MI HB5170

Establishes a pattern-based penalty system for employers who fail to timely or adequately respond to unemployment agency requests for information regarding claimant disqualification or ineligibility, requiring 5 or more failures during the prior calendar year equaling at least 2% of all requests to trigger the pattern.

Benefits paid as a result of an employer's failure to provide timely or adequate responses are charged to the employer's account without credit when a pattern is demonstrated, rather than being charged to the nonchargeable benefits account.

Requires the unemployment agency to send annual determinations by January 11 (beginning 2019) to employers demonstrating a pattern of failures, with each determination including claimant name, failure type, request date, and warning that accounts will not be credited for future failures during that calendar year.

Defines "timely" response as receipt within 10 calendar days (excluding weekends and legal holidays) of the agency's request and "adequate" response as answering all questions or providing explanation or summary sufficient for agency determination.

Includes good cause exceptions to the pattern penalty for failures where employers lacked information they could not reasonably obtain, disclosure would endanger health/safety, or valid legal/evidentiary objections exist.