S.B. 181 Enrolled

APPRENTICESHIP UNEMPLOYMENT
INSURANCE AMENDMENTS
1999 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Sponsor: Ed P. Mayne
AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT SECURITY; EXEMPTING EMPLOYERS FROM
PAYING UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WHILE AN EMPLOYEE ATTENDS THE FIRST
WEEK OF MANDATORY APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING; AND EXEMPTING
APPRENTICES FROM THE ONE-WEEK WAITING REQUIREMENT FOR
UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.
This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
AMENDS:
35A-4-307, as renumbered and amended by Chapter 240, Laws of Utah 1996
35A-4-403, as last amended by Chapter 375, Laws of Utah 1997
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section 35A-4-307 is amended to read:
35A-4-307. Social costs -- Relief of charges.
(1) Social costs shall consist of those benefit costs defined as follows:
(a) Benefit costs of an individual will not be charged to a base-period employer, but will
be considered social costs if the individual's separation from that employer occurred under any of
the following circumstances:
(i) the individual was discharged by the employer or voluntarily quit employment with the
employer for disqualifying reasons, but subsequently requalified for benefits and actually received
benefits;
(ii) the individual received benefits following a quit which was not attributable to the
employer; [or]
(iii) the individual received benefits following a discharge for nonperformance due to
medical reasons[.]; or
(iv) the individual received benefits while attending the first week of mandatory

apprenticeship training.
(b) Social costs are benefit costs which are or have been charged to employers who have
terminated coverage and are no longer liable for contributions, less the amount of contributions paid
by such employers during the same time period.
(c) The difference between the benefit charges of all employers whose benefit ratio exceeds
the maximum overall contribution rate and the amount determined by multiplying the taxable payroll
of the same employers by the maximum overall contribution rate is a social cost.
(d) Benefit costs attributable to a concurrent base-period employer will not be charged to that
employer if the individual's customary hours of work for that employer have not been reduced.
(e) Benefit costs incurred during the course of division-approved training which occurs after
December 31, 1985, will not be charged to base-period employers.
(f) Benefit costs will not be charged to employers if such costs are attributable to:
(i) the state's share of extended benefits;
(ii) uncollectible benefit overpayments;
(iii) the proportion of benefit costs of combined wage claims that are chargeable to Utah
employers and are insufficient when separately considered for a monetary eligible claim under Utah
law and which have been transferred to a paying state; and
(iv) benefit costs attributable to wages used in a previous benefit year that are available for
a second benefit year under Subsection 35A-4-401 (2) because of a change in method of computing
base-periods, overlapping base-periods, or for other reasons required by law.
(g) Any benefit costs that are not charged to an employer and not defined in this subsection
are also social costs.
(2) Subsection (1) applies only to contributing employers and not to employers that have
elected to finance the payment of benefits in accordance with Section 35A-4-309 or 35A-4-311 .
Section 2. Section 35A-4-403 is amended to read:
35A-4-403. Eligibility of individual -- Conditions -- Furnishing reports -- Weeks of
employment -- Successive benefit years.
(1) [An] Except as provided in Section (2), an unemployed individual is eligible to receive

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benefits with respect to any week only if the division finds:
(a) The individual has made a claim for benefits with respect to that week in accordance with
any rules the department may prescribe.
(b) The individual has registered for work at, and thereafter continued to report at, an
employment office, in accordance with any rules the department may prescribe.
(c) The individual is able to work and is available for work during each and every week with
respect to which the individual made a claim for benefits under this chapter, and acted in good faith
in an active effort to secure employment, except as provided in Subsection (3).
(d) The individual has been unemployed for a waiting period of one week with respect to
each benefit year. A week may not be counted as a week of unemployment for the purpose of this
subsection:
(i) unless it occurs within the benefit year that includes the week with respect to which the
individual's claims benefits;
(ii) if benefits have been paid with respect to the claim; or
(iii) unless the individual was eligible for benefits with respect thereto as provided in this
section and Sections 35A-4-401 and 35A-4-405 , except for the requirement of Subsection (1)(d).
(e) (i) The individual has furnished the division separation and other information the
department may by rule prescribe.
(ii) Subsection (1)(e) does not apply if the individual proves to the satisfaction of the
division that the individual had good cause for failing to furnish the information.
(iii) If any employer fails to furnish reports concerning separation and employment as
required by this chapter and rules adopted under the chapter, the division shall on the basis of such
information as it may obtain, determine the eligibility and insured status of any individual affected
by that failure and the employer is not considered to be an interested party to any such determination.
(f) The individual's base period wages were at least 1-1/2 times the individual's wages for
insured work paid during that quarter of the individual's base period in which the individual's wages
were highest or the individual shows to the satisfaction of the division that the individual worked
at least 20 weeks in insured work during the individual's base period and earned wages of at least

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5% of the monetary base period wage requirement each week, rounded to the nearest whole dollar,
provided that the individual's total base-period wages were not less than the monetary base period
wage requirement. The monetary base period wage requirement is defined in Section 35A-4-201 .
(g) The individual applying for benefits in a successive benefit year has had subsequent
employment since the effective date of the preceding benefit year equal to at least six times the
individual's weekly benefit amount, in insured work, and the individual's total wages and
employment experience in the individual's base period meet the requirements specified in Subsection
(1)(f).
(2) (a) An individual in training with the approval of the division is not ineligible to receive
benefits by reason of nonavailability for work, failure to search for work, refusal of suitable work,
[or] failure to apply for or to accept suitable work, or not having been unemployed for a waiting
period of one week with respect to any week the individual is in the approved training. For purposes
of this Subsection (2)(a), the division shall approve any mandatory apprenticeship-related training.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, no otherwise eligible individual
shall be denied benefits for any week:
(i) because the individual is in training approved under Section 236 (a)(1) of the Trade Act
of 1974, 19 U.S.C. 2296(a);
(ii) for leaving work to enter training described in Subsection (2)(b)(i) if the work left is not
suitable employment; or
(iii) because of the application to any such week in training of provisions in this law or any
applicable federal unemployment compensation law relating to availability for work, active search
for work, or refusal to accept work.
(c) For purposes of this Subsection (2), "suitable employment" means work of a substantially
equal or higher skill level than the individual's past adversely affected employment, as defined for
purposes of the Trade Act of 1974, and wages for that work at not less than 80% of the individual's
average weekly wage as determined for the purposes of the Trade Act of 1974.
(3) The department may, by rule, waive or alter either or both of the requirements of
Subsections (1)(a) and (b) as to individuals attached to regular jobs and as to other types of cases or

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situations with respect to which it finds that compliance with the requirements would be oppressive,
or would be inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter as long as the rules do not conflict with
Subsection 35A-4-401 (1).

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