Florida Senate - 2025                             CS for SB 1238
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Commerce and Tourism; and Senator Rodriguez
       
       
       
       
       
       577-03067-25                                          20251238c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to verification of reemployment
    3         assistance benefit eligibility; providing a short
    4         title; amending s. 443.101, F.S.; revising
    5         circumstances under which the Department of Commerce
    6         may disqualify claimants from receiving reemployment
    7         assistance benefits; creating s. 443.1112, F.S.;
    8         requiring the department to verify claimants’
    9         identities before paying reemployment assistance
   10         benefits; requiring the department to cross-check
   11         certain information on a specified schedule; providing
   12         duties of the department; requiring the department to
   13         maintain a web page and an e-mail address for a
   14         specified purpose and to notify employers each year of
   15         the web page and e-mail address; requiring the
   16         department to annually make certain information
   17         available on its website; providing construction;
   18         amending s. 443.091, F.S.; conforming a provision to
   19         changes made by the act; providing an effective date.
   20          
   21  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   22  
   23         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Promoting Work,
   24  Deterring Fraud Act of 2025.”
   25         Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 443.101, Florida
   26  Statutes, is amended to read:
   27         443.101 Disqualification for benefits.—An individual shall
   28  be disqualified for benefits:
   29         (2) If the Department of Commerce finds that the individual
   30  has failed without good cause to apply for available suitable
   31  work; to appear, on three or more occasions, for a scheduled job
   32  interview without notifying the prospective employer of the need
   33  to cancel or reschedule the interview; to, accept suitable work
   34  within 2 business days when offered to him or her; to, or return
   35  to the individual’s customary self-employment when directed by
   36  the department; or to return to employment when recalled to work
   37  by the individual’s employer after a temporary layoff, the
   38  disqualification continues for the full period of unemployment
   39  next ensuing after he or she failed without good cause to apply
   40  for available suitable work; to appear, on three or more
   41  occasions, for a scheduled job interview without notifying the
   42  prospective employer of the need to cancel or reschedule the
   43  interview; to, accept suitable work;, or to return to his or her
   44  customary employment or self-employment, and until the
   45  individual has earned income of at least 17 times his or her
   46  weekly benefit amount. The department shall by rule adopt
   47  criteria to implement this subsection, including for determining
   48  the “suitability of work,” as used in this section. In
   49  developing these rules, the department shall consider the
   50  duration of a claimant’s unemployment in determining the
   51  suitability of work and the suitability of proposed rates of
   52  compensation for available work. Further, after an individual
   53  has received 25 weeks of benefits in a single year, suitable
   54  work is a job that pays the minimum wage and is 120 percent or
   55  more of the weekly benefit amount the individual is drawing.
   56         (a) In determining whether or not any work is suitable for
   57  an individual, the department shall consider the degree of risk
   58  to the individual’s health, safety, and morals; the individual’s
   59  physical fitness, prior training, experience, prior earnings,
   60  length of unemployment, and prospects for securing local work in
   61  his or her customary occupation; and the distance of the
   62  available work from his or her residence.
   63         (b) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter,
   64  work is not deemed suitable and benefits may not be denied to
   65  any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new
   66  work under any of the following conditions:
   67         1. The position offered is vacant due directly to a strike,
   68  lockout, or other labor dispute.
   69         2. The wages, hours, or other conditions of the work
   70  offered are substantially less favorable to the individual than
   71  those prevailing for similar work in the locality.
   72         3. As a condition of being employed, the individual is
   73  required to join a company union or to resign from or refrain
   74  from joining any bona fide labor organization.
   75         (c) If the department finds that an individual was rejected
   76  for offered employment as the direct result of a positive,
   77  confirmed drug test required as a condition of employment, the
   78  individual is disqualified for refusing to accept an offer of
   79  suitable work.
   80         Section 3. Section 443.1112, Florida Statutes, is created
   81  to read:
   82         443.1112Verification of reemployment assistance benefit
   83  eligibility; detection of fraud.—
   84         (1)The Department of Commerce shall verify the identity of
   85  each claimant who applies for reemployment assistance benefits
   86  before paying any benefits to that individual.
   87         (2)For the initial claim for benefits made by a claimant
   88  and as necessary to verify a claimant’s eligibility for
   89  benefits, the department shall cross-check the information
   90  contained in the claim with information in the database of the
   91  Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program
   92  established by the United States Bureau of Citizenship and
   93  Immigration Services.
   94         (3)For every 2 weeks that a claimant makes a claim for
   95  benefits, including the initial claim for benefits, to verify a
   96  claimant’s eligibility for benefits, the department shall cross
   97  check the information contained in the claim to make sure that
   98  the claimant is:
   99         (a)Living.
  100         (b)Not incarcerated.
  101         (c)Not already employed.
  102         (d) Not filing fraudulent or duplicate claims.
  103         (4)The department shall do all of the following:
  104         (a) Investigate any claim in this state associated with a
  105  mailing address, a bank account, an e-mail address, a telephone
  106  number, or an Internet protocol address that is also associated
  107  with another existing claim for reemployment assistance benefits
  108  in this state or another state and verify that the claim in this
