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The Florida Senate

2005 Florida Statutes

SECTION 101
Disqualification for benefits.
Section 443.101, Florida Statutes 2005

443.101  Disqualification for benefits.--An individual shall be disqualified for benefits:

(1)(a)  For the week in which he or she has voluntarily left his or her work without good cause attributable to his or her employing unit or in which the individual has been discharged by his or her employing unit for misconduct connected with his or her work, based on a finding by the Agency for Workforce Innovation. As used in this paragraph, the term "work" means any work, whether full-time, part-time, or temporary.

1.  Disqualification for voluntarily quitting continues for the full period of unemployment next ensuing after he or she has left his or her full-time, part-time, or temporary work voluntarily without good cause and until the individual has earned income equal to or in excess of 17 times his or her weekly benefit amount. As used in this subsection, the term "good cause" includes only that cause attributable to the employing unit or which consists of illness or disability of the individual requiring separation from his or her work. Any other disqualification may not be imposed. An individual is not disqualified under this subsection for voluntarily leaving temporary work to return immediately when called to work by the permanent employing unit that temporarily terminated his or her work within the previous 6 calendar months. For benefit years beginning on or after July 1, 2004, an individual is not disqualified under this subsection for voluntarily leaving work to relocate as a result of his or her military-connected spouse's permanent change of station orders, activation orders, or unit deployment orders.

2.  Disqualification for being discharged for misconduct connected with his or her work continues for the full period of unemployment next ensuing after having been discharged and until the individual has become reemployed and has earned income of at least 17 times his or her weekly benefit amount and for not more than 52 weeks that immediately follow that week, as determined by the Agency for Workforce Innovation in each case according to the circumstances in each case or the seriousness of the misconduct, under the agency's rules adopted for determinations of disqualification for benefits for misconduct.

(b)  For any week with respect to which the Agency for Workforce Innovation finds that his or her unemployment is due to a suspension for misconduct connected with the individual's work.

(c)  For any week with respect to which the Agency for Workforce Innovation finds that his or her unemployment is due to a leave of absence, if the leave was voluntarily initiated by the individual.

(d)  For any week with respect to which the Agency for Workforce Innovation finds that his or her unemployment is due to a discharge for misconduct connected with the individual's work, consisting of drug use, as evidenced by a positive, confirmed drug test.

(2)  If the Agency for Workforce Innovation finds that the individual has failed without good cause to apply for available suitable work when directed by the agency or the one-stop career center, to accept suitable work when offered to him or her, or to return to the individual's customary self-employment when directed by the agency, the disqualification continues for the full period of unemployment next ensuing after he or she failed without good cause to apply for available suitable work, to accept suitable work, or to return to his or her customary self-employment, under this subsection, and until the individual has earned income at least 17 times his or her weekly benefit amount. The Agency for Workforce Innovation shall by rule adopt criteria for determining the "suitability of work," as used in this section. The Agency for Workforce Innovation in developing these rules shall consider the duration of a claimant's unemployment in determining the suitability of work and the suitability of proposed rates of compensation for available work. Further, after an individual has received 25 weeks of benefits in a single year, suitable work is a job that pays the minimum wage and is 120 percent or more of the weekly benefit amount the individual is drawing.

(a)  In determining whether or not any work is suitable for an individual, the Agency for Workforce Innovation shall consider the degree of risk involved to his or her health, safety, and morals; his or her physical fitness and prior training; the individual's experience and prior earnings; his or her length of unemployment and prospects for securing local work in his or her customary occupation; and the distance of the available work from his or her residence.

(b)  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, work is not deemed suitable and benefits may not be denied under this chapter to any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new work under any of the following conditions:

1.  If the position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout, or other labor dispute.

2.  If the wages, hours, or other conditions of the work offered are substantially less favorable to the individual than those prevailing for similar work in the locality.

3.  If as a condition of being employed, the individual would be required to join a company union or to resign from or refrain from joining any bona fide labor organization.

(c)  If the Agency for Workforce Innovation finds that an individual was rejected for offered employment as the direct result of a positive, confirmed drug test required as a condition of employment, the individual is disqualified for refusing to accept an offer of suitable work.

(3)  For any week with respect to which he or she is receiving or has received remuneration in the form of:

(a)  Wages in lieu of notice.

(b)1.  Compensation for temporary total disability or permanent total disability under the workers' compensation law of any state or under a similar law of the United States.

2.  However, if the remuneration referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) is less than the benefits that would otherwise be due under this chapter, he or she is entitled to receive for that week, if otherwise eligible, benefits reduced by the amount of the remuneration.

(4)  For any week with respect to which the Agency for Workforce Innovation finds that his or her total or partial unemployment is due to a labor dispute in active progress which exists at the factory, establishment, or other premises at which he or she is or was last employed; except that this subsection does not apply if it is shown to the satisfaction of the Agency for Workforce Innovation that:

(a)1.  He or she is not participating in, financing, or directly interested in the labor dispute that is in active progress; however, the payment of regular union dues may not be construed as financing a labor dispute within the meaning of this section; and

2.  He or she does not belong to a grade or class of workers of which immediately before the commencement of the labor dispute there were members employed at the premises at which the labor dispute occurs any of whom are participating in, financing, or directly interested in the dispute; if in any case separate branches of work are commonly conducted as separate businesses in separate premises, or are conducted in separate departments of the same premises, each department, for the purpose of this subsection, is deemed to be a separate factory, establishment, or other premise.

