446.603  Untried Worker Placement and Employment Incentive Act.--

(1)  This section may be cited as the "Untried Worker Placement and Employment Incentive Act."

(2)  For purposes of this section, the term "untried worker" means a person who is a hard-to-place participant in the welfare-to-work programs of the Department of Labor and Employment Security or the ¹Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services because they have limitations associated with the long-term receipt of welfare and difficulty in sustaining employment.

(3)  The Department of Labor and Employment Security and the ¹Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, working with the Enterprise Florida Jobs and Education Partnership, shall develop five Untried Worker Placement and Employment Incentive pilot projects in at least five different counties.

(4)  In these pilots, incentive payments will be made to for-profit or not-for-profit agents selected by the Regional Workforce Development Boards who successfully place untried workers in full-time employment for 6 months with an employer after the employee successfully completes a probationary placement of no more than 6 months with that employer. Full-time employment that includes health care benefits will receive an additional incentive payment.

(5)  The for-profit and not-for-profit agents shall contract to provide services for no more than 1 year. Contracts may be renewed upon successful review by the contracting agent.

(6)  The Department of Labor and Employment Security and the ¹Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, working with the Enterprise Florida Jobs and Education Partnership, shall develop an incentive schedule that costs the state less per placement than the state's 12-month expenditure on a welfare recipient.

(7)  During an untried worker's probationary placement, the for-profit or not-for-profit agent shall be the employer of record of that untried worker, and shall provide workers' compensation and unemployment compensation coverage as provided by law. The business employing the untried worker through the agent may be eligible to apply for any tax credits, wage supplementation, wage subsidy, or employer payment for that employee that are authorized in law or by agreement with the employer. After satisfactory completion of such a probationary period, an untried worker shall not be considered an untried worker.

(8)  This section shall not be used for the purpose of displacing or replacing an employer's regular employees, and shall not interfere with executed collective bargaining agreements. Untried workers shall be paid by the employer at the same rate as similarly situated and assessed workers in the same place of employment.

(9)  An employer that demonstrates a pattern of unsuccessful placements shall be disqualified from participation in these pilots because of poor return on the public's investment.

(10)  The Department of Labor and Employment Security and the ¹Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, working with the Enterprise Florida Jobs and Education Partnership, may offer to any employer that chooses to employ untried workers such incentives and benefits that are available and provided in law, as long as the long-term, cost savings can be quantified with each such additional inducement.

(11)  Unless otherwise reenacted, this section shall be repealed on July 1, 1999.

History.--s. 3, ch. 96-404.