Floridians collecting unemployment benefits must be on their best behavior or could risk losing their benefits eligibility.
Changes in Florida's unemployment laws could allow employers to challenge jobless benefits to former employees for "misconduct, irrespective of whether the misconduct occurs at the workplace or during working hours," according to the provision.
"For example, owners of a delivery company, who can now fire a driver cited for reckless driving, could also challenge his right to benefits even if the offense occurred while he was driving his own car on his own time," wrote Jim Stratton of the Orlando Sentinel.
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The bill, HB 7005, would cut the number of weeks the unemployed could receive benefits in addition to making it easier for employers to challenge benefits claim. The new regulations have been passed by the Florida Legislature. Florida Governor Rick Scott has not yet signed the bill, but seems poised to do so.
While Florida employers can fire employees for practically any reason, state law says that even underperforming employees can get jobless benefits of up to 26 weeks if they've worked long enough to earn them.
And until now, in order to challenge a fired worker's right to benefits, employers have had to demonstrate that the employee knowingly engaged in serious misconduct while on the job.
"This gives incredible control to the employer," said Arthur Rosenberg, an attorney with Florida Legal Services in Miami. "It gives carte blanche to them in a very vague and subjective way."
Employers are financially inclined to limit the number of employees receiving benefits, since they pay a tax based on how many former workers have collected from the unemployment system.
"Reducing the cost of unemployment — which pays a maximum of $275 a week — was a major theme of this year's legislative session. Florida's unemployment trust fund went broke in 2009, and the state has been borrowing federal money to keep payments flowing. It now owes more than $2 billion," wrote Stratton.
Republican lawmakers say the bill would help make Florida more "business-friendly." Republican Senator Nancy Detert of Venice and chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Tourism, said the bill is "a great gift to the business industry," according to the News Service of Florida.
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