WeVote
Log In

Bill

Bill

SB 962

Employment security: benefits; hardship application waiver; modify. Amends secs. 28, 28d, 29a, 32a, 33 & 62 of 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1 (MCL 421.28 et seq.).

2023-2024 Regular Session Introduced by John Cherry

SB 962 broadens shared-work use, restores domestic violence exemptions, tightens overpayment waivers, and clarifies active work-search and consolidated hearings.

ASSIGNED PA 238'24
#employmentsecurity:benefits
0
WeVote Research Nonpartisan
Bill Summary · SB 962

Summary — SB 962 (Michigan) — Modifications to Unemployment Insurance (Michigan Employment Security Act)

Status / Effective date
- Enacted as part of the 2024 legislative package (Public Act 238 of 2024).
- Most provisions take effect July 17, 2026. (Certain provisions described in committee summaries reference January 1, 2025 for implementation of the active-search standard.)

Purpose
- To amend the Michigan Employment Security Act to (1) clarify and streamline administrative and appeals processes, (2) adjust shared‑work plan parameters, (3) change procedures for recovery and waiver of improperly paid benefits, and (4) restore protections for certain claimants (including victims of domestic violence).

Key provisions (summary of substantive changes)
- Consolidation of hearings
- An interested party filing an appeal may request that an administrative law judge (ALJ) hear and consolidate all matters relevant to a single claimant in one hearing. An ALJ may file such a request to consolidate related matters.

  • Domestic violence exemption reinstated

    • Restores the prior exemption (which sunset in 2021) that allows an individual who voluntarily left work because they were the victim of domestic violence to remain eligible for unemployment benefits (subject to meeting statutory requirements). Benefits paid after such a leaving are charged to the nonchargeable benefits account.

  • Hardship waiver (overpayment) modifications

    • Limits how often the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) may consider repeat hardship (equity/good conscience) waiver applications: after an initial application, the UIA may not consider more than five additional hardship waiver applications from a claimant in a calendar year.
    • Expands protections around waiver consideration: the UIA cannot deny consideration of a waiver solely because the claimant has a pending appeal of matters that generated the overpayment.
    • Waiver applicability: a granted waiver applies from the date an administrative or clerical error occurred; if that date cannot be determined, it applies from the first day of the first week the improper payments began.
    • Redefines “cash assets” for waiver eligibility to mean cash in excess of $100,000 in checking or savings accounts (wages reported during the period excluded).

  • UIA recovery procedures and claimant notice

    • UIA is prohibited from initiating recovery of improperly paid benefits until it has (a) reviewed the claim for all possible waivers the claimant could be entitled to and (b) issued a detailed notice to the claimant listing waivers considered, determinations (or needed information), affected weeks, consequences, and appeal rights.

  • Active work-search requirement clarified

    • Beginning January 1, 2025 (per committee summary), an individual meets the Act’s current qualifying activities requirement for being “actively engaged in seeking work” if the individual performs any of the Act’s qualifying job search activities at least three times per week while claiming benefits.

  • Shared‑work plan change

    • The allowable reduction percentage for approved shared‑work plans is expanded from the current 15%–45% range back to 10%–60% (the broader range used previously). This may increase employer participation in shared‑work plans.

Fiscal and administrative impacts
- UIA trust fund: expanding the shared‑work reduction range could modestly increase the number of approved work‑share plans; this could lower full unemployment payouts in some situations (about 1.5% of UIA claims are from shared‑work plans currently).
- Recovery timing: postponing initiation of overpayment recoveries could delay receipts back to the UIA Trust Fund; net fiscal effect is indeterminate because waiver/appeal outcomes may also change.
- Administrative costs: expected to be minimal and manageable within current appropriations; some process change costs (e.g., notice content, IT updates) anticipated.

Who is affected
- Claimants (including domestic violence victims and those contesting or seeking waivers of overpayments)
- Employers and employing units (especially those considering shared‑work plans)
- The Unemployment Insurance Agency, ALJs, and the UIA Trust Fund.

Procedural notes
- SB 962 was considered alongside other UIA-related bills and was tie‑barred to legislation that increased maximum weeks and benefit amounts (SB 40).
- Committee analyses and fiscal notes characterize most administrative impacts as minimal to indeterminate.

For full statutory text and specific subsection changes (definitions, precise notice text, timing, and cross‑references), consult the enacted amendments to MCL 421.28, 421.28d, 421.29a, 421.32a, 421.33, and 421.62.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

Sign in to ask a question.