(b)  His or her total or partial unemployment results from a lockout by his or her employer. As used in this section, the term "lockout" means a situation in which employees have not gone on strike, nor have employees notified the employer of a date certain for a strike, but in which employees have been denied entry to the factory, establishment, or other premises of employment by the employer. However, benefits are not payable under this paragraph if the lockout action was taken in response to threats, actions, or other indications of impending damage to property and equipment or possible physical violence by employees or in response to actual damage or violence or a substantial reduction in production instigated or perpetrated by employees.

(5)  For any week with respect to which or a part of which he or she has received or is seeking unemployment benefits under an unemployment compensation law of another state or of the United States. For the purposes of this subsection, an unemployment compensation law of the United States is any law of the United States which provides for payment of any type and in any amounts for periods of unemployment due to lack of work. However, if the appropriate agency of the other state or of the United States finally determines that he or she is not entitled to unemployment benefits, this disqualification does not apply.

(6)  For a period not to exceed 1 year from the date of the discovery by the Agency for Workforce Innovation of the making of any false or fraudulent representation for the purpose of obtaining benefits contrary to this chapter, constituting a violation under s. 443.071 This disqualification may be appealed in the same manner as any other disqualification imposed under this section. A conviction by any court of competent jurisdiction in this state of the offense prohibited or punished by s. 443.071 is conclusive upon the appeals referee and the commission of the making of the false or fraudulent representation for which disqualification is imposed under this section.

(7)  If the Agency for Workforce Innovation finds that the individual is an alien, unless the alien is an individual who has been lawfully admitted for permanent residence or otherwise is permanently residing in the United States under color of law, including an alien who is lawfully present in the United States as a result of the application of s. 203(a)(7) or s. 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, if any modifications to s. 3304(a)(14) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, as provided by Pub. L. No. 94-566, which specify other conditions or other effective dates than those stated under federal law for the denial of benefits based on services performed by aliens, and which modifications are required to be implemented under state law as a condition for full tax credit against the tax imposed by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, are deemed applicable under this section, if:

(a)  Any data or information required of individuals applying for benefits to determine whether benefits are not payable to them because of their alien status is uniformly required from all applicants for benefits; and

(b)  In the case of an individual whose application for benefits would otherwise be approved, a determination that benefits to such individual are not payable because of his or her alien status may not be made except by a preponderance of the evidence.

If the Agency for Workforce Innovation finds that the individual has refused without good cause an offer of resettlement or relocation, which offer provides for suitable employment for the individual notwithstanding the distance of relocation, resettlement, or employment from the current location of the individual in this state, this disqualification continues for the week in which the failure occurred and for not more than 17 weeks immediately after that week, or a reduction by not more than 5 weeks from the duration of benefits, as determined by the Agency for Workforce Innovation in each case.

(8)  For any week with respect to which he or she has received, from a base period employer, benefits from a retirement, pension, or annuity program embodied in a union contract or either a public or private employee benefit program, except:

(a)  For any week in which benefits from a retirement, pension, or annuity program, as referred to in this subsection, are less than the weekly benefits that would otherwise be due under this chapter, he or she is entitled to receive for that week, if otherwise eligible, benefits reduced by the amount of benefits from the retirement, pension, or annuity program, prorated to a weekly basis;

(b)  For any week in which an individual has received benefits from a retirement, pension, or annuity program, as referred to in this subsection, for which program he or she has paid at least one-half of the contributions, the individual is entitled to receive for that week, if otherwise eligible, benefits reduced by one-half of the amount of benefits from the retirement, pension, or annuity program, prorated on a weekly basis; or

(c)  For any week in which he or she has received benefits from a retirement, pension, or annuity program under the United States Social Security Act, for which program he or she has paid any contribution, benefits may not be reduced because of the contribution.

For the purpose of this subsection, benefits from the United States Social Security Act, a disability benefit program, or any other similar periodic payment based on the previous work of the individual are considered retirement income, except as provided in paragraph (c).

(9)  If the individual was terminated from his or her work for violation of any criminal law punishable by imprisonment, or for any dishonest act, in connection with his or her work, as follows:

(a)  If the Agency for Workforce Innovation or the Unemployment Appeals Commission finds that the individual was terminated from his or her work for violation of any criminal law punishable by imprisonment in connection with his or her work, and the individual was found guilty of the offense, made an admission of guilt in a court of law, or entered a plea of no contest, the individual is not entitled to unemployment benefits for up to 52 weeks, under rules adopted by the Agency for Workforce Innovation, and until he or she has earned income of at least 17 times his or her weekly benefit amount. If, before an adjudication of guilt, an admission of guilt, or a plea of no contest, the employer shows the Agency for Workforce Innovation that the arrest was due to a crime against the employer or the employer's business and, after considering all the evidence, the Agency for Workforce Innovation finds misconduct in connection with the individual's work, the individual is not entitled to unemployment benefits.

