What to Expect when a Former Employee Files a Claim

Experience Accounts

How UI benefits are determined and how they affect the employer’s experience account

Any employer that falls within the base period can be charged up to 28% of what the employee made with them during the base period in question.

UI benefit payments are charged first to the account of the most recent employer, then the next most recent, and so on based on the amount of wages paid by each employer and the number of weeks claimed by the former employee. If the order of employment cannot be determined, benefits are charged proportionately about the amount of wages paid during the quarter.

When a Claimant receives unemployment benefits this affects your experience balance

Employer Experience Accounts, What are they?

The Employer’s Experience  Balance is like an Unemployment Insurance checkbook. Every time the organization pays UI premiums or voluntary payments, the amount is deposited into the organization’s experience account.

Reasons Money is withdrawn:

• UI benefits paid to former employees, including employees working reduced hours or laid-off employees
• a portion of the Mutualized Benefit Charges

The experience account may not be credited for overpayments if those overpayments resulted from a failure by the organization to respond in a timely or adequate manner to DWD’s requests for information related to a claim, and if the organization has a pattern of failing to respond to requests for information.

Claimants file a claim against their earnings in the base period of a claim. DWD makes the decision on which accounts are charged in a claim. UI benefit payments are charged proportionately to the claimant’s employers in the base period.

Qualifications for UI Benefits:

To be eligible for benefits, an individual must:

• Earn sufficient wages during the base period; 
  • An individual must have total wages during the base period that are at least one and one-half (1.5) times greater than the claimant’s highest quarter wages.
  • Base period wages totaling at least $4,200, with $2,500 of those wages earned in the last six (6) months of the base period.
• Be unemployed through no fault of their own 
  • Could be ineligible if:
    • have quit voluntarily (without a good, work-related reason) or being discharged for just cause, or being discharged for gross misconduct.
• Be able, available, and actively seeking full-time work.
  • Could be ineligible if:
    • Refusing a suitable job offer.
    • Refusing or failing a pre-employment drug screening.
    • Fails to participate in required re-employment programs.
    • Does not show proof they are actively searching for work according to the DWD specified work search requirements.
    • Is temporarily not able to work due to illness, injury, leave of absence, or a suspension due to work-related misconduct.

Calculating the Benefit Amount:

Eligibility for UI Benefits (Special Circumstances):

On-Call or As-Needed Workers 

• These workers are not eligible for unemployment benefits if they receive pay OR refuse work during any week.
• DWD must be able to determine whether the individual knew at the time of hire that they would not have a set work schedule and hours would fluctuate according to need, and must be able to determine when the individual worked or refused work during any week.

Below are some examples of items that may assist DWD in making this determination:

1. Evidence of the individual’s acceptance of an offer to work.
   1. Examples of evidence of an individual’s knowledge of an on-call or as-needed position: Job description, job posting, or written, published policy about a specific position.
2. Evidence showing that the individual was paid for services performed on behalf of the employer.
   1. A paycheck, direct deposit form, or warrant specifying the weeks the individual was paid; or
3. Evidence that the individual declined available work at any point in time during the week or weeks at issue.
   1. When the employer notified the individual of available work, AND
      1. Written communications with dates, times, and number of available hours, or verbal testimony by the individual’s supervisor reflecting the information
      2. Established policy and procedures required to be followed to see if work is available
   2. When the individual failed to report to work.
4. Whether the employer established policies and procedures detailing how the employer would make work available to the individual;
5. Whether the individual’s position was regularly or customarily known to the general public as an on-call or as-needed position.

Workers employed at a Business During a Short-Term Shutdown or an Unpaid Vacation. 

• A written contract between the employer and the employee provides notification for the short-term shutdown or unpaid vacation.
• The short-term shutdown or unpaid vacation was the result of the employer’s regular policy or practice.
• The employee had a reasonable assurance of continued employment following.
  • The assurance is not required to be directly communicated, but may be inferred by past policies, practices, custom, etc.

