ENROLLED HOUSE
BILL NO. 3596 By: Hill of the House
and
Paxton of the Senate
An Act relating to labor; amending 40 O.S. 2021, Sections 1-201,
as amended by Section 1, Chapter 360, O.S.L. 2022, 1-224, as amended by Section
8, Chapter 360, O.S.L. 2022, Section 3, Chapter 287, O.S.L. 2022, 2-503, as
amended by Section 14, Chapter 360, O.S.L. 2022, 2-503.1, as amended by Section
15, Chapter 360, O.S.L. 2022, and 2-603 (40 O.S. Supp. 2023, Sections 1-201,
1-224, 1-231, 2-503, and 2-503.1), which relate to the Employment Security Act
of 1980; modifying definitions; modifying time limit for maximum benefit
duration; modifying notice to employer; modifying filing of employer protest;
clarifying time limit for appeal; repealing 40 O.S. 2021, Section 3-201, which
relates to employers; and providing an effective date.
SUBJECT: Labor
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF
SECTION 1.
AMENDATORY 40 O.S. 2021,
Section 1-201, as amended by Section 1, Chapter 360, O.S.L. 2022 (40 O.S. Supp.
2023, Section 1-201), is amended to read as follows:
Section 1-201. GENERAL
DEFINITIONS. As used in the Employment
Security Act of 1980:
1.
"Additional initial claim" means a claim application which
reactivates a claim during an existing benefit year and certifies to a period
of employment which occurred subsequent to the date of the filing of the last
initial, additional, or reopened claim;
2.
"Alternative base period" means the most recent four (4)
completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an
individual's benefit year. In the event
that an individual's claim uses an alternative base period to meet the wage
requirement under Section 2-207 of this title, this alternative base period
shall be substituted for base period for all other purposes under the
Employment Security Act of 1980;
3. "Assigned tax rate" means the tax
rate assigned to an employer pursuant to Section 3-110.1 of this title when the
employer does not have sufficient experience history to meet the At-Risk Rule
set out in paragraph 3 of Section 3-110.1 of this title;
4.
"Base period" means the first four (4) of the last five (5)
completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an
individual's benefit year;
5.
"Benefit year" with respect to any individual means the
one-year period beginning with the first day of the first week with respect to
which the individual first files a valid claim for benefits and thereafter the
one-year period beginning with the first day of the first week with respect to
which the individual next files a valid claim for benefits after the
termination of his or her last preceding benefit year. Any claim for benefits shall be deemed a
valid claim for the purpose of this section if the individual has been paid the
wages for insured work required under the Employment Security Act of 1980;
6.
"Benefit wages" means the taxable wages earned by a claimant
during the claimant's base period which are not in excess of the current
maximum weekly benefit amount, as determined under Section 2-104 of this title,
multiplied by the maximum number of weeks for which benefits could be paid to
any individual (now twenty-six (26) weeks) pursuant to Section 2-106
of this title, multiplied by three (3); provided, however, no wages shall
be included as benefit wages unless and until the claimant has been paid
benefits for five (5) weeks in one (1) benefit year;
7.
"Benefits" means the money payments payable to an individual
as provided in the Employment Security Act of 1980 with respect to his or her
unemployment, including extended benefits.
The federal share of such extended benefits shall not be construed as
benefits for the purposes of computing contribution rates under the Employment
Security Act of 1980;
8.
"Calendar quarter" means the period of three (3) consecutive
calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31, or
the equivalent thereof as the Commission may by regulation prescribe;
9.
"Client" shall have the same meaning as provided in paragraph
1 of Section 600.2 of this title;
10.
"Coemployer" shall have the same meaning as provided in
paragraph 2 of Section 600.2 of this title;
11.
"Coemployment relationship" shall have the same meaning as
provided in paragraph 3 of Section 600.2 of this title;
12.
"Commission" means the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission;
13.
"Commissioner" means a member of the Commission;
14.
"Continued claim series" means an uninterrupted series of
weekly claims filed by a claimant during the benefit year;
15.
"Contributions" means the money payments, including taxes and
reimbursements, required by the Employment Security Act of 1980 to be paid into
the Unemployment Compensation Fund by an employer;
16.
"Covered employee" shall have the same meaning as provided in
paragraph 5 of Section 600.2 of this title;
17.
"Digital portal filing" means electronic communication through
the agency digital portal;
18.
"Earned tax rate" means the tax rate calculated for an
employer with sufficient experience history to meet the At-Risk Rule set out in
paragraph 3 of Section 3-110.1 of this title, with the tax rate calculated
pursuant to the provisions of Section 3-101 et seq. of this title;
19.
