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Haley Signs Unemployment Bills In Greenville

S.1125 and H.4786 both place restrictions on who can collect unemployment benefits.

 

Gov. Nikki Haley trekked to the Upstate on Monday to sign a pair of bills that restricts who can collect state unemployment benefits. 

Senate bill 1125 disallows claimants from receiving benefits if they become unemployed due to misconduct, a move Haley said was necessary due to millions of dollars of being spent on those who had been fired due to absenteeism, theft and other misconduct. 

"This says we're not going to make it comfortable for you to not do your jobs," said Haley, flanked by Sen. Lee Bright. 

The bill signing ceremony was held at Returnable Packaging Resource, or RPR near Pelham Road. RPR President Brian Laffler applauded the new laws, saying improper unemployment claims cost businesses like his money, which keeps him from spending more money on current employees and new hiring. 

"This will do nothing but help the business community," Laffler said. 

The second bill, House bill 4786 closes a loopholes Haley contends was being frequently abused by those in the education field. The law signed Monday prevents education workers from claiming unemployment benefits during regular periods off if they have a reasonable assurance of returning to work. 

Haley said she still believed in drug testing as a precondition for unemployment benefits, but said the United States government had indicated to her its opposition to the way she planned on implementing it, which would be a single test before the distribution of any unemployment funds. 

Related Topics: H.4786, Nikki Haley, S.1125, South Carolina, Unemployment, and greenville

john maxie sharpe

9:02 pm on Monday, July 30, 2012

those in the education field have it hard as it is ,, taken benifits from them throws undue hardship on them there familys, and the economy,, gov haley don't be a one term gov ,, i feel u r doing great, just do not agree on said bill

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JIM HOOD

11:03 pm on Monday, July 30, 2012

The problem with Her signing the Unemployment bill is that South Carolina is a right to work state. It is sometimes called free hire, free fire which means that one can be fired for any reason, a made up reason, a lie. There is no recourse and you find out that the bill of rights, the Constitution even miranda rights don't apply to the work place. Right to work guarrentees that all the chips are on the other side of the table. Employers love it and that is why we have right to work.

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CK

10:57 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2012

So glad I don't live in South Carolina anymore. I was fired from a job for made up reasons because one of my many bosses decided she didn't like me. She fired someone every few months, and I was her latest victim. I did my job and did it well but because someone didn't like me, I was fired. I applied for unemployment, was denied, appealed and once they heard the excuses for firing me, I won several months worth of back pay. Of course, that's after wasting everyone's time and more of the state's money. So, great job, Haley. You've just made it even easier for companies to screw over their employees for any made up reason they can think of. Many good, hard working people will be hurt by this because you want to side with companies that only care about the bottom line and exploit their workers. If real wrongdoing is the problem, then that should be obvious. There is no need to assume an employee is guilty any more than there is to believe whatever the company decides to accuse that person of.

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reg

11:12 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2012

If so many employees in this state are denied representation in the workplace (especially state employees - they can not have any type of representation in labor according to state law), then doesn't this just allow companies to dump employees for trumped-up reasons to avoid paying unemployment taxes? Haley continues her drive to make this a plutocratic, communist, Marxian state.

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SaltyDawg

1:06 pm on Tuesday, July 31, 2012

These bills are just Haley's latest attack on workers and educators.
The first bill is unnecessary in a "right to work" state. Workers can be fired for any reason or no reason. Unemployment is only awarded if the employer can't provide a reasonable explanation-- which would include all the situations covered in the bill.
The second bill is simply Haley another installment in Haley's campaign to discredit SC public education. She wants to privatize it and this is one way to convince the voters that teachers are deadbeats on the public payroll.

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Melissa Pridgen

12:44 pm on Tuesday, October 16, 2012

I have enough for a wrongful termination suit, but denied unemployment????

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