1. As used in this section:

(a) “Average actual duration” means the number of weeks obtained by dividing the number of weeks of benefits paid for weeks of total unemployment in a consecutive 12-month period by the number of first payments made in the same 12-month period.

(b) “Average annual payroll” for each calendar year means the annual average of total wages paid by an employer subject to contributions for the 3 consecutive calendar years immediately preceding the computation date. The average annual payroll for employers first qualifying as eligible employers must be computed on the total amount of wages paid, subject to contributions, for not less than 10 consecutive quarters and not more than 12 consecutive quarters ending on December 31, immediately preceding the computation date.

(c) “Beneficiary” means a person who has received a first payment.

(d) “Computation date” for each calendar year means June 30 of the preceding calendar year.

(e) “Covered worker” means a person who has worked in employment subject to this chapter.

(f) “First payment” means the first weekly unemployment insurance benefit paid to a person in the person’s benefit year.

(g) “Reserve balance” means the excess, if any, of total contributions paid by each employer over total benefit charges to that employer’s experience rating record.

(h) “Reserve ratio” means the percentage ratio that the reserve balance bears to the average annual payroll.

(i) “Total contributions paid” means the total amount of contributions, due on wages paid on or before the computation date, paid by an employer not later than the last day of the second month immediately following the computation date.

(j) “Unemployment risk ratio” means the ratio obtained by dividing the number of first payments issued in any consecutive 12-month period by the average monthly number of covered workers in employment as shown on the records of the Division for the same 12-month period.

2. The Administrator shall, as of the computation date for each calendar year, classify employers in accordance with their actual payrolls, contributions and benefit experience, and shall determine for each employer the rate of contribution which applies to that employer for each calendar year in order to reflect his or her experience and classification. The contribution rate of an employer may not be reduced below 2.95 percent, unless there have been 12 consecutive calendar quarters immediately preceding the computation date throughout which the employer has been subject to this chapter and his or her account as an employer could have been charged with benefit payments, except that an employer who has not been subject to the law for a sufficient period to meet this requirement may qualify for a rate less than 2.95 percent if his or her account has been chargeable throughout a lesser period not less than the 10-consecutive-calendar-quarter period ending on the computation date.

3. Any employer who qualifies under paragraph (b) of subsection 9 and receives the experience record of a predecessor employer must be assigned the contribution rate of the predecessor.

4. Benefits paid to a person up to and including the computation date must be charged against the records, for experience rating, of the person’s base-period employers in the same percentage relationship that wages reported by individual employers represent to total wages reported by all base period employers, except that:

(a) If one of the base period employers has paid 75 percent or more of the wages paid to the person during the person’s base period, and except as otherwise provided in NRS 612.551, the benefits, less a proportion equal to the proportion of wages paid during the base period by employers who make reimbursement in lieu of contributions, must be charged to the records for experience rating of that employer. The proportion of benefits paid which is equal to the part of the wages of the claimant for the base period paid by an employer who makes reimbursement must be charged to the record of that employer.

(b) No benefits paid to a multistate claimant based upon entitlement to benefits in more than one state may be charged to the experience rating record of any employer when no benefits would have been payable except pursuant to NRS 612.295.

(c) Except for employers who have been given the right to make reimbursement in lieu of contributions, extended benefits paid to a person must not be charged against the accounts of the person’s base-period employers.

5. The Administrator shall, as of the computation date for each calendar year, compute the reserve ratio for each eligible employer and shall classify those employers on the basis of their individual reserve ratios. The contribution rate assigned to each eligible employer for the calendar year must be determined by the range within which the employer’s reserve ratio falls. The Administrator shall, by regulation, prescribe the contribution rate schedule to apply for each calendar year by designating the ranges of reserve ratios to which must be assigned the various contribution rates provided in subsection 6. The lowest contribution rate must be assigned to the designated range of highest reserve ratios and each succeeding higher contribution rate must be assigned to each succeeding designated range of lower reserve ratios, except that, within the limits possible, the differences between reserve ratio ranges must be uniform.

