48-652 Employer's experience account; reimbursement account; contributions by employer; liability; termination; reinstatement. - Nebraska Statutes

48-652. Employer's experienceaccount; reimbursement account; contributions by employer; liability; termination;reinstatement.(1)(a) A separate experience accountshall be established for each employer who is liable for payment of contributions.Whenever and wherever in the Employment Security Law the terms reserve accountor experience account are used, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise,such terms shall be deemed interchangeable and synonymous and reference toeither of such accounts shall refer to and also include the other.(b) A separate reimbursement account shall be establishedfor each employer who is liable for payments in lieu of contributions. Allbenefits paid with respect to service in employment for such employer shallbe charged to his or her reimbursement account and such employer shall bebilled for and shall be liable for the payment of the amount charged whenbilled by the commissioner. Payments in lieu of contributions received bythe commissioner on behalf of each such employer shall be credited to suchemployer's reimbursement account, and two or more employers who are liablefor payments in lieu of contributions may jointly apply to the commissionerfor establishment of a group account for the purpose of sharing the cost ofbenefits paid that are attributable to service in the employ of such employers.The commissioner shall prescribe such rules and regulations as he or she deemsnecessary with respect to applications for establishment, maintenance, andtermination of group accounts authorized by this subdivision.(2) All contributions paid by an employer shall be creditedto the experience account of such employer. State unemployment insurance taxpayments shall not be credited to the experience account of each employer.Partial payments of combined tax shall be credited so that at least eightypercent of the combined tax payment excluding interest and penalty is creditedfirst to contributions due. In addition to contributions credited to the experienceaccount, each employer's account shall be credited as of June 30 of each calendaryear with interest at a rate determined by the commissioner based on the averageannual interest rate paid by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United Statesof America upon the state's account in the Unemployment Trust Fund for thepreceding calendar year multiplied by the balance in his or her experienceaccount at the beginning of such calendar year. If the total credits as ofsuch date to all employers' experience accounts are equal to or greater thanninety percent of the total amount in the Unemployment Compensation Fund,no interest shall be credited for that year to any employer's account. Contributionswith respect to prior years which are received on or before January 31 ofany year shall be considered as having been paid at the beginning of the calendaryear. All voluntary contributions which are received on or before January10 of any year shall be considered as having been paid at the beginning ofthe calendar year.(3)(a) Each experience account shall be charged only forbenefits based upon wages paid by such employer. No benefits shall be chargedto the experience account of any employer if (i) such benefits were paid onthe basis of a period of employment from which the claimant (A) left workvoluntarily without good cause, (B) left work voluntarily due to a nonwork-connectedillness or injury, (C) left work voluntarily with good cause to escape abuseas defined in section 42-903 between household members as provided in subdivision(1) of section 48-628.01, (D) left work from which he or she was dischargedfor misconduct connected with his or her work, (E) left work voluntarily and is entitledto unemployment benefits without disqualification in accordance with subdivision(3) or (5) of section 48-628.01,or (F) was involuntarily separated from employment and such benefits werepaid pursuant to section 48-628.05, and (ii) the employer hasfiled timely notice of the facts on which such exemption is claimed in accordancewith rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner. No benefits shallbe charged to the experience account of any employer if such benefits werepaid on the basis of wages paid in the base period that are wages for insuredwork solely by reason of subdivision (5)(c)(iii) of section 48-627.No benefits shall be charged to the experience account of any employer ifsuch benefits were paid during a week when the individual was participatingin training approved under section 236(a)(1) of the federal Trade Act of 1974,19 U.S.C. 2296(a)(1).(b) Each reimbursement account shall be charged only forbenefits paid that were based upon wages paid by such employer in the baseperiod that were wages for insured work solely by reason of subdivision (5)of section 48-627.