General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2005>Unemployment Compensation


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Unemployment Compensation

Passed

P HB2050

Unemployment compensation; minimum earnings; maximum weekly benefit. Increases from $2,500 to $2,700 the wages an employee must have earned in the two highest earnings quarters of his base period (the first four of the five calendar quarters preceding application for benefits) in order to be eligible for unemployment compensation benefits, and increases the maximum weekly benefit from $326 to $330.
Patron - Nixon

P HB2137

Unemployment compensation; state unemployment tax dumping; penalties. Establishes the civil and criminal penalties that shall be assessed against, and the unemployment compensation tax rates that shall apply to, persons who transfer any trade or business to another where at the time of transfer there is substantially common ownership, management, or control of the trade or business and the sole or primary purpose of the transfer is to obtain a lower unemployment tax rate. Provisions prohibiting such transfers of a trade or business and imposing penalties will become effective in the first rate year as set forth in federal law. This bill is identical to SB 1201.
Patron - Purkey

P HB2371

Unemployment compensation; misconduct; chronic absenteeism. Provides that chronic absenteeism is one form of misconduct that may result in disqualification for unemployment compensation benefits.
Patron - Bryant

P HB2416

Unemployment compensation; obsolete references. Replaces obsolete references to Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm with a broad reference to "international conflict," and removes a reference to a repealed Code section.
Patron - Armstrong

P HB2840

Unemployment compensation; wage offsets. Increases the cap on allowable weekly wages for eligible individuals prior to benefit offset from $25 to $50.
Patron - Keister

P SB128

Unemployment compensation; offset for retirement benefits. Eliminates the offset for Social Security or Railroad Retirement Act benefits during periods when the unemployment trust fund has a solvency level of 50 percent or more. When the trust fund's solvency level is below 50 percent, weekly unemployment benefits will continue to be reduced by 50 percent of the amount of such retirement benefits.
Patron - Watkins

P SB799

Unemployment compensation; obsolete benefit tables. Removes from the Code obsolete benefit tables.
Patron - Watkins

P SB1047

Unemployment compensation; independent contractor. Requires the Commission to use the 20-factor test set forth in an Internal Revenue Service Revenue Ruling in determining whether an individual is an employee for purposes of the Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act.
Patron - Wagner

P SB1112

Unemployment compensation; benefits charging; disasters. Strikes the requirement, for the purposes of assigning to the pool the charges associated with a claimant who qualifies for unemployment compensation due to a disaster-related business closure, that the claimant returned to his job once the business reopened.
Patron - Blevins

P SB1201

Unemployment compensation; state unemployment tax dumping; penalties. Establishes the civil and criminal penalties that shall be assessed against, and the unemployment compensation tax rates that shall apply to, persons who transfer any trade or business to another where at the time of transfer there is substantially common ownership, management, or control of the trade or business and the sole or primary purpose of the transfer is to obtain a lower unemployment tax rate. Provisions prohibiting such transfers of a trade or business and imposing penalties will become effective in the first rate year as set forth in federal law. This bill is identical to HB 2137.
Patron - Miller

P SB1276

Disclosure of wage information to consumer reporting agencies. Authorizes the Virginia Employment Commission to release individual wage information, provided in employers' quarterly wage reports, to consumer reporting agencies if the individual consents in writing. The released information is to be used only to verify the accuracy of wage or employment information provided by the individual in connection with a specific transaction. Fees received by the Commission from a credit reporting agency will be deposited in the Special Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund.
Patron - Watkins

Failed

F HB1491

Unemployment compensation; quit to follow military spouse. Provides that good cause for leaving employment exists if an employee voluntarily leaves a job to accompany his spouse, who is an enlisted person on active duty in the military or naval services of the United States in pay grades E-1 through E-8, to a new military assignment from which the employee's place of employment is not reasonably accessible. Benefits paid to qualifying claimants shall be charged against the pool rather than against the claimant's employer. The provisions of this bill shall expire on July 1, 2007.
Patron - Tata

F HB1495

Unemployment compensation; quit to follow military spouse. Provides that good cause for leaving employment exists if an employee voluntarily leaves a job to accompany his spouse, who is an enlisted person on active duty in the military or naval services of the United States in pay grades E-1 through E-8, to a new military assignment from which the employee's place of employment is not reasonably accessible. Benefits paid to qualifying claimants shall be charged against the pool rather than against the claimant's employer. The provisions of this bill shall expire on July 1, 2007.
Patron - Tata

F HB1700

Unemployment compensation; quit to follow military spouse. Provides that good cause for leaving employment exists if an employee voluntarily leaves a job to accompany his spouse, who is an enlisted person on active duty in the military or naval services of the United States, to a new military assignment (i) from which the employee's place of employment is not reasonably accessible, and (ii) which is located in a state that, pursuant to statute, does not deem a person accompanying a military spouse as a person leaving work voluntarily without good cause. Benefits paid to qualifying claimants shall be charged against the pool rather than against the claimant's employer. The provisions of this bill shall expire on July 1, 2007.
Patron - Tata

F HB1908

Employment training and unemployment compensation benefits; military personnel, spouses and dependents. Modifies Virginia's job training and unemployment compensation programs and resources to make them more accessible to military personnel and their families. The Virginia Workforce Council shall establish an employment advocacy and assistance program to assist spouses and dependents of active duty military personnel, Virginia National Guard members, and military reservists. Assistance shall be delivered through military family employment advocates located at selected one-stop centers. Local workforce investment boards (WIBs) shall include one representative from any military base having more than 100 military personnel that is located within the WIB's service area. For purposes of unemployment compensation, good cause for leaving employment exists if an employee voluntarily leaves a job to accompany a spouse who is (i) on active duty in the military services of the United States, (ii) in the Virginia National Guard, or (iii) a military reservist to a new military assignment resulting from a permanent change of station orders, activation orders, or unit deployment orders, if the employee's place of employment is not reasonably accessible from the new residence. Benefits paid to qualifying claimants shall be charged against the pool rather than against the claimant's employer.
Patron - Baskerville

F HB2693

Unemployment compensation; termination by reimbursable employer for misconduct. Provides that benefits based on service with a reimbursable employer shall not be paid to a claimant where the claimant was terminated for misconduct in relation to his work and allows a reimbursable employer to contest the claim for benefits even though the reimbursable employer does not qualify as the last 30-day employer. These provisions are not applicable to reimbursable employers who also are the last 30-day employer given the ability of such employers under current law to contest claims for unemployment compensation on the basis of claimant misconduct.
Patron - Pollard

F SB772

Unemployment compensation; base period; minimum earnings. Provides that an individual earning at least $2,500 but less than $3,500.01 in his base period shall be eligible to qualify for unemployment compensation benefits only if he had earnings of at least $1,250 in each of two quarters in his base period.
Patron - Bell

F SB1055

Unemployment compensation; minimum earnings. Increases from $2,500 to $3,500 the wages an employee must have earned in the two highest earnings quarters of his base period (the first four of the five calendar quarters preceding application for benefits) in order to be eligible for unemployment compensation benefits.
Patron - Wagner

F SB1283

Unemployment compensation reports. Clarifies that the VEC may furnish information to the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions to allow collection of any monetary obligations owed them.
Patron - Saslaw

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