Employer Qualifications and Special Circumstances

Seasonal Employment

Wages used in seasonal employment may not be used to establish unemployment insurance claims outside the approved season.

Seasonal Employment Key Points

Seasonal Employment is defined as a service performed for an employer who has been officially approved as a seasonal employer by DWD and only during the approved seasonal period (less than 26 weeks)

Seasonal Worker must be someone employed by an approved seasonal employer for less than 26 weeks in a year within the designated seasonal period

Only DWD can assign seasonal status to an employer; employers cannot self-designate.

Qualifying as a Seasonal Employer

The requirements to be a seasonal employer are:

• All or part of the business operates for recurring periods of less than 26 weeks in a calendar year.
• The jobs must be functionally different than an employer’s non-seasonal positions
• Employers may qualify for multiple seasonal periods, but the total of all seasonal periods must be less than 26 weeks each calendar year.
• The portion of the business applying for seasonal status must be identifiable as a distinctly different operation.

As an example of the “functionally different” requirement, there are employers that maintain rental properties that are open year-round and rental properties that are open only during a distinct tourist season. During the tourist season, the employer hires housekeeping staff for the purpose of cleaning the properties that are only open during the tourist season. Because the duties being performed by these staff are the same as the duties performed by housekeeping staff on the year-round properties, this is considered a temporary increase in staffing, not seasonal employment.

On the other hand, if the same employer hires security personnel to maintain the seasonal properties while they are not available for rental, the security personnel might qualify for seasonal status if the off season for these properties is less than 26 weeks each calendar year.

In order to be considered a seasonal employer for UI reporting purposes, the employer must file Form 15672 (Request for Seasonal Determination Status) with DWD. DWD will issue a decision within 90 days of receiving the request. After approval, an employer assumes seasonal employer status effective the first day of the next calendar quarter.

The seasonal employer application must be submitted no less than 90 days before the first day of the quarter containing the season start date.

Once approved for seasonal employer status by the Indiana DWD, you must:

1. Report Wages Correctly
   • Accurately track and report wages paid to seasonal workers during the approved seasonal period.
   • Use the specific seasonal code assigned by DWD for seasonal employees on quarterly wage reports. This ensures those wages are properly classified.
2. Continue Quarterly Reporting
   • File all quarterly wage and employment reports through ESS, including both seasonal and non-seasonal employees
3. Maintain Records
   • Keep detailed records of which employees are classified as seasonal, their job functions, and the dates of their seasonal employment
4. Monitor Seasonal Periods
   • Ensure your seasonal operations do not exceed 26 weeks in a calendar year. If they do, you must notify DWD within 30 days, or you could lose your seasonal status for that period
5. Notify DWD of changes
   • Changes such as number of seasonal positions or length of the seasonal period could impact your seasonal status
6. Reapply if Needed
   • If you lose seasonal status, you may reapply if/when your operations again meet the requirements noted above.

Loss of Seasonal Employer Status

If the employer’s seasonal operation exceeds 26 weeks in a calendar year, the organization must notify DWD within 30 days.

Seasonal status is automatically lost for the period of operation after that calendar quarter. The employees can use the wages paid in this period as regular wages to establish UI claims.

Once lost, seasonal employer status can be re-applied for in any calendar year after the year in which the designation was revoked.

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