SECTIONS 821-832 - California Statutes

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE CODE

SECTION 821-832

821. (a) Each school employer may, in lieu of the contributions
required of employers, elect to pay into the Unemployment Fund the
cost of benefits, including extended duration benefits and
federal-state extended benefits, paid based on base period wages with
respect to employment for an employing unit and charged to its
account in the manner provided by Section 1026, pursuant to
authorized regulations that shall prescribe the rate or amount, time,
manner, and method of payment or advance payment or providing a good
and sufficient bond to guarantee payment of contributions. The
provisions of this article shall apply to school employers who have
elected financing under this section.
(b) Sections 1030, 1031, 1032, and 1032.5, and any provision of
this division for the noncharging of benefits to the account of an
employer, shall not apply to an employing unit under subdivision (a).
The cost of benefits charged to a school employer under this section
shall include, but not be limited to, benefits or payments
improperly paid in excess of a weekly benefit amount, or in excess of
a maximum benefit amount, or otherwise in excess of the amount that
should have been paid, due to any computational or other error of any
type by the Employment Development Department or the Department of
Benefit Payments, whether or not the error could be anticipated.
(c) In making the payments prescribed by subdivision (a), there
shall be paid or credited to the Unemployment Fund, either in advance
or by way of reimbursement, as may be determined by the director,
any sums he or she estimates the Unemployment Fund will be entitled
to receive from each employing unit for each calendar quarter,
reduced or increased by any sum by which he or she finds that his or
her estimates for any prior calendar quarter were greater or less
than the amounts that should have been paid to the fund. These
estimates may be made upon the basis of a statistical sampling, or
other method as may be determined by the director.
Upon making the determination, the director shall mail notice of
the determination, pursuant to Section 1206, to the employing unit.
The director may cancel any contributions or portion thereof that
he or she finds have been erroneously determined. The contributions
due from the employing units shall be paid, transferred, or credited
from the School Employees Fund established in the State Treasury by
Section 822 to the Unemployment Fund by the State Treasurer, State
Controller, or other officer or person responsible for disbursements
on behalf of the employing unit within 30 days of the date of mailing
of the director's notice of determination to the employing unit.
Each employing unit shall send a copy of any and all notices,
billings, or correspondence not normally routed to the administrator
and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, regarding unemployment
insurance for the school employees, to the administrator, the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the county superintendent
of schools, or agent thereof, with timely documentation of charges or
determination. Article 8 (commencing with Section 1126) of Chapter 4
with respect to the assessment of contributions, and Chapter 7
(commencing with Section 1701) with respect to the collection of
contributions, shall apply to the assessments provided by this
article. Sections 1177 to 1184, inclusive, relating to refunds and
overpayments, shall apply to amounts paid to the Unemployment Fund
pursuant to this section. Sections 1222, 1223, 1224, 1241, and 1242
shall apply to matters arising under this section.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no
employing unit shall be liable for that portion of any extended
duration benefits or federal-state extended benefits that is
reimbursed or reimbursable by the federal government to the state.
(e) To the extent permitted by federal law, including Section 121
(e) of Public Law 94-566, any school employer that elects a method of
financing under this article shall not be liable to reimburse the
cost of benefits paid to any individual whose base period wages
include wages for services performed prior to January 1, 1978, if the
benefits are reimbursable by the federal government under Section
121 of Public Law 94-566 and to the extent that the individual would
not have been eligible for the benefits had this state not provided
for benefits payable based on services performed prior to January 1,
1978.
(f) The administrator and the Superintendent of Public Instruction
shall adopt rules and regulations for the administration of their
respective functions under this article in accordance with Chapter
3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title
2 of the Government Code. Regulations of the administrator shall be
subject to Article 1 (commencing with Section 301) of Chapter 2 of
Part 1 of Division 1. Rules and regulations of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction shall not be subject to the provisions of Article
1 (commencing with Section 301) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 1.
(g) Any election for financing coverage under this section shall
take effect with respect to services performed from and after the
first day of the calendar quarter in which the election is filed with
the director, and shall continue in effect for not less than two
full calendar years. Thereafter, the election under this section may
be terminated as of January 1 of any calendar year only if the school
employer, on or before the 31st day of January of that year, has
filed with the director a written application for termination. The
director may for good cause waive the requirement that a written
application for termination shall be filed on or before the 31st day
of January. School employers shall be prohibited from making a
subsequent reelection under this section for 10 years from the date
of termination of an election under this section. An election for
financing coverage under this section is deemed to have been filed by
every school employer effective as of January 1, 1976, is deemed to
have been in effect for two calendar years prior to January 1, 1978,
and may be terminated as of January 1, 1978, or as of January 1,
1980, or any later January 1 pursuant to this section. Upon the
termination of any election under this section, the school employer
shall be and remain liable for all benefits paid based upon wages
paid by the school employer during the period of an election under
this section.