(c) Benefits paid to an eligible individual shall be chargedagainst the account of his or her most recent employers within his or herbase period against whose accounts the maximum charges hereunder have notpreviously been made in the inverse chronological order in which the employmentof such individual occurred. The maximum amount so charged against the accountof any employer, other than an employer for which services in employment asprovided in subdivision (4)(a) of section 48-604 are performed, shall notexceed the total benefit amount to which such individual was entitled as setout in section 48-626 with respect to base period wages of such individualpaid by such employer plus one-half the amount of extended benefits paid tosuch eligible individual with respect to base period wages of such individualpaid by such employer. The commissioner shall by rules and regulations prescribethe manner in which benefits shall be charged against the account of severalemployers for whom an individual performed employment during the same quarteror during the same base period. Any benefit check duly issued and deliveredor mailed to a claimant and not presented for payment within one year fromthe date of its issue may be invalidated and the amount thereof credited tothe Unemployment Compensation Fund, except that a substitute check may beissued and charged to the fund on proper showing at any time within the yearnext following. Any charge made to an employer's account for any such invalidatedcheck shall stand as originally made.(4)(a) An employer's experience account shall be deemed tobe terminated one calendar year after such employer has ceased to be subjectto the Employment Security Law, except that if the commissioner finds thatan employer's business is closed solely because of the entrance of one ormore of the owners, officers, partners, or limited liability company membersor the majority stockholder into the armed forces of the United States, orof any of its allies, after July 1, 1950, such employer's account shall notbe terminated and, if the business is resumed within two years after the dischargeor release from active duty in the armed forces of such person or persons,the employer's experience account shall be deemed to have been continuousthroughout such period.(b) An experience account terminated pursuant to this subsectionshall be reinstated if (i) the employer becomes subject again to the EmploymentSecurity Law within one calendar year after termination of such experienceaccount and the employer makes a written application for reinstatement ofsuch experience account to the commissioner within two calendar years aftertermination of such experience account and (ii) the commissioner finds thatthe employer is operating substantially the same business as prior to thetermination of such experience account.(5) All money in the Unemployment Compensation Fund shallbe kept mingled and undivided. The payment of benefits to an individual shallin no case be denied or withheld because the experience account of any employerdoes not have a total of contributions paid in excess of benefits chargedto such experience account.(6) A contributory or reimbursable employer shall be relievedof charges if the employer was previously charged for wages and the same wagesare being used a second time to establish a new claim as a result of the October1, 1988, change in the base period.(7) If an individual's base period wage credits representpart-time employment for a contributory employer and the contributory employercontinues to employ the individual to the same extent as during the base period,then the contributory employer's experience account shall not be charged ifthe contributory employer has filed timely notice of the facts on which suchexemption is claimed in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed bythe commissioner. SourceLaws 1937, c. 108, § 7, p. 383; Laws 1939, c. 56, § 5, p. 240; Laws 1941, c. 94, § 5, p. 392; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 48-707; R.S.1943, § 48-652; Laws 1947, c. 175, § 11, p. 579; Laws 1949, c. 163, § 13, p. 428; Laws 1953, c. 167, § 9, p. 534; Laws 1957, c. 208, § 5, p. 732; Laws 1971, LB 651, § 9; Laws 1977, LB 509, § 8; Laws 1980, LB 800, § 5; Laws 1984, LB 995, § 1; Laws 1985, LB 339, § 37; Laws 1986, LB 901, § 1; Laws 1987, LB 275, § 1; Laws 1988, LB 1033, § 3; Laws 1993, LB 121, § 292; Laws 1994, LB 884, § 65; Laws 1994, LB 1337, § 11; Laws 1995, LB 1, § 12; Laws 1995, LB 240, § 4; Laws 2000, LB 953, § 9; Laws 2001, LB 418, § 1; Laws 2005, LB 739, § 12; Laws 2007, LB265, § 10; Laws 2008, LB500, § 1; Laws 2009, LB631, § 8; Laws 2010, LB1020, § 6.Operative Date: July 1, 2011AnnotationsWhere employees have left work voluntarily without good cause or have been discharged for misconduct, an employer is not charged with benefits paid to its employees. Fauss v. Messerly, 200 Neb. 326, 263 N.W.2d 668 (1978).