108.14(5)(a)(a) The council on unemployment compensation shall advise the department in carrying out the purposes of this chapter. The council shall submit its recommendations with respect to amendments of this chapter to each regular session of the legislature, and shall report its views on any pending bill relating to this chapter to the proper legislative committee.
108.14(5)(ag)
(ag) The vote of 7 of the voting members of the council on unemployment compensation is required for the council to act on a matter before it.
108.14(5)(ar)
(ar) The department shall present to the council on unemployment compensation every proposal initiated by the department for changes in this chapter and shall seek the council's concurrence with the proposal. The department shall give careful consideration to every proposal submitted by the council for legislative or administrative action and shall review each legislative proposal for possible incorporation into departmental recommendations.
108.14(5)(b)
(b) Under its authority in
s. 15.04 (1) (c), the department may appoint employment councils for industries and local districts. Each such council shall be subject to the membership requirements of
s. 15.227 (3).
108.14(6)
(6) It shall be one of the purposes of this chapter to promote the regularization of employment in enterprises, localities, industries and the state. The department, with the advice and aid of any employment councils appointed under
sub. (5) (b) and the council on unemployment compensation, shall take all appropriate steps within its means to reduce and prevent unemployment. The department shall also conduct continuing research relating to the current and anticipated condition of the fund to ensure the continued availability of benefits to unemployed individuals under this chapter. To these ends the department may employ experts, and may carry on and publish the results of any investigations and research which it deems relevant, whether or not directly related to the other purposes and specific provisions of this chapter. At least once a year the department shall compile and publish a summary report stating the experience of employer accounts, without naming any employer, and covering such other material as it deems significant in connection with the operations and purposes of this chapter.
108.14(7)(a)(a) The records made or maintained by the department or commission in connection with the administration of this chapter are confidential and shall be open to public inspection or disclosure only to the extent that the department or commission permits in the interest of the unemployment compensation program. No person may permit inspection or disclosure of any record provided to it by the department or commission unless the department or commission authorizes the inspection or disclosure.
108.14(7)(b)
(b) The department may provide records made or maintained by the department in connection with the administration of this chapter to any government unit, corresponding unit in the government of another state or any unit of the federal government. No such unit may permit inspection or disclosure of any record provided to it by the department unless the department authorizes the inspection or disclosure.
108.14(7)(c)
(c) The department may provide for the printing and distribution of such number of copies of any forms, records, decisions, regulations, rules, pamphlets or reports, related to the operation of this chapter, as it deems advisable for the effective operation thereof.
108.14(8)(a)(a) The department may enter into administrative arrangements with any agency similarly charged with the administration of any other unemployment compensation law, for the purpose of assisting the department and such agencies in paying benefits under the several laws to employes while outside their territorial jurisdictions. Such arrangements may provide that the respective agencies shall, for and on behalf of each other, act as agents in effecting registration for work, notices of unemployment, and any other certifications or statements relating to an employe's claim for benefits, in making investigations, taking depositions, holding hearings, or otherwise securing information relating to coverage or contribution liability or benefit eligibility and payments; and in such other matters as the department may consider suitable in effecting the purpose of these administrative arrangements.
108.14(8)(b)
(b) An employe's eligibility to receive benefits based on wages earned in employment in this state may be established through arrangements authorized in this subsection, and the employe shall then be paid the benefits due him or her under this chapter.
108.14(8)(c)
(c) Any person who wilfully makes a false statement or misrepresentation regarding a benefit claim, to the employment security agency of another state acting under any administrative arrangement authorized in this subsection, shall be punished in the manner provided in
s. 108.24.
108.14(8m)(a)(a) The department may enter into reciprocal arrangements, with any agency administering another unemployment compensation law, whereby all the services performed by an individual for a single employing unit, which services are customarily performed in more than one state or jurisdiction, shall be deemed to be employment covered by the law of a specified state or jurisdiction in which a part of such services are performed, or in which such individual has residence, or in which such employing unit maintains a place of business; provided there is in effect, as to such services, an election by such employing unit, approved by the agency administering the specified law, pursuant to which all the services performed by such individual for such employing unit are deemed to be employment covered by such law.
