, line 12: insert after “an employee that” the word: “are”

The effective date will be 90 days after publication. The sunset date will need to be tied to the effective date.

The phrase to apply (5g) or misconduct is in the misconduct statute, 108.04(5). The suggestion was made to follow the new statute, (5g), for a couple of years to determine if it has the intended effect.

§108.22(1)(ac)—regarding electronically reporting, adds a penalty for employer agents for not submitting reports as prescribed because the original did not have one, the original did have penalty for employers

§108.09(4n)(c)—under the employment data system reports (COED), removes the identity of the person who created the report. Sometimes the ALJs, the hearing staff or the adjudicators create the report that is used in the hearings. They are not experts and it could create problems if they are called to explain how the report was made. If there is something wrong with the report, it would be corrected and a new report would be created.

§§108.151(8) & 108.152(7)—require reimbursable employers, non-profits and Indian tribes to submit quarterly wage and employment reports. Currently they are not required to file the quarterly reports. This is needed to be able to determine the assessment for each reimbursable employer to cover uncollectible reimbursements. There is an administrative rule to require this but it was recommended the administrative rule is not sufficient for this purpose and this requirement should be specifically stated in the statutes.

Study of Unemployment Insurance Fund—changed to show that the study will be completed by the department for the Council. The understanding is that both the department and the Council will jointly work on the study.

Authorized Positions: Department of Justice.—Question arose as to whether there has been any communication with DOJ about the .50 FTE position. Tillema has spoken with DOJ. They are familiar with this section of the UI Bill. DOJ has not made any comment on this to date.

The draft UI Bill does not include any of the administrative rule changes.

Motion was made and seconded to accept the bill with the above changes. The bill was unanimously approved by the members present in person and via telephone (except Red Platz who was disconnected and was unable to be reconnected).

It was suggested that the bill be first introduced in the assembly.

The meeting was adjourned.

Updated August 24, 2009
Unemployment Insurance Division, Bureau of Legal Affairs (BOLA)
Content Contact: Legal Affairs Staff