Employees of Certain Head Start Programs Who are on Planned Breaks (such as summer vacation)

1. Is the program integrated with a local school system, or does it have the primary purpose of educating students?
2. Does the program have an established educational curriculum that is taught to participants of the program?
3. Does the program have a set academic calendar?
4. If an individual does not work in an educational institution, do they work for a governmental entity or a nonprofit organization and provide services to or on behalf of an educational institution?
5. Do the program employees have a reasonable assurance of employment once the scheduled vacation or break concludes?

Below are some examples of items that may assist DWD in making this determination:

1. A copy of the academic calendar with start and end dates of academic terms, official and customary vacation periods, and holiday recesses.
2. Evidence that the employee had reasonable assurance, or it was inferred by practice, that they would return to work to perform the same or similar services for Head Start at the beginning of the next academic term or end of the vacation/break period.
   1. Examples:
      1. Official letter from Head Start to the employee providing a return-to-work date.
      2. A contract between Head Start and the employee setting forth the terms of employment.
3. Employer must protest the DWD Separating/Base Period Employer Notice sent to the employer relative to the filing of a claim for unemployment benefits by an employee and must indicate:
   1. Whether the local school system is exercising some direction and control;
   2. Whether the teachers and assistants are required to have a specific educational background or specialized training;
   3. Whether the teachers are required to prepare lesson plans;
   4. Whether the teachers receive their pay from a school system.

Some factors used to determine if a Head Start employee performed services for a local school system and/or in an educational capacity:

1. Whether the local school system is exercising some direction and control;
2. Whether the teachers and assistants are required to have a specific educational background or specialized training;
3. Whether the teachers are required to prepare lesson plans;
4. Whether the teachers receive their pay from a school system.

Employees Receiving a Voluntary Buyout:  

Employees who accept a voluntary buyout to resign or retire are not eligible for unemployment insurance unless they have a reverse seniority agreement.

Deductible and Non-Deductible Income

Pension, Retirement, Annuity Distributions

Generally deductible income if the employer contributed to the plan and the employer is in the base period of the claim. Deductions will not occur from receipt of pension, retirement, or annuity plans when:

• The Department decides the issue on or after 07/02/2023,
• The decision affects benefit weeks on and after 07/08/2023, and
• Only the employer made all contributions to the plan.

These payments will not be counted as deductible income when an individual uses the distribution to satisfy a severe financial hardship resulting from an unforeseeable emergency that is the result of events beyond the individual’s control.

Severance/Dismissal, and Vacation Pay.  

If a former employee is eligible for UI benefits and receives severance/vacation pay, the amount will be deducted from the claimant’s weekly UI benefits. The claimant will not be eligible to receive UI benefits while also receiving severance/vacation.

How a Former Employee’s Benefit Claims create an invoice for a reimbursable employer. 

As part of their election to make payments instead of contribution, reimbursable employers give up their protest right on base period separations, except for gross misconduct . However,   reimbursable employers are eligible to protest if they are the separating employer.

If the claimant files another claim, and a portion of the former employee’s base period   is after the original claim period, the quarter in which the claim is filed is the incomplete quarter. Because the incomplete quarter and the most recently completed quarter have not been used in the current claim, those wages can be used in a subsequent claim.

Partial UI Benefits may be available to:

• Individuals whose current employer reduces hours to less than a regular full-time work week.
• Current claimants who take a new part-time job.

These individuals must report their part-time wages on each weekly voucher.

The experience accounts of the base period employers will be charged according to how benefits are paid, as described below.

Deductions for Wages Earned During the Week

• A dollar-for-dollar deduction will be made from their benefit payment for all wages earned over $100.
  • Example: A person’s weekly benefit amount is $200. They earn $50 a week from working. Since their earnings are less than $100, their weekly benefit amount will not be reduced.
  • Example 2: A person’s weekly benefit amount is $200. They earn $130 a week from working. Since they earned more than $100; their weekly benefit amount will be reduced by the amount over $100. Their payable amount will be $170 ($200 minus $30).

Suspension of and Requalifying for Benefits

When DWD determines a claimant is not eligible for benefits due to the reason for separation (excluding gross misconduct), the claimant’s maximum claim balance is reduced by 25%. Additional disqualifications will result in further reductions of the claim balance. Claimants may again become eligible through subsequent employment following a disqualifying separation. The claimant must have at least 8 weeks of earnings and earn 8 times their weekly benefit amount.

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