108.14(8m)(b)
(b) If the federal unemployment tax act is so amended as to make subject thereto remuneration paid for any maritime employment excluded under
s. 108.02 (15) (k) 17., such exclusion under this chapter shall cease if the department enters into a reciprocal arrangement with respect to such employment pursuant to this paragraph, as of the effective date of such arrangement. The department may enter into reciprocal arrangements with the appropriate agencies of other states with respect to such maritime services, whereby all such services by an individual for a single employer, wherever performed, shall be deemed performed wholly within this state or within any such other state. Any such services thus deemed performed in Wisconsin shall also be deemed "employment" covered by this chapter, and the election requirement of
s. 108.02 (15) (c) 2. shall not apply.
108.14(8n)(a)(a) The department shall enter into a reciprocal arrangement which is approved by the U.S. secretary of labor pursuant to section
3304 (a) (9) (B) of the internal revenue code, to provide more equitable benefit coverage for individuals whose recent work has been covered by the unemployment compensation laws of 2 or more jurisdictions.
108.14(8n)(b)
(b) Such arrangements may provide, as to any individual whose employment has been covered by this chapter and by the unemployment compensation law of one or more other participating jurisdictions, for transfer by the department to another agency of relevant records or information, and the acceptance and use thereof, in combination with similar data from other jurisdictions, by such other agency, as a basis for computing and paying benefits under the law administered by such other agency. Reciprocally, such arrangements may provide for similar acceptance, combination and use by the department of data received from other jurisdictions to compute and pay benefits under this chapter.
108.14(8n)(c)
(c) Such arrangements shall provide for mutual acceptance by the participating agencies of data thus supplied, including reasonable estimates of relevant data not otherwise available in the transferring agency.
108.14(8n)(d)
(d) Such arrangements shall specify an equitable basis for reimbursing the unemployment fund of each participating jurisdiction for any benefits paid therefrom on the basis of covered employment in (and data supplied by the agency of) another such jurisdiction, out of the unemployment fund of such other jurisdiction.
108.14(8n)(e)
(e) The department shall charge this state's share of any benefits paid under this subsection to the account of each employer by which the employe claiming benefits was employed in the applicable base period, in proportion to the total amount of wages he or she earned from each employer in the base period, except that if
s. 108.04 (1) (f),
(5),
(7) (a),
(c),
(d),
(e),
(k),
(L),
(o),
(p) or
(q),
(7m) or
(8) (a) or
108.07 (3),
(3r),
(5) (b) or
(8) would have applied to employment by such an employer who is subject to the contribution requirements of
ss. 108.17 and
108.18, the department shall charge the share of benefits based on employment with that employer to the fund's balancing account, or, if
s. 108.04 (1) (f) or
(5) or
108.07 (3) would have applied to an employer that is not subject to the contribution requirements of
ss. 108.17 and
108.18, the department shall charge the share of benefits based on that employment in accordance with
s. 108.07 (5) (a) and
(b). The department shall also charge the fund's balancing account with any other state's share of such benefits pending reimbursement by that state.
108.14(8n)(f)
(f) To facilitate the application of such arrangements to this chapter, the department may, from data received by it under such arrangements, make reasonable estimates of quarterly wages and may compute and pay benefits accordingly.
