Labor and Employment Law

HCS HB 1138 — Police Military Leave. (See Local Government Law)

HCS HB 1344 — Firemen's Retirement System of St. Louis. (See Local Government Law)

HB 1393 — State Highway Patrol. (See State Government Law)

SCS HCS HB 1449 — Background Checks for Teachers. (See Education/School Law)

SS#2 SCS HCS HB 1456 — Employment Security. Changes the laws regarding unemployment insurance. In its main provisions, the bill:

(1) Allows the owner and operator of a motor vehicle which is leased or contracted with a driver to a for-hire common or contract motor vehicle carrier to operate under a certificate issued by the Department of Transportation;

(2) Specifies that the test for alcohol or controlled substances may include as evidence the administrative record if the test was conducted by a laboratory certified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services or another certification organization whose minimum standards meet the same standards;

(3) Expands the ways by which an employer may notify employees that a positive test for alcohol or controlled substances may result in the suspension or termination of employment;

(4) Specifies that the results of any alcohol or controlled substance test are admissible if the employer's policy clearly states that an employee may be subject to random, pre-employment, reasonable suspicion, or post-accident testing;

(5) Specifies that an employer may require a pre-employment test for alcohol or controlled substances as a condition of employment and the test are admissible if the employer's policy clearly states that an employee may be subject to random, pre-employment, reasonable suspicion, or post-accident testing;

(6) Specifies that all methods of testing, criteria for testing, chain of custody for samples or specimens and due process for employee notification procedures do not apply to a claimant subject to the provisions of any collective bargaining agreement if the minimum standards of the conducting laboratory meet or exceed the minimum standards of the United States Department of Health and Human Services;

(7) Requires that a confirmation test include a split specimen test for purposes of determining employee misconduct;

(8) Specifies that when applying the provisions of the laws regarding employment security, it is the intent of the General Assembly to reject and abrogate previous case law interpretations of misconduct connected with work requiring a finding of evidence of impaired work performance;

(9) Specifies that an order to apply for or accept available suitable work may be issued by a deputy of the Division of Employment Security or the designated staff of an employment office;

(10) Requires a claimant who is disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits on a second or subsequent occasion within the base period or within a subsequent base period to earn wages at least six times the claimant's weekly benefit amount for each disqualification;

(11) Specifies that absenteeism or tardiness constitutes a rebuttable presumption of misconduct;

(12) Requires the division to cross-check unemployment compensation applicants and recipients with the federal Social Security Administration's data at least weekly;

(13) Allows any party to a case the right to enter a motion to reconsider a determination by the appeals tribunal;

(14) Increases the maximum maturity time period of a credit instrument offered by the Board of Fund Financing from three years to 10 years after issuance;

(15) Requires the division to recover overpayments of benefits through billings, setoffs against state and federal income tax refunds, and intercepts of lottery winnings; and

(16) Specifies that shared work benefits may not be denied in any week containing a holiday for which the holiday earnings are committed to be paid by the employer unless the shared-work benefits are for the same hours in the same day as the holiday earnings.

The bill also adds provisions regarding the war on terror veteran employment rights and benefits which:

(1) Specifies maximum weekly benefit amounts for war on terror veterans. A veteran may receive benefits for a maximum of 26 weeks;

(2) Requires an employer who is found by a court to have terminated, demoted, or taken an adverse employment action against a war on terror veteran due to the veteran's absences while deployed to be subject to an administrative penalty in an amount determined by the Director of the Division of Employment Security, but not to exceed $25,000;

(3) Specifies that a veteran will not be considered to have voluntarily quit if he or she is not offered the same wages, benefits, and similar work schedule upon his or her return to work;

(4) Creates the War on Terror Unemployment Compensation Fund which will consist of administrative penalties paid by employers found in violation of these provisions; and

(5) Specifies that moneys in the fund will be used solely for the administration of the provisions regarding the war on terror veteran unemployment compensation. (Signed 6/14/06)

HB 1827 — Group Health Insurance. (See Insurance Law)

HJR 55 — Compensation and Discipline of Public Officials. (See State Government)

SCS SB 830 — Police Military Leave. (See Military/Veterans Law)

SB 871 — Police Retirement System of St. Louis. (See Local Government Law)

SB 919 — Concealed Weapons and Vagrant Labor. (See Local Government Law)

SB 931 — Transportation Development Districts. (See Property Law)

HCS SB 981 — State Highway Patrol. (See State Government Law)

HCS SCS SB 1086 — Police Officer Compensation. (See Local Government Law)