The Florida Senate

443.171  Division and commission; powers and duties; rules; advisory council; records and reports.--

(1)  POWERS AND DUTIES OF DIVISION.--It shall be the duty of the division to administer this chapter; and it shall have power and authority to employ such persons, make such expenditures, require such reports, make such investigations, and take such other action as it deems necessary or suitable to that end. The division shall determine its own organization and methods of procedure in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Not later than March 15 of each year, the division, through the Department of Labor and Employment Security, shall submit to the Governor a report covering the administration and operation of this chapter during the preceding calendar year and shall make such recommendations for amendment to this chapter as it deems proper.

(2)  RULES; DIVISION, SEAL.--

(a)  The division shall have the power and authority to adopt, amend, or rescind such rules as are necessary for the administration of this chapter.

(b)  The division shall have an official seal, which shall be judicially noticed.

(3)  PUBLICATION OF ACTS AND RULES.--The division shall cause to be printed and distributed to the public the text of this chapter and of the rules adopted by the division, the division's annual report to the Governor, and any other matter the division deems relevant and suitable and shall furnish this information to any person upon application therefor. However, no pamphlet, rules, circulars, or reports required by this chapter shall contain any matter except the actual data necessary to complete same or the actual language of the rule, together with proper notices thereof.

(4)  PERSONNEL.--Subject to chapter 110 and the other provisions of this chapter, the division is authorized to appoint, fix the compensation of, and prescribe the duties and powers of such employees, accountants, attorneys, experts, and other persons as may be necessary in the performance of its duties under this chapter. The division may delegate to any such person such power and authority as it deems reasonable and proper for the effective administration of this chapter and may in its discretion bond any person handling moneys or signing checks hereunder; the cost of such bonds shall be paid from the Employment Security Administration Trust Fund.

(5)  UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION ADVISORY COUNCIL.--There is created a state Unemployment Compensation Advisory Council to assist the division in reviewing the unemployment insurance program and to recommend improvements for such program.

(a)  The council shall consist of 18 members, including equal numbers of employer representatives and employee representatives who may fairly be regarded as representative because of their vocations, employments, or affiliations, and representatives of the general public.

(b)  The members of the council shall be appointed by the secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment Security. Initially, the secretary shall appoint five members for terms of 4 years, five members for terms of 3 years, five members for terms of 2 years, and three members for terms of 1 year. Thereafter, members shall be appointed for 4-year terms. A vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term.

(c)  The council shall meet at the call of its chair, at the request of a majority of its membership, at the request of the division, or at such times as may be prescribed by its rules, but not less than twice a year. The council shall make a report of each meeting, which shall include a record of its discussions and recommendations. The division shall make such reports available to any interested person or group.

(d)  Members of the council shall serve without compensation but shall be entitled to receive reimbursement for per diem and travel expenses as provided in s. 112.061.

(6)  EMPLOYMENT STABILIZATION.--The division, with the advice and aid of advisory councils, 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; to promote the reemployment of the unemployed workers throughout the state in every other way that may be feasible; to refer any claimant entitled to extended benefits to suitable work which meets the criteria of this chapter; and, to these ends, to carry on and publish the results of investigations and research studies.

(7)  RECORDS AND REPORTS.--Each employing unit shall keep true and accurate work records, containing such information as the division may prescribe. Such records shall be open to inspection and be subject to being copied by the division at any reasonable time and as often as may be necessary. The division or an appeals referee may require from any employing unit any sworn or unsworn reports, with respect to persons employed by it, deemed necessary for the effective administration of this chapter. However, a state or local governmental agency performing intelligence or counterintelligence functions need not report an employee if the head of such agency has determined that reporting the employee could endanger the safety of the employee or compromise an ongoing investigation or intelligence mission. Information revealing the employing unit's or individual's identity thus obtained from the employing unit or from any individual pursuant to the administration of this chapter, shall, except to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of a claim or upon written authorization of the claimant who has a workers' compensation claim pending, be held confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). Such information shall be available only to public employees in the performance of their public duties, including employees of the Department of Education in obtaining information for the Florida Education and Training Placement Information Program and the ¹Department of Commerce in its administration of the qualified defense contractor tax refund program authorized by ²s. 288.104, the qualified target industry business tax refund program authorized by s. 288.106. Any claimant, or the claimant's legal representative, at a hearing before an appeals referee or the commission shall be supplied with information from such records to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of her or his claim. Any employee or member of the commission or any employee of the division, or any other person receiving confidential information, who violates any provision of this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. However, the division may furnish to any employer copies of any report previously submitted by such employer, upon the request of such employer, and the division is authorized to charge therefor such reasonable fee as the division may by rule prescribe not to exceed the actual reasonable cost of the preparation of such copies. Fees received by the division for copies provided under this subsection shall be deposited to the credit of the Employment Security Administration Trust Fund.

