The Vermont Statutes Online
The Vermont Statutes Online have been updated to include the actions of the 2023 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Title 21: Labor
Chapter 017: Unemployment Compensation
- Subchapter 001: General Benefits
§ 1301. Definitions
As used in this chapter:
(1) “Benefits” and “compensation” means the money payments payable to an individual, as provided in this chapter, with respect to his or her unemployment.
(2) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Labor established by this chapter, or his or her authorized representative.
(3) “Contributions” means the money payments to the State Unemployment Compensation Fund required by this chapter.
(4) “Employing unit” means any individual or type of organization, including any partnership, association, labor organization as defined in section 2(5) of the National Labor Relations Act, trust, estate, joint stock company, insurance company, or corporation, whether domestic or foreign, or the receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee, or successor thereof, or the legal representative of a deceased person, any federal, state, or local governmental entity, which has had in its employ since January 1, 1936, one or more individuals performing services for it within this State. All individuals performing services within this State for any employing unit that maintains two or more separate establishments within this State shall be deemed to be employed by a single employing unit for all the purposes of this chapter.
(5) “Employer” includes:
[Subdivision (5)(A) effective until July 1, 2024; see also subdivision (5)(A) effective July 1, 2024 set out below]
(A) Any employing unit which, after December 31, 1971 in any calendar quarter in either the current or preceding calendar year paid for service in employment, as hereinafter defined, wages of $1,500.00 or more, or for some portion of a day in each of 20 different calendar weeks, whether or not such weeks were consecutive, in either the current or the preceding calendar year, had in employment, as hereinafter defined, at least one individual (irrespective of whether the same individual was in employment in each such day). When an employing unit described in either this subdivision or subdivision (5)(B) of this section, becomes an employer within any calendar year, it shall be subject to this chapter for the whole of such calendar year.
[Subdivision (5)(A) effective July 1, 2024; see also subdivision (5)(A) effective until July 1, 2024 set out above]
(A) Any employing unit that in any calendar quarter in either the current or preceding calendar year paid for service in employment, as defined pursuant to subdivision (6) of this section, wages of $1,500.00 or more, or for some portion of a day in each of 20 different calendar weeks, whether or not such weeks were consecutive, in either the current or the preceding calendar year, had in employment at least one individual (irrespective of whether the same individual was in employment in each such day). When an employing unit described in either this subdivision or subdivision (B) of this subdivision (5), becomes an employer within any calendar year, it shall be subject to this chapter for the whole of the calendar year.
[Subdivision (5)(B)(i) effective until July 1, 2024; see also subdivision (5)(B)(i) effective July 1, 2024 set out below]
(B)(i) Any employing unit for which service in employment for a religious, charitable, educational, or other organization as defined in subdivision (6)(A)(ix) of this section is performed after December 31, 1971, except as provided in subdivision (5)(C) of this section.
[Subdivision (5)(B)(i) effective July 1, 2024; see also subdivision (5)(B)(i) effective until July 1, 2024 set out above]
(i) Any employing unit for which service in employment for a religious, charitable, educational, or other organization as defined in subdivision (6)(A)(ix) of this section is performed after December 31, 1971, except as provided in subdivision (C) of this subdivision (5).
(ii) Any employing unit for which service in employment for the State and any of its instrumentalities, for a hospital or an institution of higher education as defined in subdivision (6)(A)(x)(I) of this section is performed after December 31, 1971, except as provided in subdivision (5)(C) of this section.
(iii) Any employing unit for which service in employment for the State or any political subdivision thereof as defined in subdivision (6)(A)(x)(II) of this section is performed after December 31, 1977, except as provided in subdivision (5)(C) of this section.
(iv) Any employing unit for which agricultural labor as described in subdivision (6)(A)(vii)(I) of this section is performed after December 31, 1977.
(v) Any employing unit for which domestic service in employment as described in subdivision (6)(A)(viii) is performed after December 31, 1977.
(C) An employing unit as described in subdivisions (5)(A) and (B) of this section except:
(i) In determining whether or not an employing unit for which service other than domestic service is also performed is an employer under this subdivision, the wages earned or the employment of an employee performing domestic service as described in subdivision (5)(B)(v) of this section after December 31, 1977, shall not be taken into account unless the total cash remuneration paid in any calendar quarter for domestic services is $1,000.00 or more.
