443.171 Department of Commerce and commission; powers and duties; records and reports; proceedings; state-federal cooperation.—
(1) POWERS AND DUTIES.—The Department of Commerce shall administer this chapter. The department may employ persons, make expenditures, require reports, conduct investigations, and take other action necessary or suitable to administer this chapter. The department shall annually submit information to the state board as defined in s. 445.002 covering the administration and operation of this chapter during the preceding calendar year for inclusion in the strategic plan under s. 445.006 and may make recommendations for amendment to this chapter.
(2) PUBLICATION OF ACTS AND RULES.—The Department of Commerce shall cause to be printed and distributed to the public, or otherwise distributed to the public through the Internet or similar electronic means, the text of this chapter and of the rules for administering this chapter adopted by the department or the state agency providing reemployment assistance tax collection services and any other matter relevant and suitable. The department shall furnish this information to any person upon request. However, any pamphlet, rules, circulars, or reports required by this chapter may not contain any matter except the actual data necessary to complete them or the actual language of the rule, together with the proper notices.
(3) PERSONNEL.—Subject to chapter 110 and the other provisions of this chapter, the Department of Commerce may appoint, set the compensation of, and prescribe the duties and powers of employees, accountants, attorneys, experts, and other persons as necessary for the performance of the duties of the department under this chapter. The department may delegate to any person its power and authority under this chapter as necessary for the effective administration of this chapter and may bond any person handling moneys or signing checks under this chapter. The cost of these bonds must be paid from the Employment Security Administration Trust Fund.
(4) EMPLOYMENT STABILIZATION.—The Department of Commerce, under the direction of the state board as defined in s. 445.002, shall take all appropriate steps to reduce and prevent unemployment; to encourage and assist in the adoption of practical methods of career training, retraining, and career guidance; to investigate, recommend, advise, and assist municipalities, counties, school districts, and the state in the establishment and operation of reserves for public works to be used in times of business depression and unemployment; to promote the reemployment of unemployed workers throughout the state in every other way that may be feasible; to refer a claimant entitled to extended benefits to suitable work that meets the criteria of this chapter; and, to these ends, to carry on and publish the results of investigations and research studies.
(5) RECORDS AND REPORTS.—Each employing unit shall keep true and accurate work records, containing the information required by the Department of Commerce or its tax collection service provider. These records must be open to inspection and are subject to being copied by the department or its tax collection service provider at any reasonable time and as often as necessary. The department or its tax collection service provider may require from any employing unit any sworn or unsworn reports, for persons employed by the employing unit, necessary for the effective administration of this chapter. However, a state or local governmental agency performing intelligence or counterintelligence functions need not report an employee if the head of that agency determines that reporting the employee could endanger the safety of the employee or compromise an ongoing investigation or intelligence mission.
(6) OATHS AND WITNESSES.—In the discharge of the duties imposed by this chapter, the Department of Commerce, its tax collection service provider, the members of the commission, and any authorized representative of any of these entities may administer oaths and affirmations, take depositions, certify to official acts, and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records deemed necessary as evidence in connection with the administration of this chapter.
(7) SUBPOENAS.—If a person refuses to obey a subpoena issued to that person, any court of this state within the jurisdiction of which the inquiry is carried on, or within the jurisdiction of which the person is found, resides, or transacts business, upon application by the Department of Commerce, its tax collection service provider, the commission, or any authorized representative of any of these entities has jurisdiction to order the person to appear before the entity to produce evidence or give testimony on the matter under investigation or in question. Failure to obey the order of the court may be punished by the court as contempt. Any person who fails or refuses without just cause to appear or testify; to answer any lawful inquiry; or to produce books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records within her or his control as commanded in a subpoena of the department, its tax collection service provider, the commission, or any authorized representative of any of these entities commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. Each day that a violation continues is a separate offense.