(8)  OATHS AND WITNESSES.--In the discharge of the duties imposed by this chapter, the division, the appeals referees, and the members of the commission and any duly authorized representative of any of them shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations, take depositions, certify to official acts, and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records deemed necessary as evidence in connection with the administration of this chapter.

(9)  SUBPOENAS.--In case of contumacy by, or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to, any person, any court of this state within the jurisdiction of which the inquiry is carried on, or within the jurisdiction of which the person guilty of contumacy or refusal to obey is found, resides, or transacts business, upon application by the division, the commission, or an appeals referee or any duly authorized representative of any of them, shall have jurisdiction to issue to such person an order requiring such person to appear before the division, the commission, or an appeals referee or any duly authorized representative of any of them, there to produce evidence if so ordered or there to give testimony touching on the matter under investigation or in question; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by the court as a contempt thereof. Any person who shall without just cause fail or refuse to attend and testify or to answer any lawful inquiry or to produce books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records, if it is in her or his power to do so, in obedience to a subpoena of the division, the commission, or an appeals referee or any duly authorized representative of any of them is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083; and each day such violation continues is a separate offense.

(10)  PROTECTION AGAINST SELF-INCRIMINATION.--No person shall be excused from attending and testifying, or from producing books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records, before the division, the commission, or an appeals referee or any duly authorized representative of any of them or in obedience to the subpoena of any of them in any cause or proceeding before the division, the commission, or an appeals referee, on the ground that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of the person may tend to incriminate her or him or subject her or him to a penalty or forfeiture; but no individual shall be prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which she or he is compelled, after having claimed her or his privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, except that such individual so testifying shall not be exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in so testifying.

(11)  STATE-FEDERAL COOPERATION.--

(a)

1.  In the administration of this chapter, the division shall cooperate with the United States Department of Labor to the fullest extent consistent with the provisions of this chapter and shall take such action, through the adoption of appropriate rules, administrative methods, and standards, as may be necessary to secure to this state and its citizens all advantages available under the provisions of the Social Security Act that relate to unemployment compensation, the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, the Wagner-Peyser Act, and the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970, or other federal manpower acts.

2.  In the administration of the provisions in ³s. 443.111(5), which are enacted to conform with the requirements of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970, the division shall take such action as may be necessary to ensure that the provisions are so interpreted and applied as to meet the requirements of such federal act as interpreted by the United States Department of Labor and to secure to this state the full reimbursement of the federal share of extended benefits paid under this chapter that are reimbursable under the federal act.

3.  The division shall comply with the regulations of the United States Department of Labor relating to the receipt or expenditure by this state of moneys granted under any of such acts; shall make such reports, in such form and containing such information, as the United States Department of Labor may from time to time require; and shall comply with such provisions as the United States Department of Labor may from time to time find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of such reports.

(b)  The division may afford reasonable cooperation with every agency of the United States charged with the administration of any unemployment insurance law.

(c)  The division 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. The division may make, and may cooperate with other appropriate agencies in making, studies as to the practicability and probable cost of possible new state-administered social security programs and the relative desirability of state, rather than federal, action in any such field.

History.--s. 12, ch. 18402, 1937; CGL 1940 Supp. 4151(499), 8135(40), 8135(41); s. 11, ch. 20685, 1941; s. 4, ch. 21982, 1943; s. 1, ch. 22832, 1945; s. 3, ch. 24084, 1947; ss. 8, 9, ch. 29771, 1955; s. 1, ch. 57-269; s. 2, ch. 61-119; s. 19, ch. 63-400; ss. 10, 17, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 370, ch. 71-136; ss. 10, 11, ch. 71-225; s. 167, ch. 71-377; s. 4, ch. 74-198; s. 11, ch. 78-95; s. 18, ch. 78-300; ss. 3, 4, ch. 78-323; s. 25, ch. 79-7; s. 75, ch. 79-40; s. 6, ch. 79-308; ss. 6, 8, 9, ch. 80-95; ss. 1, 2, 3, ch. 81-75; s. 3, ch. 81-137; ss. 1, 4, ch. 82-46; s. 14, ch. 83-174; s. 19, ch. 89-189; s. 56, ch. 89-381; ss. 1, 2, ch. 90-168; s. 12, ch. 91-269; s. 5, ch. 91-429; ss. 5, 7, ch. 93-414; ss. 1, 5, ch. 94-118; ss. 15, 77, ch. 94-136; s. 294, ch. 96-406; s. 1066, ch. 97-103; s. 61, ch. 97-170.

¹Note.--Section 20.17, which created the Department of Commerce, was repealed effective December 31, 1996, by s. 3, ch. 96-320.

²Note.--Repealed by s. 8, ch. 96-348.

³Note.--Redesignated as s. 443.111(6) by s. 5, ch. 96-378, and s. 21, ch. 96-423.

Note.--Former s. 443.12.