108.14(8s)
(8s) Notwithstanding
s. 108.16 (10), the department may enter into or cooperate in arrangements or reciprocal agreements with authorized agencies of other states or the U.S. secretary of labor, or both, whereby:
108.14(8s)(a)
(a) Overpayments of unemployment compensation benefits as determined under this chapter may be recovered by offset from unemployment compensation benefits otherwise payable under the unemployment compensation law of another state, and overpayments of unemployment compensation benefits as determined under the unemployment compensation law of that other state may be recovered by offset from unemployment compensation benefits otherwise payable under this chapter; and
108.14(8s)(b)
(b) Overpayments of unemployment compensation benefits as determined under applicable federal law, with respect to benefits or allowances for unemployment provided under a federal program administered by this state under an agreement with the U.S. secretary of labor, may be recovered by offset from unemployment compensation benefits otherwise payable under that program, or under the unemployment compensation law of this state or of another state or any such federal unemployment benefit or allowance program administered by the other state under an agreement with the U.S. secretary of labor if the other state has in effect a reciprocal agreement with the U.S. secretary of labor as authorized by
42 USC 503 (g) (2), if the United States agrees, as provided in the reciprocal agreement with this state entered into under
42 USC 503 (g) (2), that overpayments of unemployment compensation benefits as determined under this chapter, and overpayments as determined under the unemployment compensation law of another state which has in effect a reciprocal agreement with the U.S. secretary of labor as authorized by
42 USC 503 (g) (2), may be recovered by offset from benefits or allowances for unemployment otherwise payable under a federal program administered by this state or the other state under an agreement with the U.S. secretary of labor.
108.14(8t)
(8t) If the agency administering another unemployment compensation law has overpaid benefits to an individual located in Wisconsin, and certifies to the department the facts involved and that the individual is liable, under such law, to repay such benefits, and requests the department to recover such overpayment, and agrees to reimburse the department for any court costs incurred by it in such recovery efforts, the department may in its own name, but acting as agent for such other agency, collect such overpayment by civil action, and shall pay the net amount recovered to such other agency.
108.14(9)
(9) The department may make its records relating to the administration of this chapter available to the Railroad Retirement Board, and may furnish the Railroad Retirement Board, at the expense of said board, such copies thereof as said board deems necessary for its purposes. The department may afford reasonable cooperation with every agency of the United States charged with the administration of any unemployment compensation law. The department may make arrangements or agreements with the Railroad Retirement Board, or any other agency of the United States charged with the administration of an unemployment compensation law, with respect to the establishment, maintenance and use of free employment service facilities, the taking and certifying of claims, the making of investigations, and the supplying of other information or services related to unemployment compensation, but the department may not make or renew any such arrangement or agreement unless it finds that its resulting administrative costs are approximately covered or offset by the facilities, services and payments to be made available thereunder by such federal agency. Any moneys received by the department under this subsection shall be paid into the federal administrative financing account under
s. 108.161.
108.14(9m)
(9m) The department may afford reasonable cooperation with any government agency charged with war-effort or post-war planning responsibilities or with the administration of any system of unemployment allowances or unemployment assistance or of any other program designed to prevent or relieve unemployment. All moneys payable to or received by this state for any program of allowances pursuant to an agreement with any government or nonprofit agency, whereby moneys are made available to the state solely for that purpose, shall be paid to the state and shall promptly be deposited by the department to the credit of a separate account therefor, with such custodians as the state may from time to time select, who shall hold, release and transfer the cash in any such account in a manner approved by the department of administration. Payments from any such account shall be made upon vouchers or drafts authorized by the department, in such manner as the department of administration may from time to time approve or prescribe. The treasurer of the unemployment reserve fund shall serve as treasurer of any account under this subsection. The bond of the treasurer, as required under
ss. 19.01 (2) and
108.16 (4), shall likewise be conditioned upon the faithful performance of the duties under this subsection by the treasurer and the treasurer's subordinates, in such additional amount as may be fixed by the department. The treasurer shall report annually to the department of administration regarding receipts and disbursements under this subsection.
108.14(10)
(10) The department shall comply with requirements of the U.S. secretary of labor to determine the degree of accuracy and timeliness in the administration of this chapter with respect to benefit payments, benefit determinations and revenue collections.
108.14(11)
(11) The department may require any employing unit which employs one or more individuals to perform work in this state to make such arrangements as will reasonably assure the department that the employing unit will keep such records, make such reports, and pay such contributions as are required under this chapter. Any employing unit which the department has notified, through notice served on it or sent by registered mail to its last-known address or served by publishing a notice under
s. 180.1510 (4) (b) 1., that it is required to make such arrangements and which fails to do so within 20 days after such notification may, through proceedings instituted by the department in the circuit court for Dane county, be restrained from doing business in this state until it has made such arrangements.
