CHAPTER 434
H.P. 1080 - L.D. 1517
An Act to Enhance the Collection of Unemployment Benefit Overpayments
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 26 MRSA �1051, sub-�6, �C is enacted to read:
C. If the amount of benefit payments owed to the commissioner, as a result of nondisclosure or misrepresentation, when the decision establishing or a decision upholding the establishment of the debt has become final as to law and fact under section 1194 is over $100, and if the amount of benefit payments due was set forth on a notice duly mailed to the individual following the finality of the last decision and the individual has failed to make payments for 90 days, the amount due may be collected by an order to withhold and deliver as follows.
(1) The commissioner may serve on any person an order to withhold and deliver wages that are due or belong to the individual. Any person served with an order to withhold and deliver shall answer the order within 20 days of receipt of the order.
(2) Before implementation of the order to withhold, the individual must be served with a notice of intention to withhold weekly earnings.
(3) If the individual requests review by the commission of a notice of debt accrued or seeks relief in a court of proper jurisdiction, and if the Department of Labor receives the request or service of pleadings within 21 days after service of the notice of debt, it shall stay the collection action. The Department of Labor shall accept ordinary mail service of copies of all pleadings, which must be addressed to the Department of Labor representative whose name appears on the face of the notice of debt. Service upon the Department of Labor must be in addition to any other service required under the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure.
(4) Upon receipt of an order to withhold issued by the Department of Labor, the employer or other payor shall immediately begin withholding from the income of the responsible individual 10% of gross wages, except that the amount withheld may not exceed an amount by which the individual's disposable earnings are reduced to a weekly equivalent of 40 times the federal hourly minimum wage prescribed by 29 United States Code, Section 206(a)(1). Sums withheld must be remitted to the Department of Labor within 10 days of the date the individual is paid. Any person who honors an order to withhold issued under this section is discharged from any liability or obligation to the individual for the amount of the wages withheld.
(5) The withholding may be terminated with regard to a current obligation only upon notification by the commissioner.
(6) An employer may not discharge an employee because a lien or order to withhold and deliver has been served against the employee's earnings. An aggrieved employee may maintain a civil action against that employee's employer for violation of this subparagraph.
Sec. 2. 26 MRSA �1051, sub-�8 is enacted to read:
8. Setoff of debts against lottery winnings. Lottery winnings may be offset for benefit payments owed to the commissioner in accordance with this subsection.
A. The commissioner shall periodically notify the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations, referred to in this paragraph as the "bureau," of all persons who owe the Department of Labor an unemployment compensation debt that has been liquidated by judicial or administrative action. Before paying any state lottery winnings that must be paid directly by the bureau, the bureau shall determine whether the lottery winner is on the list of persons who owe to the State an unemployment compensation debt that has been liquidated by judicial or administrative action. If the winner is on a list of persons who owe unemployment compensation debts, the bureau shall suspend payment of winnings and notify the winner of its intention to offset the winner's unemployment compensation debt against the winnings. The bureau shall notify the winner of the winner's right to appeal to the Commissioner of Labor pursuant to Title 5, chapter 375. The winner must appeal in writing within 15 days of receipt of that notice. The hearing is limited to the questions of whether the debt is liquidated and whether postliquidation events have affected the winner's liability. The decision of the Department of Labor as to the existence of a liquidated debt constitutes final agency action. If, within 90 days of the notice of intended setoff to the winner, the Department of Labor certifies to the bureau that the winner did not make a timely request for hearing or that a hearing was held and the debt was upheld, the bureau shall offset the liquidated debt against the winnings due to the winner. Any remaining winnings are paid to the winner. If the bureau does not hear from the Department of Labor within 90 days of the notice of intended setoff to the winner, the bureau shall release all winnings to the winner.
B. The commissioner shall periodically notify the Tri-state Lotto Commission of all persons who owe the Department of Labor an unemployment compensation debt that has been liquidated by judicial or administrative action.
Effective September 19, 1997, unless otherwise indicated.
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