State of Illinois
92nd General Assembly
Legislation

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[ Introduced ][ Enrolled ][ House Amendment 001 ]


92_SB0858eng

 
SB858 Engrossed                                LRB9201212RCcd

 1        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  Unemployment  Insurance  Act  by
 2    changing Section 500.

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

 5        Section  5.  The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by
 6    changing Section 500 as follows:

 7        (820 ILCS 405/500) (from Ch. 48, par. 420)
 8        Sec.  500.   Eligibility  for  benefits.    An unemployed
 9    individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect
10    to any week only if the Director finds that:
11        A.  He has registered for  work  at  and  thereafter  has
12    continued  to  report  at  an employment office in accordance
13    with such regulations as the Director may  prescribe,  except
14    that  the  Director may, by regulation, waive or alter either
15    or  both  of  the  requirements  of  this  subsection  as  to
16    individuals attached to regular jobs, and as  to  such  other
17    types  of  cases or situations with respect to which he finds
18    that compliance with such requirements would be oppressive or
19    inconsistent with the purposes of this Act, provided that  no
20    such regulation shall conflict with Section 400 of this Act.
21        B.  He has made a claim for benefits with respect to such
22    week  in accordance with such regulations as the Director may
23    prescribe.
24        C.  He is able  to  work,  and  is  available  for  work;
25    provided  that  during the period in question he was actively
26    seeking work and he has certified such.   Whenever  requested
27    to do so by the Director, the individual shall, in the manner
28    the  Director prescribes by regulation, inform the Department
29    of the places at which he has sought work during  the  period
30    in  question.    Nothing  in  this subsection shall limit the
31    Director's approval of alternate methods of demonstrating  an
 
SB858 Engrossed             -2-                LRB9201212RCcd
 1    active search for work  based on regular reporting to a trade
 2    union office.
 3             1.  If an otherwise eligible individual is unable to
 4        work  or is unavailable for work on any normal workday of
 5        the week, he shall be eligible to receive  benefits  with
 6        respect  to  such week reduced by one-fifth of his weekly
 7        benefit amount for each day of such inability to work  or
 8        unavailability  for  work.   For  the  purposes  of  this
 9        paragraph,  an individual who reports on a day subsequent
10        to his designated report day shall be deemed  unavailable
11        for  work  on  his report day if his failure to report on
12        that day is without good cause, and on  each  intervening
13        day,  if  any,  on which his failure to report is without
14        good cause.  As used in the preceding  sentence,  "report
15        day"  means  the  day  which  has been designated for the
16        individual to report to file his claim for benefits  with
17        respect  to  any  week.   This  paragraph  shall  not  be
18        construed  so  as  to  effect any change in the status of
19        part-time workers as defined in Section 407.
20             2.  An  individual  shall  be   considered   to   be
21        unavailable  for work on days listed as whole holidays in
22        "An Act to revise  the  law  in  relation  to  promissory
23        notes,   bonds,   due  bills  and  other  instruments  in
24        writing," approved March 18, 1874, as  amended;  on  days
25        which  are holidays in his religion or faith, and on days
26        which are holidays according to the custom of  his  trade
27        or  occupation,  if  his failure to work on such day is a
28        result of the holiday.   In  determining  the  claimant's
29        eligibility  for  benefits and the amount to be paid him,
30        with respect to the week in which such holiday occurs, he
31        shall have attributed to him as additional  earnings  for
32        that  week  an  amount  equal  to one-fifth of his weekly
33        benefit amount for each normal work day on which he  does
34        not   work  because  of  a  holiday  of  the  type  above
 