108.14(12)(a)(a) Consistently with the provisions of pars.
(8) and
(9) of section 303
(a) of Title III of the federal social security act, all moneys received in the federal administrative financing account from any federal agency under said Title III shall be expended solely for the purposes and in the amounts found necessary by said agency for the proper and efficient administration of this chapter.
108.14(12)(b)
(b) Consistently with said provisions of said Title III, any such moneys, received prior to July 1, 1941, and remaining unencumbered on said date or received on or after said date, which, because of any action or contingency, have been lost or have been expended for purposes other than, or in amounts in excess of, those found necessary by said agency for the proper administration of this chapter, shall be replaced within a reasonable time. This paragraph is the declared policy of this state, as enunciated by the 1941 legislature, and shall be implemented as further provided in this subsection.
108.14(12)(c)
(c) If it is believed that any amount of money thus received has been thus lost or improperly expended, the department on its own motion or on notice from said agency shall promptly investigate and determine the matter and shall, depending on the nature of its determination, take such steps as it may deem necessary to protect the interests of the state.
108.14(12)(d)
(d) If it is finally determined that moneys thus received have been thus lost or improperly expended, then the department shall either make the necessary replacement from those moneys in the administrative account specified in
s. 108.20 (2m) or shall submit, at the next budget hearings conducted by the governor and at the budget hearings conducted by the next legislature convened in regular session, a request that the necessary replacement be made by an appropriation from the general fund.
108.14(12)(e)
(e) This subsection shall not be construed to relieve this state of any obligation existing prior to its enactment with respect to moneys received prior to July 1, 1941, pursuant to said Title III.
108.14(13)
(13) The department may, with the advice of the council on unemployment compensation, by general rule modify or suspend any provision of this chapter if and to the extent necessary to permit continued certification of this chapter for grants to this state under Title III of the federal social security act and for maximum credit allowances to employers under the federal unemployment tax act.
108.14(14)
(14) The department shall fully cooperate with the agencies of other states, and shall make every proper effort within its means, to oppose and prevent any further action which would in its judgment tend to effect complete or substantial federalization of state unemployment compensation funds or state employment security programs.
108.14(15)
(15) The department may make, and may cooperate with other appropriate agencies in making, studies as to the practicality and probable cost of possible new state-administered social security programs, and the relative desirability of state, rather than national, action in any such field.
108.14(16)
(16) The department shall have duplicated or printed, and shall distribute without charge, such employment security reports, studies and other materials, including the text of this chapter and instructional or explanatory pamphlets for employers or workers, as it deems necessary for public information or for the proper administration of this chapter; but the department may collect a reasonable charge, which shall be credited to the administrative account, for any such item the cost of which is not fully covered by federal administrative grants.
108.14(17)
(17) To help provide suitable quarters for the administration of this chapter at the lowest practicable long-run cost, the department may, with the governor's approval and subject to all relevant statutory requirements, use part of the moneys available for such administration under
s. 20.445 (1) (n) to buy suitable real property, or to help construct suitable quarters on any state-owned land, or for the long-term rental or rental-purchase of suitable land and quarters. In each such case full and proper use shall be made of any federal grants available for the administration of this chapter.
108.14 History
History: 1971 c. 53;
1973 c. 90 s.
559;
1973 c. 247;
1975 c. 343;
1977 c. 29,
133;
1977 c. 196 s.
131;
1977 c. 272 s.
98;
1979 c. 34 s.
2102 (25) (a);
1979 c. 110 s.
60 (11);
1979 c. 221;
1981 c. 36 ss.
18,
45;
1983 a. 8 s.
54;
1983 a. 189 s.
329 (28);
1983 a. 388;
1985 a. 17;
1985 a. 29 ss.
1664 to
1668,
3202 (29);
1985 a. 332;
1987 a. 38,
255;
1989 a. 77,
139,
303,
359;
1991 a. 89;
1993 a. 373,
490,
492;
1995 a. 27,
118,
225.
108.14 Annotation
Provisions for aggregation of multi-jurisdictional employment and wages do not affect eligibility except where state's disqualification of claimant is based on change in jurisdiction. Fox Valley Ed. Dist. v. LIRC, 125 W (2d) 285, 371 NW (2d) 811 (Ct. App. 1985).