(ii) In determining whether or not an employing unit for which service other than agricultural labor is also performed is an employer under this subdivision, the wages earned or the employment of an employee performing service in agricultural labor after December 31, 1977 shall not be taken into account unless the agricultural labor is in accordance with subdivision (6)(A)(vii)(I) of this section. If an employing unit is determined an employer of agricultural labor, such employing unit shall be determined an employer for purposes of subdivision (5)(A) of this section.
(D) Any individual or employing unit that acquired the organization, trade, or business of another that at the time of such acquisition was an employer subject to this chapter.
(E)(i) Any employing unit that filed with and had approved by the Commissioner, on the proper forms prescribed and supplied by the Commissioner, its written election to become fully subject to this chapter for not less than two calendar years. Such employing unit, not otherwise subject to this chapter, that files with the Commissioner its written election to become an employer subject to this chapter for not less than two calendar years shall, with the written approval of such election by the Commissioner, become an employer subject to this chapter to the same extent as all other employers, as of the date stated in the approval.
(ii) Any employing unit for which services that are excluded from the term “employment” by subdivisions (6)(A)(ix) and (6)(C)(i) and (ii) of this section are performed may, by election and approval, elect that all services performed by individuals in its employ, in one or more establishments or places of business, shall be deemed to constitute employment for all the purposes of this chapter for not less than two calendar years. Upon the written approval of such election by the Commissioner, such services shall be deemed to constitute employment subject to this chapter from the date stated in the approval.
(iii) Any such employing unit may cease to be subject under either subdivision (5)(E)(i) or (ii) of this section, as of January 1, of any calendar year subsequent to such two calendar years, only if at least 30 days prior to such first day of January it has filed with the Commissioner a written notice of its intention to cancel such election, but this requirement may be waived by the Commissioner for good cause.
(F) Any employing unit that acquires a part of the organization, trade, or business of another, which part, if a separate organization, trade, or business, would have been an employer. Any employing unit that acquires the organization, trade, or business, or acquires substantially all the assets of another employing unit, if the employment record of such acquiring employing unit subsequent to such an acquisition, together with the employment record of the acquired unit prior to such acquisition, both within the same calendar year, would be sufficient to constitute an employing unit an “employer.”
(G) Any employing unit not an employer by reason of any other provision of this subdivision for which, within either the current or preceding calendar year, service is or was performed with respect to which such employing unit is liable for any federal tax against which credit may be taken for contributions required to be paid into a state unemployment fund; or which, as a condition for approval of this chapter for full tax credit against the tax imposed by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, is required, pursuant to such act, to be an “employer” under this chapter.
[Subdivision (6)(A)(i) effective until July 1, 2024; see also subdivision (6)(A)(i) effective July 1, 2024 set out below]
(6)(A)(i) “Employment,” subject to the other provisions of this subdivision (6), means service within the jurisdiction of this State, performed prior to January 1, 1978, which was employment as defined in this subdivision prior to such date and, subject to the other provisions of this subdivision, service performed after December 31, 1977, by an employee, as defined in subsections 3306(i) and (o) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, including service in interstate commerce, performed for wages or under any contract of hire, written or oral, expressed or implied. Services partly within and partly without this State may by election as hereinbefore provided be treated as if wholly within the jurisdiction of this State. And whenever an employing unit shall have elected to come under the provisions of a similar act of a state where a part of the services of an employee are performed, the Commissioner, upon his or her approval of said election as to any such employee, may treat the services covered by said approved election as having been performed wholly without the jurisdiction of this State.
[Subdivision (6)(A)(i) effective July 1, 2024; see also subdivision (6)(A)(i) effective until July 1, 2024 set out above]
(i) “Employment,” subject to the other provisions of this subdivision (6), means service within the jurisdiction of this State performed by an employee, as defined in subsections 3306(i) and (o) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, including service in interstate commerce, performed for wages or under any contract of hire, written or oral, expressed or implied. Services partly within and partly outside this State may by election as provided in subdivision (5)(E)(i) of this section be treated as if wholly within the jurisdiction of this State. If an employing unit has elected to come under the provisions of a similar act of a state where a part of the services of an employee are performed, the Commissioner, upon approving the election as to the employee, may treat the services covered by the election as having been performed wholly outside the jurisdiction of this State.
(ii) The term “employment” shall include an individual’s entire service, performed within, or both within and without, this State if the service is localized in this State. Service shall be deemed to be localized within a state if:
(I) the service is performed entirely within such state; or
(II) the service is performed both within and without such state but the service performed without such state is incidental to the individual’s service within the state; for example, is temporary or transitory in nature or consists of isolated transactions.
