Unemployment claims process: a cumulative set of connected actions.
Although it may seem complicated and intimidating, employers who use Equifax Workforce Solutions’ Unemployment Cost Management services are supported at every turn by our team of subject-matter experts in unemployment claim.
Knowing About Unemployment Claims
State funds that are obtained from employers in the form of an unemployment insurance tax are used to pay for unemployment claims.
A certain number of weeks worth of unemployment benefits are available, and they’re meant to replace a portion of a worker’s prior earnings. The majority of jurisdictions offer unemployed people up to 26 weeks of benefits.
People must submit unemployment claims through the UI program in the state where they previously worked.
Depending on the state, claims may be submitted in person, online, or over the phone. The following information must be included when filing a claim:
- Contact information
- Details about the former employment
- Social Security number (SSN)
In order to be eligible for claims, workers must also fulfil a number of requirements. They cannot be independent contractors or freelancers, they must be legitimate employees of the company who receive W-2 forms at year’s end. Additionally, they must have been laid off rather than dismissed for misconduct or for quitting.
The foundation period of the claim as well as the benefit year during which claimants may submit weekly claims are both determined by the initial date of the jobless claim.
Employers may be subject to chargeback or refund obligations for any benefits paid to the claimant during the base period, which establishes the wages used to calculate the weekly benefit amount and the maximum benefit amount.
An unemployment claim only covers base period employers. Employers outside the base period are exempt from this obligation.
1. Gathering Information
Claimants are the term used to describe those who apply for unemployment benefits after being laid off. When a claimant files with the state, the state creates a claim form, which is then distributed to every employer the claimant has worked for, usually within the last 18 months.
Equifax examines the claims that state agencies receive as your third party agent. We can typically answer to some simpler separations without getting in touch with you.
We will send you an information request if your separation is more complicated. Details and/or supporting paperwork regarding the claimant separation might be submitted during this round of information gathering.
2. Examining Hearing Results
Decisions from hearings are mailed to the employer and the claimant. Your Equifax Hearings Consultant (or Hearing Representative, if one was utilized) will get in touch with you if an unfavorable hearing decision is made to discuss whether or not you want to appeal to the State Board of Review.
Unfavorable hearing decisions must be appealed, unlike unfavorable first determinations, and must include justification for the disagreement.
3. Initial Determination
The state may occasionally want more information after gathering separation information. The state must decide who is giving the most pertinent and correct information if the claimant claims they were dismissed yet you have reported that they quit.
If the state is one of our clients, they can contact Equifax Workforce Solutions to get that additional information, or they can send the business a questionnaire.
The state will then make an initial determination with the aid of the claimant’s testimony as well as all the data supplied by the employer.
Your Equifax Workforce Solutions Service Team will get in touch with you to discuss the following steps if the State makes an unfavorable decision.
If it is decided to appeal, the state will set a hearing date for unemployment roughly 4-6 weeks after the appeal is submitted.
Both parties have the chance to provide facts and testimony on the termination of employment during an unemployment hearing.
While most hearings take place over the phone, certain states do hold in-person hearings. The State Hearing Officer makes a determination based on the state’s unemployment laws after considering all of the information and testimony presented.
4. Appeals of Hearing Results
A small group of people known as the State Board of Review will examine the case in its entirety, going over all of the supporting evidence in the file and listening to a recording of the hearing.
They are attempting to ensure that the presiding State Hearing Officer implemented the state’s unemployment statute fairly and consistently in reaching their conclusion as no new evidence has been provided at this time.
Each panelist will cast a vote, and the outcome will be decided by the majority.
The State Board of Review is the penultimate phase in this procedure, which is entirely administrative in nature.
The matter will need to be appealed in state court if the party who obtains the unfavorable judgement disagrees with it.