108.141(1)(1)
Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
108.141(1)(a)
(a) "Eligibility period" of an individual means the period consisting of the weeks in the individual's benefit year which begin in an extended benefit period and, if the individual's benefit year ends within such extended benefit period, any weeks thereafter which begin in such period.
108.141(1)(b)
(b) "Exhaustee" means an individual who, with respect to any week of unemployment in the individual's eligibility period:
108.141(1)(b)1.
1. Has received, prior to that week, all of the regular benefits that were available to the individual under this chapter or any other state law, including dependents' allowances and benefits payable to federal civilian employes and former military personnel under 5 USC
ch. 85, in the individual's current benefit year that includes that week or is precluded from receiving regular benefits by reason of the law of another state which meets the requirement of section
3304 (a) (7) of the internal revenue code or is precluded from receiving regular benefits by reason of a seasonal limitation in the law of another state. An individual is considered to have received all of the regular benefits that were available to the individual although as a result of a pending appeal under
s. 108.09 or
108.10 the individual may subsequently be determined to be entitled to added regular benefits; or
108.141(1)(b)2.
2. His or her benefit year having expired in the extended benefit period and prior to such week, lacks base period wages on the basis of which he or she could establish a benefit year under
s. 108.06; and
108.141(1)(b)3.
3. Has no right to unemployment benefits or allowances, as the case may be, under the railroad unemployment insurance act or such other federal laws as are specified in regulations issued by the U.S. secretary of labor, and has not received and is not seeking unemployment benefits under the unemployment compensation law of Canada, but if the individual is seeking such benefits and the appropriate agency finally determines that he or she is not entitled to benefits under such law he or she is an exhaustee.
108.141(1)(c)
(c) "Extended benefit period" means a period which:
108.141(1)(c)1.
1. Begins with the 3rd week after whichever of the following weeks occurs first:
108.141(1)(c)1.b.
b. A week for which there is a Wisconsin "on" indicator, provided that no extended benefit period may begin by reason of a Wisconsin "on" indicator before the 14th week following the end of a prior extended benefit period which was in effect with respect to Wisconsin; and
108.141(1)(c)2.
2. Ends with either of the following weeks, whichever occurs later:
108.141(1)(c)2.a.
a. The 3rd week after the first week for which there is both a national "off" indicator and a Wisconsin "off" indicator; or
108.141(1)(d)
(d) "Extended benefits" means benefits, including benefits payable to federal civilian employes and former military personnel under 5 USC
ch. 85, payable to an individual under this section for weeks of unemployment in that individual's eligibility period.
108.141 Note
NOTE: Par. (d) is shown as affected by two acts of the 1995 legislature and as merged by the revisor under s. 13.93 (2) (c).
108.141(1)(e)
(e) Except as provided in
sub. (1m), there is a Wisconsin "off" indicator for a week if the department determines, in accordance with the regulations of the U.S. secretary of labor, that, for the period consisting of such week and the immediately preceding 12 weeks, the Wisconsin rate of insured unemployment (not seasonally adjusted):
108.141(1)(e)1.
1. Was less than 6% and less than 120% of the average of such rates for the corresponding 13-week period ending in each of the preceding 2 calendar years; and
108.141(1)(f)
(f) There is a Wisconsin "on" indicator for a week if the department determines, in accordance with the regulations of the U.S. secretary of labor, that, for the period consisting of such week and the immediately preceding 12 weeks, the Wisconsin rate of insured unemployment (not seasonally adjusted):
108.141(1)(f)1.
1. Equaled or exceeded 120% of the average of such rates for the corresponding 13-week period ending in each of the preceding 2 calendar years, and equaled or exceeded 5%; or
108.141(1)(g)
(g) "Regular benefits" means benefits payable to an individual under this chapter or under any other state law, including benefits payable to federal civilian employes and to former military personnel pursuant to 5 USC
ch. 85, other than extended benefits and additional benefits as defined in
P.L. 91-373.