"Electronic e-filing" means filing by email or fax to email;
20.
"Eligibility period" of an individual for extended benefits
means the period consisting of the weeks in his or her benefit year, as defined
by the Employment Security Act of 1980, which begin in an extended benefit
period and, if his or her benefit year ends within such extended benefit
period, any weeks thereafter which begin in such extended benefit period;
21.
"Employer" shall have the same meaning as provided in Section
1-208 of this title;
22.
"Employing unit" means any individual or type of organization,
including any partnership, association, trust, estate, joint stock company,
insurance company, limited liability company or corporation, whether domestic
or foreign, or the receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee or successor
thereof, or the legal representative of a deceased person, which has or subsequent
to January 1, 1936, had in its employ one or more individuals performing
services for it within this state;
23.
"Employment" shall have the same meaning as provided in
Section 1-210 of this title;
24.
"Employment office" means a free public employment office or
branch thereof operated by this or any other state as a part of a
state-controlled system of public employment offices or by a federal agency
charged with the administration of an unemployment compensation program or free
public employment offices;
25.
"Employment Security Administration Fund" means the fund
established in Section 4-602 of this title from which administration expenses
under the Employment Security Act of 1980 shall be paid;
26.
"Exhaustee" shall have the same meaning as provided in Section
2-712 of this title;
27.
"Experience period" means the most recent twelve (12)
consecutive completed calendar quarters occurring before July 1 of the year
immediately preceding the year for which the employer's contribution rate is
being calculated;
28.
"Extended base period" means the four (4) quarters prior to
the claimant's base period. These four
(4) quarters may be substituted for base period quarters on a quarter-by-quarter
basis to establish a valid claim regardless of whether the wages have been used
to establish a prior claim, except any wages earned that would render the
Commission out of compliance with applicable federal law shall be excluded if
used in a prior claim;
29.
"Extended benefit period" shall have the same meaning as
provided in Section 2-703 of this title;
30.
"File", "files", or "filed" shall have the
same meaning as provided in Section 1-224 of this title;
31.
"Mail", "mails", "mailed", or
"mailing" means communication sent by a postal service with
sufficient postage;
32.
"Foreign limited liability company" shall be defined by the
provisions of the Oklahoma Limited Liability Company Act;
33.
"Fund" means the Unemployment Compensation Fund established in
Section 3-601 of this title;
34.
"Hospital" means any hospital required to be licensed under
the Oklahoma Public Health Code, Section 1-101 et seq. of Title 63 of the
Oklahoma Statutes, and includes state mental hospitals and any other mental
hospital or institution;
35.
"Initial claim" means a new claim application submitted by a
claimant to establish a benefit year for unemployment insurance benefits;
36.
"Institution of higher education" shall have the same meaning
as provided in Section 1-214 of this title;
37.
"Insured work" means employment for employers as defined by
the Employment Security Act of 1980;
38.
"Lessor employing unit" means any independently established
business entity which engages in the business of providing leased employees to
any other employer, individual, organization, partnership, corporation, or
other legal entity, referred to herein as a client lessee;
39.
"Limited liability company" shall be defined by the provisions
of the Oklahoma Limited Liability Company Act;
40.
"Probationary period" means a period of time set forth in an
established probationary plan, which applies to all employees or a specific
group of employees, and does not exceed ninety (90) calendar days from the
first day a new employee begins work;
41.
"Professional Employer Organization" or "PEO" means
an organization that is subject to the Oklahoma Professional Employer
Organization Recognition and Registration Act and which meets the definition
set out in paragraph 9 of Section 600.2 of this title;
42.
"Rate of insured employment" shall have the same meaning as
provided in Section 2-708 of this title;
43.
"Regular benefits" means benefits payable to an individual
under the Employment Security Act of 1980, or under any other state law
including dependents' allowances and benefits payable to federal civilian
employees;
44.
"Reopened claim" means a claim application which reactivates a
claim during an existing benefit year when a claimant stopped filing for
benefits before his or her claim was exhausted, but in which there occurred no
intervening employment from the date of the filing of the last initial,
additional, or reopened claim;
45.
"State" includes, in addition to the states of the United
States of America, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,
and the Virgin Islands;
46.
"State law" means the unemployment insurance law of any state,
approved by the Secretary of Labor of the United States under Section 3304 of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1954;
47.
"Supplemental unemployment benefit plan" means a plan that
provides for an employer to make payments to its employees during a permanent
or temporary layoff that will supplement unemployment benefits received by the
employees. The purpose of a supplemental
unemployment benefit plan is to allow an employer to sustain the purchasing
power of its employees or former employees during a layoff;
48.
