OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS AND MISSING CONTRIBUTION REPORTS: PENALTY RATE REMINDER
We are right around the corner from state agencies issuing your 2025 unemployment tax rate assignments! With that in mind, we wanted to send a friendly reminder to resolve any outstanding contributions and/or missing contribution reports.
In many states, failure to resolve these delinquencies may result in a penalty rate assignment for the year. For example, the state of Florida will assign a delinquent employer the maximum rate of 5.40%, while the state of Pennsylvania simply adds a 3.00% penalty rate for the year.
Thomas & Company’s standard practice is to protest any penalty rate assignments to maintain your appeal rights with the state agency. However, in some cases, the deadline to resolve delinquent contributions or reports that led to a penalty rate assignment has passed by the time rate notices are issued to employers. To be safe, we recommend resolving all delinquencies as soon as possible to avoid potential penalty rate assignments.
If you receive any unemployment tax rate notices directly at your office, please forward a copy to [email protected]. If you have any questions, please contact our office.
STRIKING WORKERS AND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
In recent weeks, hotels across the country, along with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), have gone on strike. But are these workers eligible for unemployment? In most instances, no. When it comes to unemployment benefits, U.S. workers on strike are generally ineligible for these benefits, as strikes are considered a voluntary cessation of work. However, some states, like New York and New Jersey, allow benefits under specific conditions, especially when workers are locked out or the strike is due to unfair labor practices.
If you have a strike at a location, please send a list of the striking employees to your claims analyst or client services representative so we may properly handle any potential unemployment claims that may be filed.
