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Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
AMENDED
February 26, 2002
H. 4014
S. Printed 2/26/02--H.
Read the first time April 25, 2001.
TO AMEND SECTION 41-29-120, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT STABILIZATION, SO AS TO REQUIRE EMPLOYERS TO MAKE CERTAIN EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION AND REPORTS AVAILABLE TO THE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION AND TO RESTRICT THE INFORMATION AND REPORTS FOR CERTAIN USES; TO AMEND SECTION 41-29-170, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO INFORMATION ALLOWED TO BE DISCLOSED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY LAW, SO AS TO REVISE PROVISIONS PERTAINING TO AGENCIES TO WHOM SUCH INFORMATION MAY BE DISCLOSED; TO AMEND SECTIONS 41-35-640, 41-35-660, AND 41-35-680, ALL RELATING TO APPEALS PROCEDURES FROM A DECISION OF THE COMMISSION, SO AS TO SPECIFY THAT DETERMINATIONS AND DECISIONS OF THE COMMISSION MUST BE MAILED TO THE PARTY, RATHER THAN MAILED OR DELIVERED TO THE PARTY; AND TO AMEND SECTION 41-35-750, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PROCEDURES TO OBTAIN JUDICIAL REVIEW OF A DECISION OF THE COMMISSION, SO AS TO CONFORM THESE PROCEDURES TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES ACT AND THE SOUTH CAROLINA RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE.
Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 41-29-120 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 41-29-120. (A) The commission, with the advice and aid of its advisory councils and through its appropriate divisions, shall take all appropriate steps to reduce and prevent unemployment, to encourage and assist in the adoption of practical methods of vocational training, retraining, and vocational guidance, to investigate, recommend, advise and assist in the establishment and operation, by municipalities, counties, school districts and the State, of reserves for public works to be used in times of business depression and unemployment and to promote the reemployment of unemployed workers throughout the State in every other way that may be feasible and to these ends shall carry on and publish the results of statistical surveys, investigations and research studies.
(B) The commission may require from an employing unit for the commission's cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor or its successor agency the following reports:
(1) The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics report to assign industry codes to South Carolina employers under the ES-202 Covered Employment and Wages Program;
(2) The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics report to collect employment information on multiple worksites for South Carolina employers under the ES-202 Covered Employment and Wages Program;
(3) The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics report to collect monthly employment, hours, and earnings from South Carolina employers under the BLS-790 Current Employment Statistics Program;
(4) The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics report to collect employment information from federal employers under the ES-202 Covered Employment and Wages Program;
(5) The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics report to collect occupational employment and wage information from South Carolina employers under the Occupational Employment Statistics Program."
SECTION 2. Section 41-29-170 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 71 of 1997, is further amended to read:
"Section 41-29-170. (A) A claimant or a claimant's legal representative must be supplied with information from the records, to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of the claim in any proceeding under Chapters 27 through 41 subject to restrictions the commission may by regulation prescribe. This information may be made available to any agency of this or any other state or any federal agency charged with the administration of a public assistance or state or national new hire directory or an unemployment compensation law or the maintenance of a system of public employment offices, and information obtained in connection with applications for placements may be made available to persons or agencies for purposes appropriate to the operation of a public employment service. Upon request the commission shall furnish to an agency of the United States charged with the administration of public works or assistance through public employment and may furnish to a state agency similarly charged the name, address, ordinary occupation, and employment status of each recipient of benefits and the recipient's rights to further benefits under Chapters 27 through 41.
(B) Upon written request the commission may furnish information obtained through the administration of Chapter 27 through 42 including, but not limited to, the name, address, ordinary occupation, wages, and employment status of each covered worker or recipient of benefits and the recipient's rights to further benefits under Chapters 27 through 41, to:
(1) an agency or agent of the United States charged with the administration of public works or assistance through public employment;
(2) a state agency similarly charged; or
(3) an agency or entity to which disclosure is permitted or required by federal statute or regulation or by state law.
This disclosure must be made subject to restrictions the commission may by regulation prescribe.
