Amendments to Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance Law Expand Scope of Eligibility For Benefits
By: INGRID N. CULP
September 14, 2009
Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance Law (“UIL”) was amended during the 2009 legislative session. While several changes were made, some of the most significant for employers include the expanded scope of who is eligible to collect benefits.
In addition to the eligibility and disqualification factors that have been in place for some time (which are many and too extensive for inclusion in this article), the amendments provide that an applicant is also eligible for benefits if he/she:
- quit to provide necessary care to an “immediate family member” with an illness, injury or disability. “Immediate family member” is defined as the applicant’s spouse, parent, stepparent, son or daughter, stepson or stepdaughter, or grandson or granddaughter. While somewhat unclear, it appears this provision only applies if the applicant informed the employer of the medical problem and requested accommodation and no reasonable accommodation was made available. Application of this provision calls into question whether the applicant is available for suitable employment, a requirement for receipt of benefits, which the Department of Employment & Economic Development (“DEED”) must determine;
- quit on account of the domestic abuse of the applicant or his/her immediate family member;
- quit to relocate with his/her spouse whose job location has changed such that it would be impracticable for the applicant to commute to the applicant’s current work location;
- was discharged as a result of conduct that was a consequence of the applicant’s mental illness or impairment;
- was discharged as a result of being absent to provide necessary care to the applicant’s immediate family member with an illness, injury or disability, if proper notice of absence was given to the employer;
- was discharged as a result of conduct that was the result of the applicant or his/her immediate family member being a victim of domestic abuse.
Furthermore, prior to the amendments, an employee who was discharged as the result of “a single incident that [did] not have a significant adverse impact on the employer” was eligible for benefits. While this exception has been removed, the following language has been added: “If the conduct for which the applicant was discharged involved only a single incident, that is an important fact that must be considered in deciding whether the conduct rises to the level of employment misconduct.”
Additional information regarding the many other eligibility and disqualification factors that have been and continue in place can be found at Minn. Stat. § 268.095. These factors, including the new factors summarized above, should be reviewed when determining whether an employee will be eligible for benefits and/or whether to contest an employee’s application for benefits. As has always been the case, documentation of the circumstances leading to an employee’s separation from employment is important to DEED in connection with making eligibility determinations. If an employer believes its employee should be found ineligible, the employer should ensure that its documentation reflects the disqualification factors set forth in the UIL and submit this documentation to DEED in response to the employee’s application for benefits and in connection with any appeal.
For assistance with unemployment compensation matters, please contact Fredrikson & Byron’s Employment & Labor Law Group.