Unemployment claim denied, do we still have to pay

Frenchie

We terminated an associate for a serious violation of company policy. His unemployment claim and subsequent appeals were denied. Since then he has worked for another employer for six weeks and been laid off. Today I get a notice that his claim from his last employer has been allowed, and we are chargeable for 81%. Does this mean we ultimately have to pay? Somehow that doesn't seem right.

HRinFL

I would appeal, but you may still be responsible for a portion of the ee's benefits. This is an example of how the UI system is broken. As a "base period employer," in the eyes of the administrative agency, you would "share" the cost of providing benefits for this person. That is why it is important to appeal.

Make it known during the hearing that the ee was denied benefits when he was discharged. I would would use the same argument as you did when you went through the process the first time, along with your normal buzzwords - that he would be empployed if not for his misconduct, and that his action(s) were not in your best interest. Point out that the ee was laid off from another employer, not a situation that you could control. Depending on the Appeals Referee, you could either 1) not be charged , 2) lower the amount that you are charged for, or 3) still have to pay 81% of the benefit. It sucks and is another example of a program that is allegedly neutral being biased.

nietra

Same thing happened to us, we appealed to the notice and were requested to provide the documentation again and did not have to pay the new claim. It was a long process but ultimately we did win. Good Luck.

Hunter1

I believe in WI, you'd lose. If the ee works for another employer for a certain number of weeks and establishes eligibility, he/she first draws on the second er's account but then comes back on yours. It's looked at like it wasn't the ee's fault that he/she lost the second job, and now needs UC.

Here's the one that gets me: In WI, if there are two base period employers, and the ee gets laid off from the primary employer, the secondary employer gets to pay a percentage of the UC even though that employer continues to employ the person at the same level. In other words, we employ someone in our Parks Dept, and he earns 20% of his total salary from us during his base period. His primary employer lays him off, and we get to pay 20% of his UC even though he continues to work for us at the same level as always.

Don D

In Mississippi, if the employee returned to work and earned 8X WBA (or what would have been his WBA), then is out of work through no fault of his own, he would be monitarily, if otherwise, eligible and all employers in the base period would get to share in the charges. The catch is in him being laid off while you are still in the base period. S**t happens.