Bill Text: CT SB00460 | 2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning Unemployment Compensation For Seasonal Employees.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-03-09 - Public Hearing 03/13 [SB00460 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2018-SB00460-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 460
February Session, 2018		LCO No. 2007
		*02007_______LAB*
Referred to Committee on LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
Introduced by:
(LAB)

AN ACT CONCERNING UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION FOR SEASONAL EMPLOYEES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subparagraph (H) of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 31-222 of the 2018 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2018):

(H) Service performed after December 31, 1977, by an individual in agricultural labor as defined in subparagraph (1)(H)(vi) of this subsection when: (i) Such service is performed for a person who (I) during [any] two consecutive calendar [quarter] quarters in either the current or the preceding calendar year paid, in each quarter, remuneration in cash of twenty thousand dollars or more to individuals employed in agricultural labor not taking into account service in agricultural labor performed before January 1, 1980, by an alien referred to in subdivision (ii) of this subparagraph, or (II) for some portion of a day in each of [twenty] forty different calendar weeks, whether or not such weeks were consecutive, in either the current or the preceding calendar year, employed in agricultural labor not taking into account service in agricultural labor performed before January 1, 1980, by an alien referred to in subdivision (ii) of this subparagraph, ten or more individuals, regardless of whether they were employed at the same moment of time; (ii) such service is not performed in agricultural labor if performed before January 1, 1980, by an individual who is an alien admitted to the United States to perform service in agricultural labor pursuant to Sections 214(c) and 101(a)(15)(H) of the Immigration and Nationality Act; (iii) for the purposes of this subsection any individual who is a member of a crew furnished by a crew leader to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person shall be treated as an employee of such crew leader (I) if such crew leader holds a valid certificate of registration under the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act of 1963; or substantially all the members of such crew operate or maintain tractors, mechanized harvesting or crop-dusting equipment, or any other mechanized equipment, which is provided by such crew leader; and (II) if such individual is not an employee of such other person within the meaning of subparagraph (B) of subsection (a)(1); (iv) for the purposes of this subparagraph (H), in the case of any individual who is furnished by a crew leader to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person and who is not treated as an employee of such crew leader under subdivision (iii), (I) such other person and not the crew leader shall be treated as the employer of such individual; and (II) such other person shall be treated as having paid cash remuneration to such individual in an amount equal to the amount of cash remuneration paid to such individual by the crew leader either on his own behalf or on behalf of such other person for the service in agricultural labor performed for such other person; (v) for the purposes of this subparagraph (H), the term "crew leader" means an individual who (I) furnishes individuals to perform services in agricultural labor for any other person, (II) pays either on his own behalf or on behalf of such other person the individuals so furnished by him for the service in agricultural labor performed by them, and (III) has not entered into a written agreement with such other person under which such individual is designated as an employee of such other person; (vi) for purposes of this chapter, the term "agricultural labor" means any service performed prior to January 1, 1978, which was agricultural labor prior to such date, and remunerated service performed after December 31, 1977: (I) On a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with cultivating the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training and management of livestock, bees, poultry and fur-bearing animals and wildlife; (II) in the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm, in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment, or in salvaging timber or clearing land of brush and other debris left by a hurricane, if the major part of such service is performed on a farm; (III) in connection with the production or harvesting of a commodity defined as an agricultural commodity in Section 15(g) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, as amended (46 Stat. 1550, S. 3; 12 USC 1141j) or in connection with the ginning of cotton, or in connection with the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs or waterways, not owned or operated for profit, used exclusively for supplying and storing water for farming purposes; (IV) (1) in the employ of the operator of a farm in handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing or delivering to storage or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, in its unmanufactured state, any agricultural or horticultural commodity; but only if such operator produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed; (2) in the employ of a group of operators of farms, or a cooperative organization of which such operators are members, in the performance of service described in subclause (1), but only if such operators produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed; (3) the provisions of subclauses (1) and (2) shall not be deemed to be applicable with respect to service performed in connection with commercial canning or commercial freezing or in connection with any agricultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption; or (V) on a farm operated for profit if such service is not in the course of the employer's trade or business. As used in this subdivision, the term "farm" includes stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing animal, and truck farms, plantations, ranches, nurseries, ranges, greenhouses or other similar structures used primarily for the raising of agricultural or horticultural commodities, and orchards;

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2018	31-222(a)(1)(H)

Statement of Purpose:

To require agricultural employers to participate in the unemployment compensation system only when agricultural employees satisfy the base wage threshold for at least two consecutive quarters in a calendar year or forty nonconsecutive weeks.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]