(8) PROTECTION AGAINST SELF-INCRIMINATION.—A person is not excused from appearing or testifying, or from producing books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, or other records, before the Department of Commerce, its tax collection service provider, the commission, or any authorized representative of any of these entities or as commanded in a subpoena of any of these entities in any proceeding before the department, the commission, an appeals referee, or a special deputy on the ground that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of the person may incriminate her or him or subject her or him to a penalty or forfeiture. That person may not be prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which she or he is compelled, after having claimed her or his privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, except that the person testifying is not exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed while testifying.
(9) STATE-FEDERAL COOPERATION.—
(a)1. In the administration of this chapter, the Department of Commerce and its tax collection service provider shall cooperate with the United States Department of Labor to the fullest extent consistent with this chapter and shall take those actions, through the adoption of appropriate rules, administrative methods, and standards, necessary to secure for this state all advantages available under the provisions of federal law relating to reemployment assistance.
2. In the administration of the provisions in s. 443.1115, which are enacted to conform with the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970, the department shall take those actions necessary to ensure that those provisions are interpreted and applied to meet the requirements of the federal act as interpreted by the United States Department of Labor and to secure for this state the full reimbursement of the federal share of extended benefits paid under this chapter which is reimbursable under the federal act.
3. The department and its tax collection service provider shall comply with the regulations of the United States Department of Labor relating to the receipt or expenditure by this state of funds granted under federal law; shall submit the reports in the form and containing the information the United States Department of Labor requires; and shall comply with directions of the United States Department of Labor necessary to assure the correctness and verification of these reports.
(b) The department and its tax collection service provider may cooperate with every agency of the United States charged with administration of any unemployment insurance law.
(c) The department and its tax collection service provider shall cooperate with the agencies of other states, and shall make every proper effort within their means, to oppose and prevent any further action leading to the complete or substantial federalization of state reemployment assistance funds or state employment security programs. The department and its tax collection service provider may make, and may cooperate with other appropriate agencies in making, studies as to the practicability and probable cost of possible new state-administered social security programs and the relative desirability of state, rather than federal, action in that field of study.
(10) EVIDENCE OF MAILING.—A mailing date on any notice, determination, decision, order, or other document mailed by the department or its tax collection service provider pursuant to this chapter creates a rebuttable presumption that such notice, determination, order, or other document was mailed on the date indicated.
History.—s. 12, ch. 18402, 1937; CGL 1940 Supp. 4151(499), 8135(40), 8135(41); s. 11, ch. 20685, 1941; s. 4, ch. 21982, 1943; s. 1, ch. 22832, 1945; s. 3, ch. 24084, 1947; ss. 8, 9, ch. 29771, 1955; s. 1, ch. 57-269; s. 2, ch. 61-119; s. 19, ch. 63-400; ss. 10, 17, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 370, ch. 71-136; ss. 10, 11, ch. 71-225; s. 167, ch. 71-377; s. 4, ch. 74-198; s. 11, ch. 78-95; s. 18, ch. 78-300; ss. 3, 4, ch. 78-323; s. 25, ch. 79-7; s. 75, ch. 79-40; s. 6, ch. 79-308; ss. 6, 8, 9, ch. 80-95; ss. 1, 2, 3, ch. 81-75; s. 3, ch. 81-137; ss. 1, 4, ch. 82-46; s. 14, ch. 83-174; s. 19, ch. 89-189; s. 56, ch. 89-381; ss. 1, 2, ch. 90-168; s. 12, ch. 91-269; s. 5, ch. 91-429; ss. 5, 7, ch. 93-414; ss. 1, 5, ch. 94-118; ss. 15, 77, ch. 94-136; s. 294, ch. 96-406; s. 1066, ch. 97-103; s. 61, ch. 97-170; s. 116, ch. 98-200; s. 105, ch. 2000-153; s. 41, ch. 2003-36; s. 40, ch. 2004-357; s. 374, ch. 2011-142; s. 12, ch. 2011-235; s. 24, ch. 2012-30; s. 84, ch. 2013-15; s. 25, ch. 2015-98; s. 37, ch. 2020-30; s. 195, ch. 2024-6.