"Taxable wages" means the wages paid to an individual with
respect to employment during a calendar year for services covered by the Employment
Security Act of 1980 or other state unemployment compensation acts which shall
equal the applicable percentage of the state's average annual wage for the
second preceding calendar year as determined by the Commission, rounded to the
nearest multiple of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00);
49.
"Wages" shall have the same meaning as provided in Section
1-218 of this title;
50.
"Wages paid" means wages actually paid to the worker;
provided, however, that in the event of any distribution of an employer's assets
through insolvency, receivership, composition, assignment for the benefit of
creditors, or termination of business, wages earned but not actually paid shall
be considered as paid; and
51.
"Week" means such period of seven (7) consecutive days, as the
Commission may by regulation prescribe.
SECTION 2.
AMENDATORY 40 O.S. 2021,
Section 1-224, as amended by Section 8, Chapter 360, O.S.L. 2022 (40 O.S. Supp.
2023, Section 1-224), is amended to read as follows:
Section 1-224. FILE.
A. For purposes of this
section, "OESC 2020-21 business process transformation" means a
change from paper process to integrated digital technology. Upon completion of the OESC 2020-21 business
process transformation, electronic e-filing will be the Commission's preferred
filing method for tendering and receiving documents. All claimants and employers tendering
documents to the Commission will be expected to tender the documents
electronically. If the claimant or
employer has elected to utilize other means of transmittal, it will be the
responsibility of the claimant or employer to notify the Commission of this
preference.
B. When the provisions of
the Employment Security Act of 1980 or the rules promulgated under the
authority of the act require any document to be filed with the Oklahoma
Employment Security Commission or its affiliate entities, the term
"file", "files", or "filed" shall mean:
1. Hand delivery to
the central administrative office of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission
by the close of business on or before the date due;
2. Mailing by means
calculated to ensure receipt by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission on
or before the date due. Timely mailing
shall be determined by the United States Postal Service postmark. If there is no such legible postmark, the
date of receipt by the Commission shall constitute the date of filing;
3. 2. Electronic
e-filing to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, as directed by the
instructions on the determination letter, order or other document issued by the
Commission, by midnight on or before the date due. Timely transmission shall be determined by
the Commission's transmission log file; or
4. 3. Digital portal
filing by midnight on or before the date due.
Timely transmission shall be determined by the Commission's transmission
log file.
C.
If the Employment Security Act of 1980 or the rules promulgated under
the Employment Security Act of 1980 require that a document be filed with a
court or any other agency of this state, the term "file",
"files" or "filed" shall be defined by the statutes, rules
or practice governing that court or agency.
SECTION 3.
AMENDATORY Section 3, Chapter
287, O.S.L. 2022 (40 O.S. Supp. 2023, Section 1-231), is amended to read as
follows:
Section 1-231. LIMITATIONS
ON DURATION OF BENEFITS.
A. For purposes of this
section, "state average unemployment insurance claims" means the
weekly average of Continued UI Claims for the thirteen (13) weeks beginning
with the first file week ending in the month of July in the calendar year prior
to the current calendar year as published by the Oklahoma Employment Security
Commission or the agency responsible for collecting and publishing unemployment
insurance claims data.
B. On January 1, 2025,
for unemployment compensation claims submitted during a calendar year, the
duration of benefits is limited to:
1. a. Sixteen (16) weeks if the state's average
unemployment insurance claims are at or below five thousand (5,000) claims,
b. An
additional two (2) weeks shall be added in addition to the sixteen (16) weeks
for each fifteen thousand (15,000) increments if the state's average
unemployment insurance claims are above five thousand (5,000) claims, or
c. Up
to the maximum of twenty (20) weeks; or
2. In the event that the
weekly claims data of continued claims administered by the Oklahoma Employment
Security Commission exceeds forty thousand (40,000) claims, the maximum
duration of benefits shall immediately be raised to twenty-six (26) weeks. This maximum benefit duration shall be in
place until the weekly claims data of continued UI claims falls below forty
thousand (40,000) claims at which time the maximum duration of benefits shall
be determined pursuant to paragraph 1 of subsection B of this section.
SECTION 4.
AMENDATORY 40 O.S. 2021,
Section 2-503, as amended by Section 14, Chapter 360, O.S.L. 2022 (40 O.S.
Supp. 2023, Section 2-503), is amended to read as follows:
Section 2-503.