(iii) The term “employment” shall include an individual’s entire service, performed within, or both within and outside, this State if the service is not localized in any state but some of the service is performed in this State and:
(I) the individual’s base of operations is in this State; or
(II) if there is no base of operations, then the place from which such service is directed or controlled is in this State; or
(III) the individual’s base of operations or place from which such service is directed or controlled is not in any state in which some part of the service is performed, but the individual’s residence is in this State.
(iv) The term “employment” shall include an individual’s service wherever performed within the United States, the Virgin Islands, or Canada, if:
(I) such service is not covered under the unemployment compensation law of any other state, the Virgin Islands, or Canada; and
(II) the place from which the service is directed or controlled is in this State.
(v) The term “employment” shall include the service of an individual who is a citizen of the United States, performed outside the United States after December 31, 1971 (except in Canada) or after December 31, 1977 in the case of the Virgin Islands in the employ of an American employer (other than service that is deemed “employment” under the provisions of subdivisions (6)(A)(ii), (iii), or (iv) of this section or the parallel provisions of another state’s law), if:
(I) the employer’s principal place of business in the United States is located in this State; or
(II) the employer has no place of business in the United States, but the employer is an individual who is a resident of this State; or the employer is a corporation that is organized under the laws of this State; or the employer is a partnership or a trust and the number of the partners or trustees who are residents of this State is greater than the number who are residents of any one other state; or
(III) none of the criteria of subdivisions (6)(A)(v)(I) and (II) of this subdivision is met but the employer has elected coverage in this State or, the employer having failed to elect coverage in any state, the individual has filed a claim for benefits, based on such service under the law of this State.
(IV) an “American employer,” for purposes of this subdivision means a person who is:
(aa) an individual who is a resident of the United States; or
(bb) a partnership if two-thirds or more of the partners are residents of the United States; or
(cc) a trust, if all of the trustees are residents of the United States; or
(dd) a corporation organized under the law of the United States or of any state.
(vi) The term “employment” shall also include all service performed after July 1, 1946 by an officer or member of the crew of an American vessel on or in connection with such vessel, provided that the operating office, from which the operations of such vessel operating on navigable waters within or within and without the United States is ordinarily and regularly supervised, managed, directed, and controlled, is within this State.
(vii) The term “employment” shall also include all service performed after December 31, 1977, by an individual in agricultural labor as defined in subdivision (6)(C)(i)(I) of this section when:
(I) such service is performed for a person who:
(aa) during any calendar quarter in either the current or the preceding calendar year paid remuneration in cash of $20,000.00 or more to individuals employed in agricultural labor, not taking into account service in agricultural labor performed before January 1, 1980, by an alien referred to in subdivision (6)(A)(vii)(II) of this section; or
(bb) for some portion of a day in each of 20 different calendar weeks, whether or not such weeks were consecutive, in either the current or the preceding calendar year, employed in agricultural labor (not taking into account service in agricultural labor performed before January 1, 1980, by an alien referred to in subdivision (6)(A)(vii)(II) of this section) 10 or more individuals, regardless of whether they were employed at the same moment of time.
(II) such service is not performed in agricultural labor if performed before January 1, 1980, or after December 31, 1986, by an individual who is an alien admitted to the United States to perform service in agricultural labor pursuant to sections 214(c) and 101(a)(15)(H) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, provided that if section 3306 in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act is amended so as to include such service in the definition of employment in agricultural labor beginning on or after January 1, 1988, then such service shall be employment in agricultural labor under this chapter.
(III) for the purposes of this subdivision, any individual who is a member of a crew furnished by a crew leader to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person shall be treated as an employee of such crew leader:
(aa) if such crew leader holds a valid certificate of registration under the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act of 1963; or substantially all the members of such crew operate or maintain tractors, mechanized harvesting or cropdusting equipment, or any other mechanized equipment, which is provided by such crew leader; and
(bb) if the individual is not an employee of such other person within the meaning of subdivision (6)(A) of this section.
(IV) for the purposes of this subdivision (vii), in the case of any individual who is furnished by a crew leader to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person and who is not treated as an employee of such crew leader under subdivision (6)(A)(vii)(III) of this section:
(aa) the other person and not the crew leader shall be treated as the employer of such individual; and
(bb) the other person shall be treated as having paid cash remuneration to such individual in an amount equal to the amount of cash remuneration paid to such individual by the crew leader (either on the crew leader’s own behalf or on behalf of such other person) for the service in agricultural labor performed for such other person.
