REPORT TITLE:
Labor


DESCRIPTION:
Excludes wages from temporary work from the applicability of
unemployment compensation law and raises the minimum amount of
wages used as a set off against the weekly benefit amount.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           732
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT
RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT SECURITY.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that satisfactory economic
 
 2 incentives are unavailable to encourage employers to offer short-
 
 3 term or temporary work to persons presently receiving
 
 4 unemployment benefits, or to encourage persons who are presently
 
 5 receiving unemployment benefits from accepting short-term or
 
 6 temporary work.
 
 7      The legislature believes that employers would be encouraged
 
 8 to offer short-term or temporary work if wages for such work were
 
 9 not subject to the unemployment compensation law.  The
 
10 legislature further believes that persons who are receiving
 
11 unemployment benefits would be encouraged to accept short-term or
 
12 temporary work if a larger portion of the wages for such work is
 
13 used as a setoff against the net unemployment weekly benefits.
 
14      The purpose of this Act is to clarify that the unemployment
 
15 compensation law, chapter 383, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
16 inapplicable to wages given or received for short-term or
 
17 temporary employment, and to raise the minimum amount of wages
 
18 used as a set off against the net weekly benefit.
 
19      SECTION 2.  Section 383-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           732
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 amended to read as follows:
 
 2      "§383-11  Excluded payments."Wages" does not include:
 
 3      (1)  The amount of any payment (including any amount paid by
 
 4           an employing unit for insurance or annuities, or into a
 
 5           fund, to provide, for any such payment) to, or on
 
 6           behalf of, an individual or any of the individual's
 
 7           dependents under a plan or system established by an
 
 8           employing unit which makes provision generally for
 
 9           individuals performing service for it (or for such
 
10           individuals generally and their dependents) or for a
 
11           class or classes of such individuals (or for a class or
 
12           classes of such individuals and their dependents), on
 
13           account of (A) retirement, or (B) sickness or accident
 
14           disability, or (C) medical or hospitalization expenses
 
15           in connection with sickness or accident disability, or
 
16           (D) death;
 
17      (2)  The amount of any payment by an employing unit to an
 
18           individual performing service for it (including any
 
19           amount paid by an employing unit for insurance or
 
20           annuities or into a fund, to provide for any such
 
21           payment) on account of retirement;
 
22      (3)  The amount of any payment on account of sickness or
 

 
 
 
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 1           accident disability, or medical or hospitalization
 
 2           expenses in connection with sickness or accident
 
 3           disability, by an employing unit to, or on behalf of,
 
 4           an individual performing services for it after the
 
 5           expiration of six calendar months following the last
 
 6           calendar month in which the individual performed
 
 7           services for the employing unit;
 
 8      (4)  The amount of any payment by an employing unit to, or
 
 9           on behalf of, an individual performing services for it
 
10           or the individual's beneficiary (A) from or to a trust
 
11           described in section 401(a) and exempt from tax under
 
12           section 501(a) of the federal Internal Revenue Code at
 
13           the time of the payment unless the payment is made to
 
14           an individual performing services for the trust as
 
15           remuneration for such services and not as a beneficiary
 
16           of the trust, or (B) under or to an annuity plan which,
 
17           at the time of the payments, meets the requirements of
 
18           section 401(a)(3), (4), (5), and (6) of the federal
 
19           Internal Revenue Code;
 
20      (5)  The amount of any payment by an employing unit (without
 
21           deduction from the remuneration of the individual in
 
22           its employ) of the tax imposed upon an individual in
 

 
 
 
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                                     S.B. NO.           732
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           its employ under section 3101 of the federal Internal
 
 2           Revenue Code;
 
 3      (6)  Remuneration paid in any medium other than cash to an
 
 4           individual for service not in the course of the
 
 5           employing unit's trade or business;
 
 6      (7)  The amount of any payment (other than vacation or sick
 
 7           pay) to an individual after the month in which the
 
 8           individual attains the age of sixty-five, if the
 
 9           individual did not perform services for the employing
 
10           unit in the period for which such payment is made;
 
11      (8)  The amount of any payment (not required under any
 
12           contract of hire) to an individual with respect to the
 
13           individual's period of training or service in the armed
 
14           forces of the United States by an employing unit by
 
15           which the individual was formerly employed;
 
16      (9)  The amount of any payment (including any amount paid by
 
17           an employer into a fund to provide for such payment)
 
18           made after April 1, 1956, to or on behalf of an
 
19           employee under a written agreement, contract, trust
 
20           arrangement, or other instrument, which makes provision
 
21           for the employer's employees generally or for a class
 
22           or group of the employer's employees, for the purpose
 

 
 
 
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                                     S.B. NO.           732
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           of supplementing benefits paid under this chapter or
 
 2           providing benefits based on wages paid for excluded
 
 3           services[.]; and
 
 4     (10)  Earnings from work of a temporary nature involving no
 
 5           more than three days in two forty-hour work weeks,
 
 6           provided that the total number of days in one quarter
 
 7           shall not exceed six days."
 
 8      SECTION 2.  Section 383-23, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 9 amended to read as follows:
 
10      "§383-23  Weekly benefit for unemployment.  For weeks
 
11 beginning prior to January 5, 1992, each eligible individual who
 
12 is unemployed, as defined in section 383-1, in any week shall be
 
13 paid with respect to that week a benefit in an amount equal to
 
14 the individual's weekly benefit amount less that part of the
 
15 wages (if any) payable to the individual with respect to that
 
16 week which is in excess of $2.  Effective for weeks beginning
 
17 January 5, 1992, and thereafter, each eligible individual who is
 
18 unemployed, as defined in section 383-1, in any week shall be
 
19 paid with respect to that week a benefit in an amount equal to
 
20 the individual's weekly benefit amount less that part of the
 
21 wages (if any) payable to the individual with respect to that
 
22 week which is in excess of [$50.] $200.  The benefit, if not a
 

 
 
 
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                                     S.B. NO.           732
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 multiple of $1, shall be computed to the next higher multiple of
 
 2 $1."
 
 3      SECTION 3.  Section 383-61, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 4 amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
 
 5      "(b)  Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d), the
 
 6 term "wages" does not include remuneration paid with respect to
 
 7 employment to an individual by an employer during any calendar
 
 8 year which exceeds the average annual wage, rounded to the
 
 9 nearest hundred dollars, for the four calendar quarter period
 
10 ending on June 30 of the preceding year.  The term "wages" does
 
11 not include remuneration paid with respect to temporary
 
12 employment of no more than three days in two forty-hour work
 
13 weeks, to an individual by an employer in order for the employee
 
14 to meet eligibility requirements for benefits under section
 
15 383-29; provided that the total number of days of temporary
 
16 employment does not exceed six days in one quarter.
 
17      The average annual wage shall be computed as follows:  on or
 
18 before November 30 of each year the total remuneration paid by
 
19 employers, as reported on contribution reports on or before such
 
20 date, with respect to all employment during the four consecutive
 
21 calendar quarters ending on June 30 of such year shall be divided
 
22 by the average monthly number of individuals performing services
 

 
 
 
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                                     S.B. NO.           732
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 in such employment during the same four calendar quarters as
 
 2 reported on such contribution reports and rounded to the nearest
 
 3 hundred dollars."
 
 4      SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 5 New statutory material is underscored.
 
 6      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 7 
 
 8                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________
 
 9