SHIELD – Upcoming Security Update
As a reminder, Thomas & Company will use our normal evening maintenance window on Thursday, September 8th, to perform a security update. This proactive update will deploy new measures to improve the security and resiliency of the underlying infrastructure of the SHIELD platform by implementing stronger protections against distributed denial of service attacks. There should be no service downtime since we are utilizing our normal maintenance window. We recommend that you verify with your IT department that the entire site domain, tnc.app, is whitelisted to prevent access issues if your organization has strict web filtering rules in place.
Please contact our portal team should you have any questions or concerns.
CONNECTICUT – Unemployment Recap
A few notices and reminders for our clients with employees in CT.
- Fraud claims are still prevalent after the state’s transition to a new system back in July. About 35% of the CT claims that we are receiving are being reported as fraudulent. Employers should remain alert and verify with their employees that a claim was filed if they are uncertain.
- A reminder that due to the new online reporting tool being introduced in July, CT has pushed back the deadline to file the second quarter unemployment tax returns and payments to August 31, 2022.
- Reimbursing employers will now be billed on a quarterly cycle. The initial quarterly bill has been posted for charges for April, May, and June 2022.
- Rather than issuing a special assessment, CT has used federal stimulus funds to pay the 2022 interest due on the federal unemployment loans. However, unless legislation is passed the federal loan balance is not expected to be repaid in order to avoid a FUTA reduction for 2022.
- The SUI taxable wage base is expected to remain at $15,000 for 2023 but expected to rise dramatically in 2024 to $25,000.
- The solvency rate for 2023 will be reduced to 1.2%, a 0.2% reduction from 2022. Rates for 2023 are expected to range from 1.7% to 6.6% under House Bill 5506.
IOWA – 2023 Tax rates will drop to a 24-year low
As Iowa prepares to release the 2023 tax rates in November, they have announced that the rates will be set using table 8. The rates for this table range from 0.000% to 7.000%. Iowa Workforce Development officials state that, on average, employers should see a 25 percent reduction in their unemployment taxes for 2023.
MISSSOURI – Disaster Unemployment Assistance Deadline is Approaching
Individuals impacted by the flooding in St. Louis City and County and St. Charles County whose employment was lost or interrupted by the severe storms on July 25-28th can apply for Disaster Unemployment benefits through September 9, 2023. The DUA benefits are only available to individuals who are not eligible for regular state unemployment benefits. Claims can be filed online 24/7 at uinteract.labor.mo.gov.
OREGON – New Online System Will Roll Out on September 6th
Oregon will roll out a new support system, Frances Online, for unemployment insurance and paid leave on September 6, 2022. For most employers, no actions will need to be taken since Thomas & Company connects with the state electronically through UI SIDES. If you file your quarterly contribution reports online, you will need to start using the Francis Online system with the third quarter, 2022. You can create an online account starting September 6th and you can visit this page for more information on how to register.
We strongly recommend that you monitor any claims received from Oregon after September 6th for instances of potential unemployment fraud. We have recently seen a trend of an increase in fraudulent claim activity when a new state system is rolled out. If you receive any fraud claims, please report these to Thomas & Company as soon as possible and feel free to share our fraud resources with the impacted employee.
