SB2521 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 16389 JLS 21778 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
SB2521

Introduced 2/26/2021, by Sen. Chapin Rose

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

820 ILCS 405/1501

from Ch. 48, par. 571

Amends the Unemployment Insurance Act. Provides that when an individual is determined to be eligible for benefits, the Department of Employment Security shall provide an explanation of the source of income upon which the benefits are based and whether additional benefits are being provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020. Requires disclosure of the benefit amount, the benefit amount for which the claimant is eligible, and the date the benefit was paid. Provides that if benefits are reduced, an explanation of the reduction must be given.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning employment.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by changing Section 1501 as follows:

(820 ILCS 405/1501) (from Ch. 48, par. 571)

Sec. 1501. Benefit wages. A. When an individual is paid regular benefits (defined in Section 409) under this Act, with respect to any benefit year which begins prior to November 4, 1979, which, when added to such regular benefits previously paid him for the same benefit year, equal or exceed three times his weekly benefit amount for the benefit year, his wages during his base period shall immediately become benefit wages.

B. When an individual is paid regular benefits with respect to a week in any benefit year which begins on or after November 4, 1979, an amount equal to 1/26 of the wages for insured work, but not in excess of 1/26 of $6,000, paid to him by each employer during his base period shall immediately become benefit wages provided, however, that no payment of regular benefits made on or after July 1, 1989, shall become benefit wages. Such amount, if not a multiple of $1, shall be rounded to the next higher dollar.

C. When an individual is first paid extended benefits with respect to his eligibility period (defined in Section 409), one-half of the wages for insured work paid to him by each employer during his base period applicable to the benefit year in which his eligibility period began shall immediately become benefit wages, whether or not they had previously become benefit wages. This subsection shall apply only to eligibility periods beginning in benefit years which commence prior to November 4, 1979.

D. When an individual is paid extended benefits with respect to any week in an eligibility period beginning in a benefit year commencing on or after November 4, 1979, an amount equal to 1/13 of one-half of the wages for insured work, but not in excess of 1/13 of $3,000, paid to him by each employer during his base period applicable to the benefit year in which the eligibility period began, shall immediately become benefit wages, whether or not any part of such wages had previously become benefit wages provided, however, that no payment of extended benefits made on or after July 1, 1989, shall become benefit wages. Such amount, if not a multiple of $1, shall be rounded to the next higher dollar.

E. Notwithstanding the foregoing subsections, an individual's wages shall not become benefit wages if he cannot, on the basis of such wages, meet the qualifying requirements of Section 500E, or if, by reason of the application of Section 602B, no benefit rights can accrue to him on the basis of such wages, but he is paid benefits because the wages have been combined in accordance with the provisions of Section 2700 and provided further that an individual's wages shall not become benefit wages if, by reason of the application of the third paragraph of Section 237, he is paid benefits based upon wages other than those paid in a base period as defined in the second paragraph of Section 237.

F. Notwithstanding the foregoing subsection, wages paid by a base period employer, subject to payment of contributions, to an individual who voluntarily leaves that employer shall not become benefit wages with respect to that employer but shall instead become the benefit wages of the individual's next subsequent employer if:

1. The individual had subsequent employment and earned 6 times his weekly benefit amount or more, prior to the beginning of his benefit year; or

2. For a benefit year beginning after December 31, 1986, the individual was determined to be ineligible for benefits pursuant to Section 601 from the last employing unit which was also a base period employer but thereafter earned 6 times his weekly benefit amount or more from his next subsequent employer during his benefit year, provided that the disqualifying separation occurred prior to the first payment of benefits in the individual's benefit year.

Wages paid to an individual during his base period by an employer for less than full time work, performed during the same weeks in the base period during which the individual had other insured work, shall not become benefit wages (upon such employer's request pursuant to the regulation of the Director) so long as the employer continued after the end of the base period, and continues during the applicable benefit year, to furnish such less than full time work to the individual on the same basis and in substantially the same amount during the base period. If the individual is paid benefits with respect to a week (in the applicable benefit year) after the employer has ceased to furnish the work hereinabove described, the wages paid by the employer to the individual during his base period shall become benefit wages as provided in this Section.

G. For the purposes of this Section and of Section 1504, benefits shall be deemed to have been paid on the date such payment has been mailed to the individual by the Director.

H. If any benefit wages are increased by reason of the reconsideration by a claims adjudicator of his finding, the amount of such increase shall be treated as if it became benefit wages on the day on which the claims adjudicator made the reconsidered finding.

I. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Section, no wages paid by a base period employer shall become benefit wages after September 30, 1989, and no wages paid by a base period employer, subject to the payment of contributions, shall become the benefit wages of the individual's next subsequent employer under the provisions of subsection F above after September 30, 1989.

J. When an individual is determined to be eligible for regular benefits, as defined in Section 409, under this Act or for federal unemployment benefits as provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act), Public Law 116-136, and the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, Public Law 116-94, the Department must list on a determination letter the employers or source of income on which the determination of weekly benefit amount is based. The Department shall also disclose in the determination letter any additional unemployment benefits provided under the CARES Act or the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 to which the individual is entitled.

Upon sending a determination letter, either through mail or electronic communications, the Department shall provide line item updates in an individual's unemployment account that include:

(1) month, day, and year for weekly benefit amount evaluated;

(2) weekly benefit amount for which the claimant is eligible; and

(3) month, day, and year the weekly benefit amount was paid.

If payments are not made for weeks that an individual is eligible and a larger amount is paid at a later date, the Department must disclose the weeks to which the payment is applied. If a weekly benefit amount is reduced, the Department must disclose the reason for that determination.

(Source: P.A. 85-956.)