(V) for the purposes of this subdivision (vii), the term “crew leader” means an individual who:
(aa) furnishes individuals to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person;
(bb) pays (either on the crew leader’s own behalf or on behalf of such other persons) the individuals so furnished by the crew leader for the service in agricultural labor performed by them; and
(cc) has not entered into a written agreement with such other person under which such individual is designated as an employee of such other person.
(viii) The term “employment” shall also include domestic service as used in subdivision (6)(C)(ii) of this section after December 31, 1977, in a private home, in a local college club or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority, performed for a person who paid cash remuneration of $1,000.00 or more in any calendar quarter after December 31, 1977, in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year to individuals employed in such domestic service.
[Subdivision (6)(A)(ix) effective until July 1, 2024; see also subdivision (6)(A)(ix) effective July 1, 2024 set out below]
(ix) The term “employment” shall also include service for any employing unit which is performed after December 31, 1971 by an individual in the employ of a religious, charitable, educational, or other organization but only if:
(I) the service is excluded from “employment” as defined in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act solely by reason of section 3306(c)(8) of that act; and
(II) the organization had four or more individuals in employment for some portion of a day in each of 20 different weeks, whether or not such weeks were consecutive, within either the current or preceding calendar year, regardless of whether they were employed at the same moment of time.
[Subdivision (6)(A)(ix) effective July 1, 2024; see also subdivision (6)(A)(ix) effective until July 1, 2024 set out above]
(ix) The term “employment” shall also include service for any employing unit performed by an individual in the employ of a religious, charitable, educational, or other organization if the service is excluded from “employment” as defined in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act solely by reason of subdivision 3306(c)(8) of that act.
(x)(I) The term “employment” shall also include service for any employing unit that is performed after December 31, 1971 by an individual in the employ of this State or any of its instrumentalities, or in the employ of this State and one or more other states or their instrumentalities, for a hospital or institution of higher education located in this State provided that such service is excluded from “employment” as defined in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act solely by reason of section 3306(c)(7) of that act and is not excluded from “employment” under subdivision (6)(C)(vii) of this section.
(II) The term “employment” shall also include service for any employing unit that is performed after December 31, 1977 by an individual in the employ of this State or any political subdivision thereof or any of its instrumentalities or any instrumentality of one or more of the foregoing; and service performed for this State or any political subdivision thereof and one or more other states or political subdivisions thereof or any instrumentality of the foregoing that is wholly owned by such states or political subdivisions, provided that such service is excluded from “employment” as defined in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act by section 3306(c)(7) of that act and is not excluded from “employment” under subdivision (6)(C)(vii) of this section.
(B) Services performed by an individual for wages shall be deemed to be employment subject to this chapter unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that:
(i) such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such services, both under his or her contract of service and in fact; and
(ii) such service is either outside the usual course of the business for which such service is performed, or that such service is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise for which such service is performed; and
(iii) such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business.
(C) The term “employment” shall not include:
(i)(I) Service performed by an individual in agricultural labor except as provided in subdivision (6)(A)(vii) of this section. For purposes of this subdivision, the term “agricultural labor” means any service performed prior to January 1, 1972 that was agricultural labor as defined in this subdivision prior to such date and remunerated service performed after December 31, 1971:
(aa) on a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with cultivating the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training, and management of livestock, bees, poultry, and fur-bearing animals and wildlife;
(bb) in the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm, in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement, or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment or in salvaging timber or clearing land of brush and other debris left by a hurricane, if the major part of such service is performed on a farm;
(cc) in connection with the production or harvesting of any commodity defined as an agricultural commodity in section 15(g) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, as amended (12 U.S.C. § 1141j) or in connection with the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs, or waterways, not owned or operated for profit, used exclusively for supplying and storing water for farming purposes;
(dd) in the employ of the operator of a farm in handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing, or delivering to storage or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, in its unmanufactured state, any agricultural or horticultural commodity, but only if such operator produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed;
(ee) in the employ of a group of operators of farms, or a cooperative organization of which such operators are members, in the performance of service described in subdivision (dd) of this subdivision (C)(i)(I), but only if such operators produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed;
(ff) on a farm operated for profit if such service is not in the course of the employer’s trade or business.
(II) As used in subdivision (6)(C)(i)(I), the term “farm” includes stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing animal, and truck farms, plantations, ranches, nurseries, ranges, greenhouses or other similar structures used primarily for the raising of agricultural or horticultural commodities, and orchards.
