Section 421.32 - Claims for benefits; examination; determination; notice.
MICHIGAN EMPLOYMENT SECURITY ACT (EXCERPT)
Act 1 of 1936 (Ex. Sess.)
421.32 Claims for benefits; examination; determination; notice.
Sec. 32.
(a) Claims for benefits shall be made pursuant to regulations prescribed by the unemployment agency. The unemployment agency shall designate representatives who shall promptly examine claims and make a determination on the facts. The unemployment agency may establish rules providing for the examination of claims, the determination of the validity of the claims, and the amount and duration of benefits to be paid. The claimant and other interested parties shall be promptly notified of the determination and the reasons for the determination.
(b)(1) For benefit years established before the conversion date prescribed in section 75, the unemployment agency may prescribe regulations for notifying and shall notify the employer, whose experience account may be charged, and the employing unit where the claimant last worked that the claimant has filed an application for benefits. The notice shall require the employer and employing unit to furnish information to the unemployment agency necessary to determine the claimant's benefit rights.
(2) Upon receipt of the employer's reports, the unemployment agency shall promptly make a determination based upon the available information. The claimant and the employer, whose experience account may be charged pursuant to the determination, shall be promptly notified of the determination. The notice shall show the name and account number of the employer whose experience account may be charged pursuant to the determination, the weekly benefit amount and the maximum number of credit weeks against which the claimant may draw benefits, and whether or not the claimant is eligible and qualified to draw benefits. An employer may designate in writing to the unemployment agency an individual or another employer or an employing unit to receive any notice required to be given by the unemployment agency to that employer or to represent that employer in any proceeding before the unemployment agency as provided in section 31.
(3) If an employer or employing unit fails to respond within 10 days after mailing of the request for information, the unemployment agency shall make a determination upon the available information. In the absence of a showing by the employer satisfying the unemployment agency that the employer reasonably could not submit the requested information, the determination shall be final as to the noncomplying employer, as to benefits paid before the week following the receipt of the employer's reply, and chargeable against the employer's experience account as a result of the employer's late reply, and the payments shall be considered to have been proper payments. The unemployment agency may require an employer who consistently fails to meet the unemployment agency's requirements, as to submission of reports covering employment of individuals, to provide the reports automatically upon the separation of individuals from employment, in the manner and within the time limits the unemployment agency prescribes by regulation necessary to carry out this section. An employer may be permitted to provide the reports automatically upon separation of individuals from employment, in the manner and within the time limits prescribed by the unemployment agency.
(4) After an application for benefits is filed, the unemployment agency's determination shall include only the most recent employer. Subsequently, as necessary, the unemployment agency shall issue determinations covering other base period employers, individually in inverse order to that in which the claimant earned his or her last credit week with the employers.
(5) For benefit years established after the conversion date prescribed in section 75, the unemployment agency shall mail to the claimant, to each base period employer or employing unit, and to the separating employer or employing unit, a monetary determination. The monetary determination shall notify each of these employers or employing units that the claimant has filed an application for benefits and the amount the claimant reported as earned with the separating employer or employing unit, and shall state the name of each employer or employing unit in the base period and the name of the separating employer or employing unit. The monetary determination shall also state the claimant's weekly benefit rate, the amount of base period wages paid by each base period employer, the maximum benefit amount that could be charged to each employer's account or experience account, and the reason for separation reported by the claimant. The monetary determination shall also state whether the claimant is monetarily eligible to receive unemployment benefits. Except for separations under section 29(1)(a), no further reconsideration of a separation from any base period employer will be made unless the base period employer notifies the unemployment agency of a possible disqualifying separation within 30 days of the separation in accordance with this subsection. Benefits paid in accordance with the monetary determination shall be considered proper payments and shall not be changed unless the unemployment agency receives new, corrected, or additional information from the employer, within 10 calendar days after the mailing of the monetary determination, and the information results in a change in the monetary determination. New, additional, or corrected information received by the unemployment agency after the 10-day period shall be considered a request for reconsideration by the employer of the monetary determination and shall be reviewed as provided in section 32a.
