Unemployment Law

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Claimants are not the only folks having trouble with unemployment.

Many employers think that incorporation protects them from individual liability. Not so. In particular, for unpaid unemployment taxes there are specific provisions for holding an individual owner of a company (and others, see below) responsible and liable for unpaid unemployment taxes. Besides interest and penalties, the Department will work out payment plans, intercept tax refunds, place liens on property, revoke professional licenses, levy bank accounts, and even garnish wages…
Continue Reading Unemployment Taxes and Personal Tax Liability for Employers

The Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules met today and voted to immediately suspend the waiver of job search requirements and pandemic-related able and available provisions contained in EmR2106.

Here is what claimants need to know.
Four job search actions are required starting Sunday, May 23rd
Starting Sunday, May 23rd, all claimants will need to do four job search actions every week. What are those actions?

possible job search actions and the proof required for that action

Notice that the Department now expects claimants to retain (for 52…
Continue Reading Unemployment Law: Job Searches are Back

The Continued Assistance Act included a new documentation requirement for PUA claims. In my original post on the Continued Assistance Act, I explained:

There is now an additional documentation requirement for PUA claims. Claimants will have to provide documentation regarding their employment, self-employment, or the job offer/work they were slated to start for any weeks PUA weeks for the week ending 1/2/2021 or later.

  • New PUA claims filed on Jan. 31st or later will have to provide that

…
Continue Reading Unemployment Law: Documentation for PUA Claims

Lawyers are needed now for the unemployment crisis.

As of Jan. 31, 2021, there were nearly 16,000 cases waiting for a hearing in Wisconsin. With new administrative law judges at work starting at the end of March, several hundred hearings are now occurring each week.

Still, given the size of the hearing backlog, many claimants have been waiting months – in some cases now a year – for unemployment benefits. More than a few who have received benefits are…
Continue Reading Lawyers: We Need You Now for Wisconsin’s Unemployment Claims Crisis

Last October, we shared information about the emergency rule that created DWD 120.02 which required Wisconsin employers to notify workers of the availability of unemployment insurance upon separation of employment in a post titled Wisconsin Employers Must Notify Workers of Unemployment Insurance Upon Separation.

As of March 31, 2021, the emergency rule requiring unemployment insurance notice upon separation expired and employers no longer need to provide the notice upon separation. If an employer would like to continue to notify…
Continue Reading Unemployment Insurance Notice No Longer Required Upon Separation

Given the delays with unemployment claims in Wisconsin, eventual payment of benefits is leading to folks receiving lump sum payments of $10,000, $15,000, or even $20,000 or more.

Payments that large will mean a federal and state income tax liability, IF you do not have state and federal taxes deducted automatically at the time benefits are paid — aka, tax withholding.
Note: Because benefit payment levels are generally low in Wisconsin, having taxes deducted from benefit payments has usually…
Continue Reading Unemployment Law: Tax Considerations

A lengthy primer on the unemployment claim-filing process is now available. Anyone filing an unemployment claim in Wisconsin MUST read this primer. It covers:

  • initial claims
  • weekly claims or weekly certifications
  • monetary eligibility — aka, your benefit year calculation
  • non-monetary eligibility — initial determinations relating to a job separation, not being able and available, failing to satisfy a Department job search requirement, or failing to satisfy some other Department claim-filing requirement
  • Partial eligibility — reporting on your weekly certifications

…
Continue Reading Wisconsin Unemployment Primer Now Available

One of the requirements of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, Pub. L. 116-127, was that states require employers to provide individualized notification of the availability of unemployment benefits to employees at the time of their separation from employment. This requirement was essential for some of the administrative funding available from the Families First Act.

States that did not yet have this requirement, like Wisconsin, were to implement this requirement by emergency rule within 60 days of the…
Continue Reading Employers’ Proposed Notice to Claimants