(b)  If the Agency for Workforce Innovation or the Unemployment Appeals Commission finds that the individual was terminated from work for any dishonest act in connection with his or her work, the individual is not entitled to unemployment benefits for up to 52 weeks, under rules adopted by the Agency for Workforce Innovation, and until he or she has earned income of at least 17 times his or her weekly benefit amount. In addition, if the employer terminates an individual as a result of a dishonest act in connection with his or her work and the Agency for Workforce Innovation finds misconduct in connection with his or her work, the individual is not entitled to unemployment benefits.

With respect to an individual disqualified for benefits, the account of the terminating employer, if the employer is in the base period, is noncharged at the time the disqualification is imposed.

(10)  Subject to the requirements of this subsection, if the claim is made based on the loss of employment as a leased employee for an employee leasing company or as a temporary employee for a temporary help firm.

(a)  As used in this subsection, the term:

1.  "Temporary help firm" means a firm that hires its own employees and assigns them to clients to support or supplement the client's workforce in work situations such as employee absences, temporary skill shortages, seasonal workloads, and special assignments and projects. The term also includes a firm created by an entity licensed under s. 125.012(6), which hires employees assigned by a union for the purpose of supplementing or supporting the workforce of the temporary help firm's clients. The term does not include employee leasing companies regulated under part XI of chapter 468.

2.  "Temporary employee" means an employee assigned to work for the clients of a temporary help firm.

3.  "Leased employee" means an employee assigned to work for the clients of an employee leasing company regulated under part XI of chapter 468.

(b)  A temporary or leased employee is deemed to have voluntarily quit employment and is disqualified for benefits under subparagraph (1)(a)1. if, upon conclusion of his or her latest assignment, the temporary or leased employee, without good cause, failed to contact the temporary help or employee-leasing firm for reassignment, if the employer advised the temporary or leased employee at the time of hire and that the leased employee is notified also at the time of separation that he or she must report for reassignment upon conclusion of each assignment, regardless of the duration of the assignment, and that unemployment benefits may be denied for failure to report.

(11)  If an individual is discharged from employment for drug use as evidenced by a positive, confirmed drug test as provided in paragraph (1)(d), or is rejected for offered employment because of a positive, confirmed drug test as provided in paragraph (2)(c), test results and chain of custody documentation provided to the employer by a licensed and approved drug-testing laboratory is self-authenticating and admissible in unemployment compensation hearings, and such evidence creates a rebuttable presumption that the individual used, or was using, controlled substances, subject to the following conditions:

(a)  To qualify for the presumption described in this subsection, an employer must have implemented a drug-free workplace program under ss. 440.101 and 440.102, and must submit proof that the employer has qualified for the insurance discounts provided under s. 627.0915, as certified by the insurance carrier or self-insurance unit. In lieu of these requirements, an employer who does not fit the definition of "employer" in s. 440.102 may qualify for the presumption if the employer is in compliance with equivalent or more stringent drug-testing standards established by federal law or regulation.

(b)  Only laboratories licensed and approved as provided in s. 440.102(9), or as provided by equivalent or more stringent licensing requirements established by federal law or regulation may perform the drug tests.

(c)  Disclosure of drug test results and other information pertaining to drug testing of individuals who claim or receive compensation under this chapter shall be governed by s. 443.1715

History.--s. 6, ch. 18402, 1937; s. 4, ch. 19637, 1939; CGL 1940 Supp. 4151(493); s. 6, ch. 20685, 1941; s. 4, ch. 21983, 1943; s. 1, ch. 24083, 1947; s. 3, ch. 28242, 1953; s. 1, ch. 63-327; s. 1, ch. 63-157; s. 1, ch. 65-45; s. 1, ch. 65-114; s. 1, ch. 65-115; s. 1, ch. 65-244; s. 1, ch. 65-411; ss. 17, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 1, ch. 72-190; s. 4, ch. 77-262; s. 4, ch. 77-399; s. 1, ch. 77-424; s. 1, ch. 78-386; s. 22, ch. 79-7; s. 74, ch. 79-40; s. 2, ch. 79-293; s. 2, ch. 79-308; s. 183, ch. 79-400; ss. 3, 8, 9, ch. 80-95; s. 3, ch. 80-345; s. 1, ch. 81-42; s. 1, ch. 81-137; s. 4, ch. 88-289; s. 1, ch. 92-38; s. 1, ch. 92-84; s. 1, ch. 92-283; s. 2, ch. 93-153; s. 1, ch. 94-158; s. 4, ch. 94-347; s. 4, ch. 96-378; s. 2, ch. 96-411; s. 1060, ch. 97-103; s. 2, ch. 99-131; s. 24, ch. 2003-36; s. 7, ch. 2004-230; s. 1, ch. 2004-237.

Note.--Former s. 443.06.