  109  state is legitimate and not fraudulent before paying any
  110  benefits for the claim.
  111         (b) Scrutinize any claim in this state filed from a foreign
  112  Internet protocol address before paying any benefits for the
  113  claim.
  114         (c) Refer any suspected fraudulent or attempted fraudulent
  115  claim identified by the department to the Department of Legal
  116  Affairs and the state attorney of the judicial circuit in which
  117  the suspected fraudulent claim originated for further
  118  investigation and potential prosecution.
  119         (d) Maintain a web page and an e-mail address through which
  120  an individual or an employer may report known or suspected
  121  violations of this chapter, including identity theft, fraud, or
  122  reasons for which a claimant would be disqualified for benefits
  123  under s. 443.101, including, but not limited to, failing to
  124  appear for a previously scheduled job interview without
  125  notifying the prospective employer of the need to cancel or
  126  reschedule the interview or failing to accept suitable work
  127  within 2 business days when offered to him or her. Each year,
  128  the department shall notify employers in this state of this web
  129  page and e-mail address for reporting violations.
  130         (e) Annually make available on its website a report
  131  identifying the number of fraudulent reemployment assistance
  132  claims identified for the previous year, the number of claims
  133  not paid due to successful detection of fraudulent intentions,
  134  the number of claims and the amount of reemployment assistance
  135  benefits paid against claims subsequently identified as
  136  fraudulent, the amount of fraudulent overpayments recovered, and
  137  the number of fraudulent claims referred for investigation and
  138  possible prosecution. The report must also list the sources of
  139  information that were used to cross-check claims during the
  140  reporting period.
  141         (5)This section may not be construed as limiting the
  142  ability of the department to adopt additional mechanisms and
  143  strategies designed to limit waste, fraud, and abuse in the
  144  reemployment assistance program.
  145         Section 4. Paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section
  146  443.091, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
  147         443.091 Benefit eligibility conditions.—
  148         (1) An unemployed individual is eligible to receive
  149  benefits for any week only if the Department of Commerce finds
  150  that:
  151         (d) She or he is able to work and is available for work. In
  152  order to assess eligibility for a claimed week of unemployment,
  153  the department shall develop criteria to determine a claimant’s
  154  ability to work and availability for work. A claimant must be
  155  actively seeking work in order to be considered available for
  156  work. This means engaging in systematic and sustained efforts to
  157  find work, including contacting at least five prospective
  158  employers for each week of unemployment claimed. The department
  159  may require the claimant to provide proof of such efforts to the
  160  one-stop career center as part of reemployment services. A
  161  claimant’s proof of work search efforts may not include the same
  162  prospective employer at the same location in 3 consecutive
  163  weeks, unless the employer has indicated since the time of the
  164  initial contact that the employer is hiring. The department
  165  shall conduct random reviews of work search information provided
  166  by claimants. As an alternative to contacting at least five
  167  prospective employers for any week of unemployment claimed, a
  168  claimant may, for that same week, report in person to a one-stop
  169  career center to meet with a representative of the center and
  170  access reemployment services of the center. The center shall
  171  keep a record of the services or information provided to the
  172  claimant and shall provide the records to the department upon
  173  request by the department. However:
  174         1. Notwithstanding any other provision of this paragraph or
  175  paragraphs (b) and (e), an otherwise eligible individual may not
  176  be denied benefits for any week because she or he is in training
  177  with the approval of the department, or by reason of s.
  178  443.101(2) relating to failure to apply for, failure to appear
  179  for an interview for, or refusal to accept, suitable work.
  180  Training may be approved by the department in accordance with
  181  criteria prescribed by rule. A claimant’s eligibility during
  182  approved training is contingent upon satisfying eligibility
  183  conditions prescribed by rule.
  184         2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, an
  185  otherwise eligible individual who is in training approved under
  186  s. 236(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, may not be
  187  determined ineligible or disqualified for benefits due to
  188  enrollment in such training or because of leaving work that is
  189  not suitable employment to enter such training. As used in this
  190  subparagraph, the term “suitable employment” means work of a
  191  substantially equal or higher skill level than the worker’s past
  192  adversely affected employment, as defined for purposes of the
  193  Trade Act of 1974, as amended, the wages for which are at least
  194  80 percent of the worker’s average weekly wage as determined for
  195  purposes of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended.
  196         3. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, an
  197  otherwise eligible individual may not be denied benefits for any
  198  week because she or he is before any state or federal court
  199  pursuant to a lawfully issued summons to appear for jury duty.
  200         4. Union members who customarily obtain employment through
  201  a union hiring hall may satisfy the work search requirements of
  202  this paragraph by reporting daily to their union hall.
  203         5. The work search requirements of this paragraph do not
  204  apply to persons who are unemployed as a result of a temporary
  205  layoff or who are claiming benefits under an approved short-time
  206  compensation plan as provided in s. 443.1116.
  207         6. In small counties as defined in s. 120.52(19), a
  208  claimant engaging in systematic and sustained efforts to find
  209  work must contact at least three prospective employers for each
  210  week of unemployment claimed.
  211         7. The work search requirements of this paragraph do not
  212  apply to persons required to participate in reemployment
  213  services under paragraph (e).
  214         Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.