(III) The provisions of (dd) and (ee) of subdivision (6)(C)(i)(I) shall not be deemed to be applicable with respect to service performed in connection with commercial canning or commercial freezing or in connection with any agricultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption.
(ii) Domestic service in a private home except as provided in subdivision (6)(A)(viii) of this section.
(iii)(I) Service not in the course of the employer’s trade or business performed in any calendar quarter by an employee, unless the cash remuneration paid for that service is $50.00 or more and the service is performed by an individual who is regularly employed by the employer to perform the service. For purposes of this subdivision, an individual shall be deemed to be regularly employed by an employer during a calendar quarter if:
(aa) on each of some 24 days during the quarter the individual performs for the employer for some portion of the day service not in the course of the employer’s trade or business; or
(bb) the individual was regularly employed (as determined under the preceding subdivision) by the employer in the performance of the service during the preceding calendar quarter.
(II) The term “service not in the course of the employer’s trade or business” includes service that does not promote or advance the trade or business of the employer. Services performed for a corporation do not come within the exception.
(iv) Service performed by an individual in the employ of his or her son, daughter, or spouse, and service performed by a minor in the employ of his or her father or mother; or service by one member of a family to another under circumstances which, under the general law, do not give rise to the relation of employer and employee.
(v) Service performed in the employ of the U.S. government or of an instrumentality of the United States but if the Congress of the United States shall permit states to require that the U.S. government or any instrumentalities of the United States shall make payments into an unemployment fund under a state unemployment compensation act, then, to the extent permitted by Congress, and from and after the date as of which such permission becomes effective, all of the provisions of this chapter shall be applicable to the U.S. government or such instrumentalities, in the same manner, to the same extent and on the same terms as to all other employers, employing units, individuals, and services; provided that if this State should not be certified by the Secretary of Labor under section 3304 of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act for any year, then the payments required of the U.S. government or such instrumentalities with respect to such year shall be deemed to have been erroneously collected within the meaning of section 1337 of this title and shall be refunded by the Commissioner from the Fund in accordance with the provisions of section 1337.
(vi)(I) Before January 1, 1978, service performed in the employ of a state, a political subdivision thereof, or an instrumentality of one or more states or political subdivisions except as otherwise provided in this chapter with respect to service for a hospital or institution of higher education located in this State, and except as to any town, city, or other municipal corporation, as defined by 24 V.S.A. § 1751, or an instrumentality thereof, that duly elects otherwise, as provided by this chapter with the Commissioner’s approval.
(II) After December 31, 1977, in the employ of a governmental entity referred to in subdivision (6)(A)(x) of this section if such service is performed by an individual in the exercise of duties:
(aa) as an elected official;
(bb) as a member of a legislative body, or a member of the judiciary, of a state or political subdivision;
(cc) as a member of the State National Guard or Air National Guard;
(dd) as an employee serving on a temporary basis in case of fire, storm, snow, earthquake, flood, or similar emergency; or
(ee) in a position that, under or pursuant to the laws of this State, is designated as a policymaking or advisory position the performance of the duties of which ordinarily does not require more than eight hours per week.
(vii) For the purposes of subdivisions (6)(A)(ix) and (6)(A)(x) of this section, the term “employment” does not include service performed:
(I) in the employ of a church or convention or association of churches, or an organization that is operated primarily for religious purposes and that is operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches;
(II) by a duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister of a church in the exercise of his or her ministry or by a member of a religious order in the exercise of duties required by such order;
(III) prior to January 1, 1978, in the employ of a school that is not an institution of higher education;
(IV) in a facility conducted for the purpose of carrying out a program of rehabilitation for individuals whose earning capacity is limited due to being an elder or having a disability or injury or providing remunerative work for individuals who because of having a disability cannot be readily absorbed in the competitive labor market by an individual receiving such rehabilitation or remunerative work;
(V) as part of an unemployment work-relief or work-training program assisted or financed in whole or in part by any federal agency or an agency of a state or political subdivision thereof, by an individual receiving such work relief or work training; or
(VI) prior to January 1, 1978, for a hospital in a state prison or other state correctional institution by an inmate of the prison or correctional institution and after December 31, 1977, by an inmate of a custodial or penal institution.
