AN ACT relating to unemployment insurance.

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AN ACT relating to unemployment insurance. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 341.350 is amended to read as follows: 3
An unemployed worker shall, except as provided in KRS 341.360 and 341.370, be 4
eligible for benefits with respect to any week of unemployment only if: 5
(1) He or she has made a claim for benefits; 6
(2) For an initial claim made on or after January 1, 2012, he or she has served a waiting 7
period of one (1) week, during which he or she has not received benefits. The 8
waiting week period shall be the first compensable week of an initial claim for 9
benefits for which he or she is eligible and qualified to receive benefits under this 10
chapter. A waiting week period shall be required for each benefit year, whether or 11
not consecutive. No more than one (1) waiting week period shall be required in any 12
benefit y ear. The waiting week shall become compensable once the remaining 13
balance on the claim is equal to or less than the compensable amount for the 14
waiting week; 15
(3) (a) He or she has registered for work with respect to such week in accordance 16
with administrative regulations promulgated by the secretary; 17
(b) He or she participates in reemployment services, such as job search assistance 18
services, if pursuant to a profiling system established by the secretary, he or 19
she has been determined to be likely to exhaust regular benefits unless: 20
1. The claimant has completed the services to which he or she is referred; 21
or 22
2. There is justifiable cause for the claimant's failure to p articipate in the 23
services. For the purpose of this section, "justifiable cause" shall be 24
interpreted to mean what a reasonable person would do in like 25
circumstances; and 26
(c) He or she engages in at least five (5) verifiable work search activities during 27
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each week in which he or she claims eligibility. At least three (3) of these 1
activities each week shall consist of formally submitting an application for 2
employment or interviewing for employment. "Work search activities" 3
includes any of the following: 4
1. Formally submitting an application for employment, either in person or 5
online; 6
2. Interviewing for employment virtually, in person, or online; 7
3. Job shadowing; 8
4. Attending a job fair or networking event hosted by state or local 9
government or a business organization; 10
5. Participating in a job search skills workshop or seminar; and 11
6. Participating in official Kentucky Career Center or partner programs 12
related to employment or the search for employment; 13
(4) He or she is physically and mentally able to work; 14
(5) He or she is available for suitable work, and making such reasonable effort to 15
obtain work as might be expected of a prudent person under like circumstances; 16
(6) His or her base -period wages in that calendar quarter of his or her base period in 17
which such wages were highest are equal to at least one thousand five hundred 18
dollars ($1,500), and his or her total base -period wages are not less than one and 19
one-half (1-1/2) times the base-period wages paid to him or her in such quarter and 20
he or she was pai d base-period wages in the last six (6) months of his or her base 21
period equal to at least eight (8) times his or her weekly benefit rate with a 22
minimum of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) earned outside the high 23
quarter. Beginning on January 1, 2020, and continuing on January 1 in even -24
numbered years thereafter, the secretary shall adjust the minimum base -period 25
wages at a rate that is directly proportional to the average percentage change in the 26
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI -U) for the two (2) previous 27
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calendar years; 1
(7) An otherwise eligible worker shall not be denied benefits under subsection (5) of 2
this section or because of his or her failure to actively seek work under subsection 3
(3) of this section, nor disqualified und er paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of KRS 4
341.370: 5
(a) With respect to any week he or she is certified as being enrolled and making 6
satisfactory progress in an approved job training or certification program;[ or] 7
(b) If he or she has verified definite retu rn-to-work or recall -to-work prospects 8
within a period of twelve (12) months [sixteen (16) weeks] from the date of 9
filing of the initial or reopened claim; or 10
(c) If his or her place of employment becomes nonoperational due to a natural 11
disaster and can rea sonably be expected to resume operations within twelve 12
(12) months from the date of the natural disaster. 13
(8) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, no otherwise eligible worker 14
shall be denied benefits for any week because he or she is in t raining approved 15
under 19 U.S.C. sec. 2296 (Section 236(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974), nor shall 16
such worker be denied benefits by reason of leaving work to enter such training 17
provided such work is not suitable employment, or because of the application to any 18
such week in training of provisions in this law (or any applicable federal 19
unemployment compensation law) relating to availability for work, active search 20
for work, or refusal to accept work. For purpose of this subsection, the term 21
"suitable employ ment" shall mean employment of a substantially equal or higher 22
skill level than the worker's past adversely affected employment as defined in 19 23
U.S.C. sec. 2319 (Trade Act of 1974), and wages for such work are not less than 24
eighty percent (80%) of the wor kers' average weekly wage as determined for 25
purposes of the Trade Act of 1974. 26
(9) The foregoing eligibility requirements and the conditions of benefit 27
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disqualifications imposed by KRS 341.370 shall be strictly construed. Nothing in 1
this section, excepting subsection (6) of this section, nor in KRS 341.360 or 2
341.370 shall affect the establishment of a "benefit year." 3
(10) The cabinet shall conduct randomized weekly audits of a number determined by the 4
secretary as sufficient to evaluate compliance with the work search activity 5
requirements of this section, and shall submit an annual report to the Governor and 6
the Interim Joint Committee on Economic Development and Workforce Investment 7
detailing: 8
(a) The percentage of audited claimants that failed to comply with the work 9
search activity requirement outlined in this section; 10
(b) The work search activities that were most commonly engaged in by audited 11
claimants; 12
(c) Recommendations to make the work search activity requirement more 13
effective in assisting claimants in finding employment; 14
(d) The number of claims audited each week and the total number of claims 15
audited during the reporting period; 16
(e) The percentage of total claims audited each week and percentage of total 17
claims audited during the reporting period; and 18
(f) A summary of the methodology used to conduct randomized auditing. 19
(11) The secretary shall promulgate regulations and standards for the verification of 20
claimants' work search activities and the methods by which claimants shall submit 21
work search activities and any associated documentation required by the secretary 22
for verification. 23