821.3. As used in this article, "administrator" means the Director
of Employment Development.

821.4. As used in this article, "employing unit" and "school
employer" means the governing board of any school district or
community college district, any county board of education, any county
superintendent of schools, or any personnel commission of a school
district or community college district which has a merit system
pursuant to any provision of the Education Code, or any
instrumentality of the foregoing, or any instrumentality of more than
one of the foregoing, which employs one or more employees.

821.5. The provisions of Article 3 (commencing with Section 1326)
of Chapter 5 of this part relating to filing, determination, and
payments of unemployment compensation benefit claims, and all other
provisions of this part not inconsistent with this article, shall
apply to all claims and matters arising under this article.

822. (a) There is hereby established in the State Treasury the
"School Employees Fund." The School Employees Fund is the successor
of the "Classified School Employees Fund." Moneys received pursuant
to Section 823, together with any charges, notices, fees, interest,
penalties, assessments, or other revenue, shall be deposited in this
fund. All moneys in the fund are hereby appropriated to the
administrator without regard to fiscal year for carrying out the
purposes of this article, for administrative costs, for making
refunds, and for investment through the Surplus Money Investment
Fund, with any interest or earnings credited to the School Employees
Fund. Funds to be used for administrative costs shall be budgeted and
expended in accordance with existing state law.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law, the Controller may use the
moneys in the School Employees Fund for loans to the General Fund as
provided in Sections 16310 and 16381 of the Government Code. However,
interest shall be paid on all moneys loaned to the General Fund from
the School Employees Fund. Interest payable shall be computed at a
rate determined by the Pooled Money Investment Board to be the
current earning rate of the fund from which loaned. This subdivision
does not authorize any transfer that will interfere with the carrying
out of the object for which the School Employees Fund was created.

823. (a) For the purpose of payment by each school employer of all
or part of the charges for unemployment compensation benefits, fees,
assessments, interest, penalties, billings, notices, and other
expenses of unemployment insurance for school employees pursuant to
this part, moneys budgeted pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c) of
this section shall be remitted by the school employer or on the
school employer's behalf by the county auditor to the Treasurer
pursuant to this article, and shall be deposited in the School
Employees Fund.
(b) (1) For each fiscal year, except as provided in subdivisions
(c) and (d), each school employer shall budget and remit on or before
the last day of the calendar month following the close of each
calendar quarter to the Treasurer for deposit in the School Employees
Fund in the State Treasury an amount determined by multiplying the
contribution rate for the fiscal year by the total wages, including
taxable wages as well as wages which would be taxable except for the
limitation on taxable wages provided under Section 930, but
excluding, to the extent permitted by federal law, wages paid to any
individual to the extent that federal law provides for reimbursement
to the State of California for all benefits paid from the
Unemployment Fund to the individual based on the wages.
The administrator shall, not later than March 31 each year, notify
all school employers participating in the School Employees Fund of
the contribution rate for the succeeding fiscal year.
(2) The contribution rate for the fiscal year beginning July 1,
1988, and for each subsequent fiscal year shall be two times the
amount disbursed for claims management fees, unemployment insurance
benefit charges, and School Employees Fund administrative
expenditures from the School Employees Fund during the 12-month
period ending December 31 and immediately preceding the fiscal year
for which the rate is to be effective, less the amount in the School
Employees Fund on that December 31, with the resulting figure divided
by total wages as described in paragraph (1) for the 12-month period
ending June 30 and immediately preceding that December 31, and then
rounded to the nearest one-hundredth of 1 percent. In no event shall
the contribution rate be less than five one-hundredths of 1 percent.
(c) If the administrator finds that the ability of the School
Employees Fund to meet its estimated obligations promptly when due
will become endangered, he or she shall increase the contribution
rate otherwise provided by this section to a level estimated to be
needed to protect the solvency of the fund, except that the rate
shall not be increased to more than three-tenths of 1 percent. If the
administrator finds that the School Employees Fund balance is in
excess of an adequate reserve to meet its estimated obligations
promptly when due, he or she shall, after consultation with the fund'
s School Advisory Committee, decrease the contribution rate otherwise
provided by this section, except that the rate shall not be
decreased to less than one-tenth of 1 percent. The administrator
shall notify all school employers participating in the fund of any
increased or decreased contribution rate under this authority.