(6) For the purpose of determining a claimant's nonmonetary eligibility and qualification for benefits, if the claimant's most recent base period or benefit year separation was for a reason other than the lack of work, then a determination shall be issued concerning that separation to the claimant and to the separating employer. If a claimant is not disqualified based on his or her most recent separation from employment and has satisfied the requirements of section 29, the unemployment agency shall issue a nonmonetary determination as to that separation only. If a claimant is not disqualified based on his or her most recent separation from employment and has not satisfied the requirements of section 29, the unemployment agency shall issue 1 or more nonmonetary determinations necessary to establish the claimant's qualification for benefits based on any prior separation in inverse chronological order. The unemployment agency shall consider all base period separations involving disqualifications under section 29(1)(h), (j), (l), or (m) in determining a claimant's nonmonetary eligibility and qualification for benefits. An employer may designate in writing to the unemployment agency an individual or another employer or an employing unit to receive any notice required to be given by the unemployment agency to that employer or to represent that employer in any proceeding before the unemployment agency as provided in section 31.
(7) If the unemployment agency requests additional monetary or nonmonetary information from an employer or employing unit and the unemployment agency fails to receive a written response from the employer or employing unit within 10 calendar days after the date of mailing the request for information, the unemployment agency shall make a determination based upon the available information at the time the determination is made. The determination shall be final and any payment made shall be considered a proper payment with respect to benefits paid before the week following the receipt of the employer's reply and chargeable against the employer's account or experience account as a result of the employer's late reply.
(c) The claimant or interested party may file an application with an office of the unemployment agency for a redetermination in accordance with section 32a.
(d) The issuance of each benefit check shall be considered a determination by the unemployment agency that the claimant receiving the check was covered during the compensable period, and eligible and qualified for benefits. A chargeable employer, upon receipt of a listing of the check as provided in section 21(a), may protest by requesting a redetermination of the claimant's eligibility or qualification as to that period and a determination as to later weeks and benefits still unpaid that are affected by the protest. Upon receipt of the protest or request, the unemployment agency shall investigate and redetermine whether the claimant is eligible and qualified as to that period. If, upon the redetermination, the claimant is found ineligible or not qualified, the unemployment agency shall investigate and determine whether the claimant obtained benefits, for 1 or more preceding weeks within the series of consecutive weeks that includes the week covered by the redetermination, improperly as the result of administrative error, false statement, misrepresentation, or nondisclosure of a material fact. If the unemployment agency finds that the claimant has obtained benefits through administrative error, false statement, misrepresentation, or nondisclosure of a material fact, the unemployment agency shall proceed under the appropriate provisions of section 62.
(e) If a claimant commences to file continued claims through a different state claim office in this state or elsewhere, the unemployment agency promptly shall issue written notice of that fact to the chargeable employer.
(f) If a claimant refuses an offer of work, or fails to apply for work of which the claimant has been notified, as provided in section 29(1)(c) or (e), the unemployment agency shall promptly make a written determination as to whether or not the refusal or failure requires disqualification under section 29. Notice of the determination, specifying the name and address of the employing unit offering or giving notice of the work and of the chargeable employer, shall be sent to the claimant, the employing unit offering or giving notice of the work, and the chargeable employer.
History: 1936, Ex. Sess., Act 1, Imd. Eff. Dec. 24, 1936 ;-- Am. 1939, Act 324, Imd. Eff. June 22, 1939 ;-- Am. 1941, Act 364, Imd. Eff. July 1, 1941 ;-- Am. 1947, Act 360, Imd. Eff. July 8, 1947 ;-- CL 1948, 421.32 ;-- Am. 1951, Act 251, Imd. Eff. June 17, 1951 ;-- Am. 1954, Act 197, Imd. Eff. May 7, 1954 ;-- Am. 1955, Act 281, Eff. July 15, 1955 ;-- Am. 1965, Act 281, Eff. Sept. 5, 1965 ;-- Am. 1971, Act 231, Imd. Eff. Jan. 3, 1972 ;-- Am. 1982, Act 535, Eff. Jan. 2, 1983 ;-- Am. 1983, Act 164, Imd. Eff. July 24, 1983 ;-- Am. 1994, Act 162, Imd. Eff. June 17, 1994 ;-- Am. 1996, Act 503, Imd. Eff. Jan. 9, 1997 ;-- Am. 2002, Act 192, Imd. Eff. Apr. 26, 2002