48-652. Employer's experience account; reimbursement account; combined tax; liability; termination; reinstatement.

(1)(a) A separate experience account shall be established for each employer who is liable for payment of combined tax. Whenever and wherever in the Employment Security Law the terms reserve account or experience account are used, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, such terms shall be deemed interchangeable and synonymous and reference to either of such accounts shall refer to and also include the other.

(b) A separate reimbursement account shall be established for each employer who is liable for payments in lieu of contributions. All benefits paid with respect to service in employment for such employer shall be charged to his or her reimbursement account, and such employer shall be billed for and shall be liable for the payment of the amount charged when billed by the commissioner. Payments in lieu of contributions received by the commissioner on behalf of each such employer shall be credited to such employer's reimbursement account, and two or more employers who are liable for payments in lieu of contributions may jointly apply to the commissioner for establishment of a group account for the purpose of sharing the cost of benefits paid that are attributable to service in the employ of such employers. The commissioner shall adopt and promulgate such rules and regulations as he or she deems necessary with respect to applications for establishment, maintenance, and termination of group accounts authorized by this subdivision.

(2) All contributions paid by an employer shall be credited to the experience account of such employer. State unemployment insurance tax payments shall not be credited to the experience account of each employer. Partial payments of combined tax shall be credited so that at least eighty percent of the combined tax payment excluding interest and penalty is credited first to contributions due. Contributions with respect to prior years which are received on or before January 31 of any year shall be considered as having been paid at the beginning of the calendar year. All voluntary contributions which are received on or before January 10 of any year shall be considered as having been paid at the beginning of the calendar year.

(3)(a) Each experience account shall be charged only for benefits based upon wages paid by such employer. No benefits shall be charged to the experience account of any employer if:

(i) Such benefits were paid on the basis of a period of employment from which the claimant (A) left work voluntarily without good cause, (B) left work voluntarily due to a nonwork-connected illness or injury, (C) left work voluntarily with good cause to escape abuse as defined in section 42-903 between household members as provided in subdivision (1) of section 48-628.13, (D) left work from which he or she was discharged for misconduct connected with his or her work, (E) left work voluntarily and is entitled to unemployment benefits without disqualification in accordance with subdivision (3) or (5) of section 48-628.13, or (F) was involuntarily separated from employment and such benefits were paid pursuant to section 48-628.17; and

(ii) The employer has filed timely notice of the facts on which such exemption is claimed in accordance with rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the commissioner.

(b) No benefits shall be charged to the experience account of any employer if such benefits were paid during a week when the individual was participating in training approved under section 236(a)(1) of the federal Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. 2296(a)(1).

(c) Each reimbursement account shall be charged only for benefits paid that were based upon wages paid by such employer in the base period that were wages for insured work solely by reason of section 48-627.01.

(d) Benefits paid to an eligible individual shall be charged against the account of his or her most recent employers within his or her base period against whose accounts the maximum charges hereunder have not previously been made in the inverse chronological order in which the employment of such individual occurred. The maximum amount so charged against the account of any employer, other than an employer for which services in employment as provided in subdivision (4)(a) of section 48-604 are performed, shall not exceed the total benefit amount to which such individual was entitled as set out in section 48-626 with respect to base period wages of such individual paid by such employer plus one-half the amount of extended benefits paid to such eligible individual with respect to base period wages of such individual paid by such employer. The commissioner shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations determining the manner in which benefits shall be charged against the account of several employers for whom an individual performed employment during the same quarter or during the same base period.

(4)(a) An employer's experience account shall be terminated one calendar year after such employer has ceased to be subject to the Employment Security Law, except that if the commissioner finds that an employer's business is closed solely because one or more of the owners, officers, partners, or limited liability company members or the majority stockholder entered the armed forces of the United States, or of any of its allies, such employer's account shall not be terminated and, if the business is resumed within two years after the discharge or release from active duty in the armed forces of such person or persons, the employer's experience account shall be deemed to have been continuous throughout such period.

(b) An experience account terminated pursuant to this subsection shall be reinstated if:

(i) The employer becomes subject again to the Employment Security Law within one calendar year after termination of such experience account;

(ii) The employer makes a written application for reinstatement of such experience account to the commissioner within two calendar years after termination of such experience account; and

(iii) The commissioner finds that the employer is operating substantially the same business as prior to the termination of such experience account.

(5) All money in the Unemployment Compensation Fund shall be kept mingled and undivided. In no case shall the payment of benefits to an individual be denied or withheld because the experience account of any employer does not have a total of contributions paid in excess of benefits charged to such experience account.

(6)(a) For benefit years beginning before September 3, 2017, if an individual's base period wage credits represent part-time employment for a contributory employer and the contributory employer continues to employ the individual to the same extent as during the base period, then the contributory employer's experience account shall not be charged if the contributory employer has filed timely notice of the facts on which such exemption is claimed in accordance with rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the commissioner.

(b) For benefit years beginning on or after September 3, 2017, if an individual's base period wage credits represent part-time employment for an employer and the employer continues to employ the individual to the same extent as during the base period, then the employer's experience account, in the case of a contributory employer, or the employer's reimbursement account, in the case of a reimbursable employer, shall not be charged if the employer has filed timely notice of the facts on which such exemption is claimed in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner.

(7) If a contributory employer responds to the department's request for information within the time period set forth in subsection (1) of section 48-632 and provides accurate information as known to the employer at the time of the response, the employer's experience account shall not be charged if the individual's separation from employment is voluntary and without good cause as determined under section 48-628.12.

Source

Annotations

Where 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).