Unemployment Insurance Directors’ Guide: Essential Information for Unemployment Insurance (UI) Directors March 2020 U.S. Department of Labor – Employment and Training Administration – Office of Unemployment Insurance Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Financing Unemployment Insurance Benefits ............................................................................ 3 Unemployment Insurance Tax .................................................................................................... 4 Conformity Requirements for State UC Laws ................................................................................ 5 Federal Law Requirements for the Normal Tax Credit ............................................................... 5 Federal Law Requirements for the Additional Tax Credit .......................................................... 5 State UC Program Structure............................................................................................................ 5 Unemployment Trust Fund ............................................................................................................. 6 Provisions Relating to Trust Fund Advances (Also Known as Loans) ....................................... 6 Interest on Loans ......................................................................................................................... 7 State Administrative Funding ......................................................................................................... 7 Approval for Grants for Costs of Administration ....................................................................... 7 Administrative Funding Process ................................................................................................... 10 Resource Justification Model .................................................................................................... 10 Base and Above-Base Funding ................................................................................................. 10 Special Funding Opportunities ..................................................................................................... 11 Supplemental Budget Requests ................................................................................................. 11 Reed Act Funds ......................................................................................................................... 11 State Trust Funds .......................................................................................................................... 12 State Unemployment Insurance Tax ............................................................................................. 13 Liable Employers ...................................................................................................................... 13 Experience Rating and the Federal Requirements .................................................................... 14 State Requirements for Experience Rating ............................................................................... 14 Reimbursing Employers ............................................................................................................ 15 Worker Misclassification .......................................................................................................... 15 SUTA Dumping ........................................................................................................................ 16 Unemployment Insurance Benefits ............................................................................................... 16 Benefits Rights .......................................................................................................................... 16 Qualifying Wages and Employment ......................................................................................... 17 Unemployment Compensation Computation ............................................................................ 17 Unemployment Insurance Directors’ Guide — March 2020 i Benefit Eligibility and Disqualification .................................................................................... 17 Filing a Claim ............................................................................................................................ 18 Continued Eligibility ................................................................................................................. 18 Alien Verification ...................................................................................................................... 18 Appeals ......................................................................................................................................... 19 Other Unemployment Insurance Benefits Programs .................................................................... 20 Federal-State Extended Benefits ............................................................................................... 20 Temporary/Episodic Federal Unemployment Compensation Extension Programs .................. 21 Unemployment Compensation - Combined Wage Claims ....................................................... 21 Unemployment Compensation for Federal Civilian Employees ............................................... 21 Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers ........................................................... 21 Disaster Unemployment Assistance .......................................................................................... 22 Trade Adjustment Assistance / Trade Readjustment Allowances ............................................ 23 Self-Employment Assistance .................................................................................................... 24 Short-Time Compensation ........................................................................................................ 24 Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services ......................................................................... 25 Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) .............................................. 25 UI and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act ........................................................... 26 Administrative Infrastructure ........................................................................................................ 27 Call Center and Web site Operations ........................................................................................ 27 Information Technology Infrastructure ..................................................................................... 27 State Information Data Exchange System ................................................................................. 28 Interstate Connection Network .................................................................................................. 29 Staffing .......................................................................................................................................... 30 Merit Staffing ............................................................................................................................ 30 Program Performance and Accountability .................................................................................... 31 UI Performs Performance Management System ....................................................................... 31 State Quality Service Plan ......................................................................................................... 34 Benefits Timeliness and Quality ............................................................................................... 35 UI Benefit Operational Functional Review—State Self-Assessment Tool .............................. 35 Tax Performance System .......................................................................................................... 36 Lower Authority Appeals Quality Reviews .............................................................................. 37 Unemployment Insurance Directors’ Guide — March 2020 ii Overpayment Detection Core Measure Report ......................................................................... 38 Unemployment Insurance Recovery Core Measure .................................................................. 38 Program Reporting & Data ........................................................................................................... 38 Financial Reporting ................................................................................................................... 38 Federal ETA Performance Reports ........................................................................................... 39 UI Program Integrity ..................................................................................................................... 40 Everyone Owns Integrity .......................................................................................................... 40 Internal Security ........................................................................................................................ 41 Federal Improper Payment Laws .............................................................................................