SB858 Engrossed             -3-                LRB9201212RCcd
 1        enumerated.
 2             3.  An individual shall be  deemed  unavailable  for
 3        work  if,  after  his  separation  from  his  most recent
 4        employing unit, he has removed himself to and remains  in
 5        a locality where opportunities for work are substantially
 6        less favorable than those in the locality he has left.
 7             4.  An  individual  shall  be deemed unavailable for
 8        work with respect to any week which occurs  in  a  period
 9        when  his  principal  occupation  is that of a student in
10        attendance at, or on vacation from, a public  or  private
11        school.
12             5.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provisions  of this
13        Act, an individual shall not be  deemed  unavailable  for
14        work  or  to have failed actively to seek work, nor shall
15        he  be  ineligible  for  benefits  by   reason   of   the
16        application  of  the  provisions  of  Section  603,  with
17        respect  to any week, because he is enrolled in and is in
18        regular attendance at a training course approved for  him
19        by the Director:
20                  (a)  but  only  if,  with respect to that week,
21             the individual presents, upon request, to the claims
22             adjudicator referred to in Section 702  a  statement
23             executed  by a responsible person connected with the
24             training course, certifying that the individual  was
25             in  full-time  attendance  at such course during the
26             week.  The Director may approve such course  for  an
27             individual only if he finds that (1) reasonable work
28             opportunities  for which the individual is fitted by
29             training  and  experience  do  not  exist   in   his
30             locality;  (2)  the  training  course  relates to an
31             occupation or skill for  which  there  are,  or  are
32             expected  to  be in the immediate future, reasonable
33             work opportunities in his locality; (3) the training
34             course  is  offered  by  a  competent  and  reliable
 
SB858 Engrossed             -4-                LRB9201212RCcd
 1             agency, educational institution, or employing  unit;
 2             (4)  the  individual has the required qualifications
 3             and aptitudes to complete the  course  successfully;
 4             and  (5)  the individual is not receiving and is not
 5             eligible (other than because he has claimed benefits
 6             under this Act) for subsistence payments or  similar
 7             assistance  under  any  public or private retraining
 8             program:  Provided,  that  the  Director  shall  not
 9             disapprove  such  course  solely by reason of clause
10             (5) if the subsistence payment or similar assistance
11             is subject to reduction by an amount  equal  to  any
12             benefits payable to the individual under this Act in
13             the  absence  of  the  clause.  In the event that an
14             individual's   weekly   unemployment    compensation
15             benefit   is   less   than  his  certified  training
16             allowance, that person shall be eligible to  receive
17             his  entire unemployment compensation benefits, plus
18             such supplemental  training  allowances  that  would
19             make  an  applicant's total weekly benefit identical
20             to the original certified training allowance.
21                  (b)  The Director shall have the  authority  to
22             grant  approval  pursuant  to subparagraph (a) above
23             prior to an individual's  formal  admission  into  a
24             training  course. Requests for approval shall not be
25             made more than 30 days prior to the actual  starting
26             date  of  such course. Requests shall be made at the
27             appropriate unemployment office. Notwithstanding any
28             other provision to the contrary, the Director  shall
29             approve  a course for an individual if the course is
30             provided to the individual under Title  III  of  the
31             federal Job Training Partnership Act.
32                  (c)  The   Director   shall   for  purposes  of
33             paragraph C have the authority to  issue  a  blanket
34             approval  of  training programs implemented pursuant
 
SB858 Engrossed             -5-                LRB9201212RCcd
 1             to the federal  Workforce  Investment  Act  of  1998
 2             Comprehensive  Employment  and  Training Act and the
 3             Job Training Partnership Act if  both  the  training
 4             program   and   the  criteria  for  an  individual's
 5             participation in such training meet the requirements
 6             of this paragraph C.
 7                  (d)  Notwithstanding   the   requirements    of
 8             subparagraph   (a),  the  Director  shall  have  the
 9             authority to  issue  blanket  approval  of  training
10             programs implemented under the terms of a collective
11             bargaining agreement.
12             6.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provisions  of this
13        Act, an individual shall not be  deemed  unavailable  for
14        work  or  to have failed actively to seek work, nor shall
15        he  be  ineligible  for  benefits,  by  reason   of   the
16        application of the provisions of Section 603 with respect
17        to  any  week  because  he  is in training approved under
18        Section 236 (a)(1) of the federal Trade Act of 1974,  nor
19        shall  an individual be ineligible for benefits under the
20        provisions of Section  601  by  reason  of  leaving  work
21        voluntarily  to  enter  such training if the work left is
22        not of a substantially equal or higher skill  level  than
23        the  individual's  past  adversely affected employment as
24        defined under the federal Trade Act of 1974 and the wages
25        for such work are less than 80%  of  his  average  weekly
26        wage as determined under the federal Trade Act of 1974.
27        D.  If  his  benefit year begins prior to July 6, 1975 or
28    subsequent to January 2, 1982, he has been unemployed  for  a
29    waiting  period  of  1  week during such benefit year. If his
30    benefit year begins on or after July 6, l975,  but  prior  to
31    January 3, 1982, and his unemployment continues for more than
32    three  weeks  during  such benefit year, he shall be eligible
33    for benefits with respect to each week of such  unemployment,
34    including  the  first  week thereof.   An individual shall be
 
