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Unemployment Insurance News – June 24, 2022

US DOL Unemployment Weekly Claims Report

  Seasonally Adjusted (SA) Initial Claims Volume Change from Prior Week Year over Year Change in SA Initial Claims Volume   Unadjusted Insured UI Rate Insured UI Volume Year over Year Change in

Insured UI Volume

6/18/2022 229,000 0 -195,000 6/11/2022 0.9% 1,272,753 -1,959,432
6/19/2021 424,000 +5,000 6/12/2021 2.3% 3,232,185

For more information, please visit https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20221300.pdf

 

CONNECTICUT– New Claims System is Coming; Claims will Temporarily be Delayed

  • As previous mentioned, CT will be converting to a new system on July 5, 2022. Here are a few items that CT employers need to be aware of.
    • There will be a period of time between June 24 and the go live date where CT will not be issuing any new electronic claims to Thomas & Company.
    • The deadline for responding to claims has been extended to 10 days, giving employers 3 additional days to gather the necessary details for each claim.
    • It is possible that the state may reach out for additional information on an appeal that was started in the legacy system. These cases should be the exception but if you do get a request for additional information on a recent CT appeal, it is related to the system cutover and not a duplication.

 

IOWA– New Law Reduces Unemployment Benefits to 16 Weeks

  • Governor Kim Reynolds signed House File 2355 into law that will reduce the maximum weeks of unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 16 weeks. This will impact anyone who files an initial claim after July 1, 2022.  Any claims filed prior to July 1 will continue to be eligible for up to 26 weeks. The waiting week for Unemployment has also been removed, meaning that new claimants will be eligible for benefits in the first week of unemployment.
  • On July 1, all claimants will be required to meet a new threshold for what is considered a suitable offer of work. Previously, an offer could be turned down in the first five (5) weeks of a claim if the offer was for less than the claimants’ previous wages.  The new law dramatically shortens that time period to one week.

 

OREGON– Weekly Benefit Amount set to Increase on July 3

  • State law requires Oregon to review the weekly benefit amounts on an annual basis and recalculate the amounts based on the average weekly wages earned by Oregon residents. For any claims filed after July 3, the minimum weekly benefit amount will increase to by $12 to $183 per week and the maximum weekly benefit amount will see a $50 increase to $783 per week.

 

Vermont– Employers Will See Tax Relief

  • The Vermont Department of Labor announced that employers will see a decrease in the UI tax rates for July1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, as they move from Schedule III to Schedule I.  Additionally, the taxable wage base will decrease to $13,500 on January 1, 2023. This is $2,000 reduction from 2022. The decrease in the table and taxable wage base creates an average tax decrease of 44% per employee, earning the full wage base, across the array of rates in the table. In addition, as of July 1, 2022, the weekly benefit amount for new claimants will increase to $668, an increase of $85 per week. For more information, please visit https://labor.vermont.gov/press-release/employers-see-unemployment-insurance-tax-relief-part-annual-determination-process
Michele Heckmann

Author Michele Heckmann

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