CLAIMS, NOTICES, AND OBJECTIONS.
A. Claims for benefits
shall be made in accordance with all rules that the Oklahoma Employment
Security Commission may prescribe.
B. Promptly after an initial claim or an
additional initial claim is filed, the Commission shall give notice of the
claim to the last employer of the claimant for whom the claimant worked at
least fifteen (15) working days. These
days are not required to be consecutive.
Provided, that promptly after the Commission is notified of the
claimant's separation from employment obtained during a continued claim series,
the Commission shall give notice of the claim to the last separating
employer. Notices to separating
employers during a continued claim series will be given to the last employer in
the claim week without regard to length of employment. Each notice shall contain an admonition that
failure to respond to the notice could affect the employer's tax rate.
C. Promptly after the claim is paid for the
fifth week of benefits the Commission shall give written notice of the claim to
all other employers of the claimant during the claimant's base period. The notice will be given by electronic means,
or if the employer has opted out of such method of communication, the notice
will be sent by mail.
D. Notice shall be deemed to have been given
when the Commission transmits the notice by electronic means or, if the
employer has opted out of such method of communication, the notice will be sent
by mail.
E. Within ten (10) days after the date the
notice is emailed sent, an employer may send by email all file
a statement of objections to the claim setting forth specifically the facts
which:
1. Disclose the name and Social Security
number of the employee;
2.
Make the claimant ineligible for benefits under Sections 2-201 through
2-210 of this title;
2. 3. Disqualify the claimant from benefits under
Sections 2-401 through 2-417 and 2-419 of this title; or
3. 4. Relieve the employer from being
charged for the benefit wages of such claimant.
F. An untimely employer objection to a claim for
unemployment benefits made pursuant to subsection E of this section may be
allowed for good cause shown.
SECTION 5.
AMENDATORY 40 O.S. 2021,
Section 2-503.1, as amended by Section 15, Chapter 360, O.S.L. 2022 (40 O.S.
Supp. 2023, Section 2-503.1), is amended to read as follows:
Section 2-503.1 FILING OF
EMPLOYER PROTEST AND DOCUMENTS THROUGH EMPLOYER PORTAL.
A. An employer may file a
statement of objections to the claim of a former employee at any time from the
moment of discharge or separation from employment until the expiration of the
ten-day time period set out in subsection E of Section 2-503 of this
title. Unless the employer has opted
out of receiving electronic communications and filed their statement of
objection through any method listed in Section 1-224 of this title, the The
statement of objection must be filed through the employer portal and objections
must contain a statement of specific facts and documentation which:
1. Disclose the name and
Social Security number of the employee;
2. Make the claimant
ineligible for benefits under Sections 2-201 through 2-210 of this title;
3. Disqualify the
claimant for benefits under Sections 2-401 through 2-419 of this title; or
4. Relieve the employer
from being charged for the benefit wages of this claimant.
B. Any timely statement
of objection filed shall be considered a valid protest to a claim for
unemployment benefits and the employer shall be considered an interested party
to the claim. A statement of objection
filed outside the time period or in any manner other than as set out in
subsection A of this section shall not be considered a valid protest to a claim
for unemployment of the former employee, and the employer shall not be
considered an interested party to the claim.
SECTION 6.
AMENDATORY 40 O.S. 2021,
Section 2-603, is amended to read as follows:
Section 2-603. APPEAL
TRIBUNAL.
The claimant or any other party entitled to notice of a
determination may file an appeal from the determination with the appeal
tribunal within ten (10) calendar days after the date of mailing of the
notice to the claimant's or other party's last-known address or, if the notice
is not mailed, within ten (10) calendar days after the date of delivery
of the notice. The claimant or other
party may file an appeal in any manner allowed by Section 1-224 of this title
or by telephone to the Commission's call center. In order to be considered timely, filing of
an appeal made by telephone through a claims representative must be completed
before the end of normal business hours.
SECTION 7.
REPEALER 40 O.S. 2021, Section
3-201, is hereby repealed.
SECTION 8.
This act shall become effective November 1, 2024.
Passed the
House of Representatives the 6th day of March, 2024.
Presiding
Officer of the House
of
Representatives
Passed the Senate the 17th day of
April, 2024.
Presiding
Officer of the Senate
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Received by the Office
of the Governor this ____________________ day of ___________________,
20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By:
_________________________________
Approved by the
Governor of the State of Oklahoma this _________ day of ___________________,
20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
_________________________________
Governor of
the State of Oklahoma
OFFICE
OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
Received by the Office
of the Secretary of State this __________ day of ___________________,
20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _________________________________