826. The administrator of the School Employees Fund shall, based on
the total number of covered employees reflected on reports received
by March 31, 1978, and by November 30, 1978, and each year thereafter
by November 30, make a transfer from available interest earnings
pursuant to investments authorized by Section 822 to the
Superintendent of Public Instruction or Chancellor of the California
Community Colleges to support an Unemployment Insurance Management
System and appeals program as set forth in Section 1330 of the
Education Code. Such transfers shall be equal to two dollars ($2) per
covered employee, less administrative costs of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction and the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges, and shall be made by April 30, 1978, and by December 31,
1978, and each year thereafter by December 31, to the Superintendent
of Public Instruction or Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges, as appropriate, and expended only for the purposes set
forth in Section 1330 of the Education Code.

827. Whenever the unencumbered balance of interest deposited in or
earned by the School Employees Fund, after deducting administrative
expenses paid or encumbered, exceeds two million dollars ($2,000,000)
as of the close of each fiscal year, the unencumbered balance shall
be credited as of the close of that fiscal year to the account of
each school employer which has a positive balance in the fund, in the
proportion that each positive account balance bears to the total of
all positive account balances.

828. Each school employer shall be responsible for a quarterly
local experience charge as set forth below, together with the charges
or penalties set by the administrator for administrative
indiscretions, including tardiness and error, as well as all costs
for benefits and administration resulting from failure to properly
cover an employee. The reimbursement for charges shall be delinquent
30 days from the date of notice and if not paid within the time
required, the school employer shall pay a penalty of 10 percent of
the unpaid amount, plus interest at the adjusted annual rate
established pursuant to Section 19521 of the Revenue and Taxation
Code from and after the date of delinquency until paid. The local
experience charge to be levied against each school employer shall be
computed as follows:
Local Experience Charge
(a) The local experience charge rate shall be 10 percent for the
first three complete fiscal years of participation in the School
Employees Fund.
(b) The local experience charge rate for the fourth fiscal year,
and each succeeding fiscal year, shall be determined by dividing the
reserve balance at the end of the fiscal year which began 24 months
prior to the fiscal year for which the rate is being calculated by
the benefits paid for that same prior fiscal year.
The factor derived is the employer's reserve ratio. If, as of the
computation date, the school employer's reserve ratio equals or
exceeds that which appears on any line in column 1 of the following
table, but is less than that which appears in column 2 of that table,
the local experience charge rate shall be the figure appearing on
that same line in column 3 of that table.

(Column 1) (Column 2) (Column 3)
Line Reserve Ratio Rate
1.........negative to 1.00 15%
2.............1.00 to 2.00 10%
3.............2.00 to 3.00 5%
4.............3.00 or more 0%

(c) The rate determined in subdivision (a) or (b) shall be
multiplied by the employer's quarterly benefit charges to compute the
local experience charges.
The administrator shall, not later than March 31 of each year,
notify each school employer participating in the School Employees
Fund of their local experience charge rate for the succeeding fiscal
year.

829. The total amount of the local experience charge computed for
each school employer pursuant to Section 828 shall be the amount that
the school employer, county superintendent of schools, or empowered
entity shall, on behalf of the employers under that jurisdiction,
reimburse the School Employees Fund in the State Treasury. However,
this amount shall not exceed 1.7 percent of the actual annual wages
paid by a school employer in the immediately preceding calendar year
as indicated in the four quarterly reports to the department.

831. There is hereby created a School Employer Advisory Committee
of five persons. The committee shall consist of one person appointed
by each of the following: the State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Chancellor of the California Community Colleges,
Association of School Administrators, California School Business
Officials, and the California School Board Association.
All such members shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing
power and their only compensation shall be per diem expenses for
attending meetings, which shall be a cost of administration of the
School Employees Fund. The advisory committee shall select a
chairperson and meet at least semiannually with the administrator to
consider and recommend improvements concerning the administration of
this article.

832. The administrator shall at least annually calculate, as of the
close of and for the immediately preceding fiscal year, the
experiences of school employers relative to usage of the Unemployment
Fund. The calculations shall include tabulations on the experience
of each school employer in relation to the expenditures from and the
income to the School Employees Fund from the wages paid by the
employer. All school employers shall be listed and ranked by ratio of
use. The report shall contain comments and recommendations on
improvements to the administration, enforcement, and financing of the
provisions relative to this article. The report by the administrator
on the above shall be made each year to the affected school employer
and governing board thereof prior to March 31.
The administrator shall develop experience relationships on all
benefits paid to employees via the School Employees Fund and on
school employers' experience related to use and exposure. Data shall
relate to numbers of employees and types of programs and shall be
calculated as of the close of and for the immediately preceding
fiscal year. A report by the administrator on the above shall be made
each year to the Legislature prior to March 31 containing comments
and recommendations on improvement to administration, enforcement and
financing of the provisions relative thereto.