108.141(1)(h)
(h) "State law" means the unemployment compensation law of any state, approved by the U.S. secretary of labor under section
3304 of the internal revenue code.
108.141(1)(i)
(i) "Wisconsin rate of insured unemployment" means the percentage determined by the department on the basis of its reports to the U.S. secretary of labor and according to the method or methods prescribed by applicable federal law or regulation.
108.141(1m)
(1m) Additional federally funded benefits. The governor may, by executive order, elect to establish a Wisconsin "off" indicator in order to allow for the payment of additional federally funded benefits in lieu of extended benefits during a period specified in the order, if such an election is permitted by federal law. Any such indicator is effective at the beginning of the week in which additional federally funded benefits are initially payable or the beginning of the 4th week after the week in which the governor issues the order, whichever is later.
108.141(2)
(2) Effect of other provisions of this chapter. Except when the result would be inconsistent with the other provisions of this section, the provisions of this chapter which apply to claims for, or the payment of, regular benefits shall apply to claims for, and the payment of, extended benefits.
108.141(3)
(3) Eligibility requirements for extended benefits. An individual shall be eligible to receive extended benefits with respect to any week of unemployment in his or her eligibility period only if:
108.141(3)(a)
(a) The individual had base period wages equaling at least 40 times the individual's most recent weekly benefit rate;
108.141(3)(c)
(c) The individual is not disqualified and has satisfied those other requirements of this chapter for the payment of regular benefits that apply to individuals claiming extended benefits.
108.141(3g)
(3g) Additional requirements for extended benefits. 108.141(3g)(a)1.1. If an individual fails to provide sufficient evidence that his or her prospects for obtaining work in his or her customary occupation within a period of time not exceeding 4 weeks, beginning with the first week of eligibility for extended benefits, are good, this paragraph, rather than
s. 108.04 (8), applies.
108.141(3g)(a)2.
2. An individual who fails either to apply for suitable work when notified by a public employment office or to accept suitable work when offered is ineligible to receive extended benefits beginning with the first week following the week that the department notifies the individual in writing of the requirements to apply for and accept such work in which such a failure occurs and for the weeks following thereafter until the individual has again worked within at least 4 subsequent weeks and earned wages equal to at least 4 times his or her extended weekly benefit rate.
108.141(3g)(a)3.b.
b. The gross average weekly remuneration for the work exceeds the individual's weekly benefit rate plus any supplemental unemployment benefits, as defined in section
501 (c) (17) (D) of the internal revenue code, then payable to the individual;
108.141(3g)(a)3.c.
c. Wages for the work equal or exceed the higher of either the minimum wage provided by
29 USC 206, without regard to any exemption, or any state or local minimum wage; and
108.141(3g)(a)3.d.
d. The offer of work to the individual was in writing or the position was listed with a public employment office.
108.141(3g)(b)
(b) The department's public employment offices shall refer extended benefit claimants to suitable work meeting the conditions prescribed in
par. (a).
108.141(3g)(c)
(c) A systematic and sustained effort to obtain work shall be made and tangible evidence thereof provided to the department in each week by a claimant for each week for which the claimant files a claim for extended benefits. If a claimant fails to make the required effort to obtain work or to provide tangible evidence thereof, he or she is ineligible for extended benefits for the week in which the failure occurs and thereafter until he or she has again worked within at least 4 subsequent weeks and has earned wages equal to at least 4 times his or her weekly extended benefit rate.
108.141(3g)(d)
(d) Notwithstanding
s. 108.04 (6) and
(7), an individual who was disqualified from receipt of benefits because of voluntarily terminating employment or incurring a disciplinary suspension for misconduct or other good cause is ineligible to receive extended benefits unless the individual has, since the date of that disqualification, been employed during at least 4 subsequent weeks and earned wages equal to at least 4 times his or her weekly extended benefit rate.
108.141(3g)(e)
(e) Extended benefits shall not be denied under
par. (a) 2. to an individual for any week if the failure would not result in a denial of benefits under the law of the state governing eligibility for such benefits to the extent that the law is not inconsistent with this subsection.