SB858 Engrossed             -6-                LRB9201212RCcd
 1    deemed to be unemployed within the meaning of this subsection
 2    while  receiving  public  assistance  as   remuneration   for
 3    services  performed on work projects financed from funds made
 4    available to governmental agencies for such purpose.  No week
 5    shall be counted as a week of unemployment for  the  purposes
 6    of this subsection:
 7             1.  Unless  it  occurs within the benefit year which
 8        includes the week with respect to which he claims payment
 9        of benefits, provided that, for benefit  years  beginning
10        prior  to  January  3,  1982,  this requirement shall not
11        interrupt the payment of benefits for  consecutive  weeks
12        of  unemployment;  and  provided  further  that  the week
13        immediately preceding a benefit  year,  if  part  of  one
14        uninterrupted period of unemployment which continues into
15        such  benefit  year,  shall be deemed (for the purpose of
16        this subsection only and with respect  to  benefit  years
17        beginning  prior  to  January 3, 1982, only) to be within
18        such benefit  year,  as  well  as  within  the  preceding
19        benefit  year, if the unemployed individual would, except
20        for the provisions of the first paragraph and paragraph 1
21        of this subsection and of Section 605,  be  eligible  for
22        and entitled to benefits for such week.
23             2.  If benefits have been paid with respect thereto.
24             3.  Unless  the individual was eligible for benefits
25        with respect thereto except for the requirements of  this
26        subsection and of Section 605.
27        E.  With  respect  to any benefit year beginning prior to
28    January 3, 1982, he has been  paid  during  his  base  period
29    wages  for insured work not less than the amount specified in
30    Section 500E of this Act as amended and in effect on  October
31    5,  1980.  With  respect  to any benefit year beginning on or
32    after January 3, 1982, he  has  been  paid  during  his  base
33    period  wages for insured work equal to not less than $1,600,
34    provided that he has been paid wages for insured  work  equal
 
SB858 Engrossed             -7-                LRB9201212RCcd
 1    to  at  least  $440 during that part of his base period which
 2    does not include the calendar quarter in which the wages paid
 3    to him were highest.
 4        F.  During that week he has participated in  reemployment
 5    services  to  which  he  has been referred, including but not
 6    limited to job search  assistance  services,  pursuant  to  a
 7    profiling  system  established  by  the  Director  by rule in
 8    conformity with  Section  303(j)(1)  of  the  federal  Social
 9    Security Act, unless the Director determines that:
10             1.  the individual has completed such services; or
11             2.  there  is  justifiable  cause for the claimant's
12        failure to participate in such services.
13        This subsection F is added by this amendatory Act of 1995
14    to clarify authority already provided under subsections A and
15    C in connection  with  the  unemployment  insurance  claimant
16    profiling  system  required  under  subsections  (a)(10)  and
17    (j)(1) of Section 303 of the federal Social Security Act as a
18    condition  of  federal  funding for the administration of the
19    Unemployment Insurance Act.
20    (Source: P.A. 89-21, eff. 6-6-95; 90-554, eff. 12-12-97.)

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