6. Each employer eligible for a contribution rate based upon experience and classified in accordance with this section must be assigned a contribution rate by the Administrator for each calendar year according to the following classes:

Class 1........................................................................................................ 0.25 percent

Class 2........................................................................................................ 0.55 percent

Class 3........................................................................................................ 0.85 percent

Class 4........................................................................................................ 1.15 percent

Class 5........................................................................................................ 1.45 percent

Class 6........................................................................................................ 1.75 percent

Class 7........................................................................................................ 2.05 percent

Class 8........................................................................................................ 2.35 percent

Class 9........................................................................................................ 2.65 percent

Class 10...................................................................................................... 2.95 percent

Class 11...................................................................................................... 3.25 percent

Class 12...................................................................................................... 3.55 percent

Class 13...................................................................................................... 3.85 percent

Class 14...................................................................................................... 4.15 percent

Class 15...................................................................................................... 4.45 percent

Class 16...................................................................................................... 4.75 percent

Class 17...................................................................................................... 5.05 percent

Class 18...................................................................................................... 5.40 percent

7. On September 30 of each year, the Administrator shall determine:

(a) The highest of the unemployment risk ratios experienced in the 109 consecutive 12-month periods in the 10 years ending on March 31;

(b) The potential annual number of beneficiaries found by multiplying the highest unemployment risk ratio by the average monthly number of covered workers in employment as shown on the records of the Division for the 12 months ending on March 31;

(c) The potential annual number of weeks of benefits payable found by multiplying the potential number of beneficiaries by the highest average actual duration experienced in the 109 consecutive 12-month periods in the 10 years ending on September 30; and

(d) The potential maximum annual benefits payable found by multiplying the potential annual number of weeks of benefits payable by the average payment made to beneficiaries for weeks of total unemployment in the 12 months ending on September 30.

8. The Administrator shall issue an individual statement, itemizing benefits charged during the 12-month period ending on the computation date, total benefit charges, total contributions paid, reserve balance and the rate of contributions to apply for that calendar year, for each employer whose account is in active status on the records of the Division on January 1 of each year and whose account is chargeable with benefit payments on the computation date of that year.

9. If an employer transfers its trade or business, or a portion thereof, to another employer:

(a) And there is substantially common ownership, management or control of the employers, the experience record attributable to the transferred trade or business must be transferred to the employer to whom the trade or business is transferred. The rates of both employers must be recalculated, and the recalculated rates become effective on the date of the transfer of the trade or business. If the Administrator determines, following the transfer of the experience record pursuant to this paragraph, that the sole or primary purpose of the transfer of the trade or business was to obtain a reduced liability for contributions, the Administrator shall combine the experience rating records of the employers involved into a single account and assign a single rate to the account.

(b) And there is no substantially common ownership, management or control of the employers, the experience record of an employer may be transferred to a successor employer as of the effective date of the change of ownership if:

(1) The successor employer acquires the entire or a severable and distinct portion of the business, or substantially all of the assets, of the employer;

(2) The successor employer notifies the Division of the acquisition in writing within 90 days after the date of the acquisition;

(3) The employer and successor employer submit a joint application to the Administrator requesting the transfer; and

(4) The joint application is approved by the Administrator.

The joint application must be submitted within 1 year after the date of issuance by the Division of official notice of eligibility to transfer.

(c) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (a), a transfer of the experience record must not be completed if the Administrator determines that the acquisition was effected solely or primarily to obtain a more favorable contribution rate.

(d) Any liability to the Division for unpaid contributions, interest or forfeit attributable to the transferred trade or business must be transferred to the successor employer. The percentage of liability transferred must be the same as the percentage of the experience record transferred.

10. Whenever an employer has paid no wages in employment for 8 consecutive calendar quarters following the last calendar quarter in which the employer paid wages for employment, the Administrator shall terminate the employer’s experience rating account, and the account must not thereafter be used in any rate computation.

11. The Administrator may adopt reasonable accounting methods to account for those employers which are in a category for providing reimbursement in lieu of contributions.

[Part 7:129:1937; A 1941, 412; 1943, 239; 1945, 299; 1947, 299; 1949, 257; 1951, 349; 1953, 677; 1955, 698] — (NRS A 1959, 367, 921; 1961, 687; 1965, 110; 1971, 1360; 1973, 731, 1363, 1785; 1975, 1003; 1977, 899; 1981, 690; 1983, 463, 865; 1989, 1529; 1991, 146; 1993, 1833; 2005, 449; 2013, 1968)