When the Florida Legislature passed a sweeping overhaul of the state’s unemployment laws, most everyone focused on provisions that cut weeks of benefits and tied the maximum number of weeks available to the state jobless rate.

Florida became the first state in the nation to put maximum weeks — under the state program — on a sliding scale.

But there’s language in the reform bill that has the potential to have an even greater impact on unemployed Floridians.

Legislators neutered a long-standing provision that gave employees the benefit of the doubt when their unemployment eligibility was challenged by employers.

Under the old language, eligibility was to be “liberally construed” in favor of the employee. That is, when a company challenged a former worker’s right to collect benefits, it had to prove to a state referee that the ex-employee had done something that would render him ineligible.

If the case was a close call, the employee was to receive the benefit of the doubt. The law was to be “liberally construed” in favor of the claimant.

But this year’s legislature eliminated that element.

The words “liberally construed” still appear in the law, but they’re now followed by a mishmash of legalese that says little more than, “We will administer unemployment in a way that’s consistent with all current laws and regulations.”

This is a pretty big deal.

Until now, unemployment benefits have been viewed as something you earned. To be eligible, you had to work consistently and meet an income threshold. Once you did that, the benefits were yours — an insurance policy you could draw on if you were laid off.

The new measure re-frames eligibility as a status to be debated by employer and employee. If ultimately signed by Gov. Rick Scott, who’s said he support the bill, businesses should find it easier to deny benefits to former employees.

Employers say it’s necessary because the old language made it too easy for undeserving claimants to game the system. But worker advocates are worried.

You can read the full story — New law would make it easier to challenge jobless claims — in today’s Central Florida Business magazine.