(C) The State Employment Office shall furnish, upon request of a public agency administering the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and child support programs, a state agency administering food stamp coupons, the state or federal agency administering the new hire directory, or any public housing authority, any information in its possession relating to:
(1) individuals who are receiving, have received, or have applied for unemployment insurance;
(2) the amount of benefits being received;
(3) the current home address of these individuals;
(4) whether any offer of work has been refused and, if so, a description of the job and the terms, conditions, and rate of pay;
(5) in the case of requests from a public housing authority, a listing of the current employer and previous employers for the available preceding six calendar quarters;
(6) in the case of requests from the state or federal agency which issues food stamp coupons or the new hire directory, a listing of the current employer and address and any previous employers and their addresses, including wage information, for the available preceding six calendar quarters.
The requesting agency is responsible for reimbursing the South Carolina Employment Security Commission for actual costs incurred in supplying the information. This information must be provided in the most useful and economical format possible."
SECTION 3. Section 41-35-640(1) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(1) An initial determination may for good cause be reconsidered. A party entitled to notice of an initial determination may apply for a reconsideration not later than ten days after the determination was mailed to his last known address or otherwise delivered to him. Notice of the redetermination shall must be promptly given, in the manner prescribed in this article with respect to notice of an initial determination."
SECTION 4. Section 41-35-660 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 41-35-660. The claimant or any other interested party may file an appeal from an initial determination, redetermination, or subsequent determination not later than ten days after the determination was mailed to his last known address, or otherwise delivered to him. The term 'any other interested party' shall mean and include means the claimant's last or separating employer, and any employer whose account may be affected by the adjudication of the claim. If an appeal is duly filed with respect to a matter other than the weekly benefit amount or maximum amount of benefits payable, and the appeal tribunal affirms a determination allowing benefits, such the benefits paid prior to before the decision disallowing benefits shall may not be recovered from any claimant regardless of any appeal which may thereafter subsequently be taken to the extent that such these benefits are not charged to the account of any employer."
SECTION 5. Section 41-35-680 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 41-35-680. Unless an appeal is withdrawn, an appeal tribunal, after affording the parties reasonable opportunity for a fair hearing, after notice of not less than seven days, must shall make findings and conclusions promptly and on the basis thereof of the findings and conclusions affirm, modify, or reverse the determination or redetermination within thirty days from the date of such the hearing. Each party must be furnished promptly with a copy of the decision, together with including the reasons therefore for the decision, which shall must be considered to be the final decision of the commission, unless within ten days after the date of mailing or delivery of such the decision a further appeal is initiated pursuant to Section 41-35-710."
SECTION 6. Section 41-35-750 of the 1976 Code, as amended by Act 55 of 1999, is further amended to read:
"Section 41-35-750. Within ten days after a decision of the commission has become final, any the time specified by the South Carolina Administrative Procedures Act, a party to the proceeding who claims to be aggrieved whose benefit rights or whose employer account may be affected by the commission's decision may secure judicial review of the decision by commencing an action in the court of common pleas, either in the county in which the employee resides or the county in which he was last employed, against the commission for the review of its decision, in which action every other party to the proceeding before the commission shall must be made a defendant. In such this action a petition, which need not be verified but which shall must state the grounds upon which a review is sought, shall must be served upon a member of the commission or upon such a person as the commission may designate, and such within the time specified by the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure governing these appeals. Service shall be is deemed complete service on all parties, but there shall must be left with the person so served as many copies of the petition as there are defendants, and the commission promptly shall forthwith mail one such copy to each such defendant. With its answer the commission shall certify and file with the court all documents and papers and a transcript of all testimony taken in the matter together with and its findings of fact and decision therein. The commission, in its discretion, also may certify to such the court questions of law involved in any decision by it the commission. In any a judicial proceeding under this chapter, the findings of the commission as to the facts, if supported by evidence and in the absence of fraud, shall must be conclusive and the jurisdiction of the court shall must be confined to questions of law. Such These actions, and the questions so certified, shall must be heard in a summary manner and shall must be given precedence over all other civil cases except cases arising under the Workers' Compensation laws of this State. An appeal may be taken from the decision of the court of common pleas in the manner provided by the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules. It shall is not be necessary, in a judicial proceeding under this article, to enter exceptions to the rulings of the commission, and no bond shall be is required for entering such the appeal. Upon the final determination of such the judicial proceeding, the commission shall enter an order in accordance with such the determination. In no event shall may a petition for judicial review act as a supersedeas or stay unless the commission shall so order orders a supersedeas or stay."
SECTION 7. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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