(viii) Service with respect to which unemployment compensation is payable under an unemployment compensation system established by an act of Congress, provided that the Commissioner is hereby authorized and directed to enter into agreements with the proper agencies under such act of Congress, which agreements shall become effective 10 days after publication thereof in one or more newspapers of general circulation in this State, to provide reciprocal treatment to individuals who have, after acquiring potential rights to unemployment compensation under such act of Congress, acquired rights to benefits under this chapter.
(ix) Service performed on and after July 1, 1939, with respect to which unemployment compensation is payable under an act of Congress entitled “Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act”.
(x) Service as an officer or member of a crew of an American vessel performed on or in connection with such vessel, if the operating office, from which the operations of the vessel operating on navigable waters within or without the United States are ordinarily and regularly supervised, managed, directed, and controlled, is without this State.
(xi) Service performed on or in connection with a vessel not an American vessel by an individual, if the individual performs services on and in connection with such vessel when outside the United States; and, for the purpose of this section, the term “American vessel” means any vessel documented or numbered under the laws of the United States; and includes any vessel that is neither documented or numbered under the laws of the United States nor documented under the laws of any foreign country, if its crew performs services solely for one or more citizens or residents of the United States or corporations organized under the laws of the United States or of any state.
(xii) Service performed by an individual in, or as an officer or member of the crew of a vessel while it is engaged in, the catching, taking, harvesting, cultivating, or farming of any kind of fish, shellfish, crustacea, sponges, seaweeds, or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life, including service performed by any such individual as an ordinary incident to any such activity, except:
(I) service performed in connection with the catching or taking of salmon or halibut, for commercial purposes; and
(II) service performed on or in connection with a vessel of more than 10 net tons, determined in the manner provided for determining the register tonnage of merchant vessels under the laws of the United States.
(xiii) Service performed in any calendar quarter in the employ of any organization exempt from income tax under Section 501(a) (other than an organization described in Section 401(a)) or under Section 521 of the federal Internal Revenue Code, if the remuneration for such service is less than $50.00.
(xiv) Service performed, in the employ of a school, college, or university, if such service is performed by a student who is enrolled and is regularly attending classes at such school, college, or university, or by the spouse of such a student, if the spouse is advised, at the time such spouse commences to perform such service, that the employment of such spouse to perform such service is provided under a program to provide financial assistance to such student by school, college, or university, and such employment will not be covered by any program of unemployment insurance.
(xv) Service performed by an individual under the age of 22 who is enrolled at a nonprofit or public educational institution that normally maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly organized body of students in attendance at the place where its educational activities are carried on as a student in a full-time program, taken for credit at such institution, which combines academic instruction with work experience, if such service is an integral part of such program, and such institution has so certified to the employer, except that this subdivision shall not apply to service performed in a program established for or on behalf of an employer or group of employers.
(xvi) Service performed in the employ of a hospital, if such service is performed by a patient of the hospital, as defined in this section.
(xvii) Service performed by an individual for a person as an insurance agent or as an insurance solicitor, if all such service performed by such individual for such person is performed for remuneration solely by way of commission.
(xviii) Service performed by an individual for a person as a salesman, agent, or solicitor if the state law requires the individual to be registered or licensed to engage in the performance of the service and if the individual in the performance of such service is an independent contractor under common law rules and if the individual performs all such service for remuneration solely by way of commission.
(xix) Service performed by an individual engaged in the harvesting of timber, or in the transportation of timber from the place where harvested to market, or service performed by an individual engaged as a stone artisan, including sculpting, etching, or carving quarried stone when:
(I) such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such services, both under his or her contract of service and in fact; and
(II) such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business; and
(III) such individual furnishes substantially all of the equipment, tools, and supplies necessary in carrying out his or her contractual obligations to his or her clients.
(xx) Service performed by a full-time student as defined in subsection (III) in the employ of an organized camp:
(I) if such camp:
(aa) did not operate for more than seven months in the calendar year and did not operate for more than seven months in the preceding calendar year; or
(bb) had average gross receipts for any six months in the preceding calendar year that were not more than 33 1/3 percent of its average gross receipts for the other six months in the preceding calendar year; and
(II) if such full-time student performed services in the employ of such camp for less than 13 calendar weeks in such calendar year, provided that if the individual does not enroll in the immediately succeeding academic year or term, then the services of such individual as defined in this subsection shall be deemed to be employment for all purposes under this chapter.
(III) Full-time student. For the purposes of subdivision (xx), an individual shall be treated as a full-time student for any period:
(aa) during which the individual is enrolled as a full-time student at an educational institution; or
(bb) that is between academic years or terms if (A) the individual was enrolled as a full-time student at an educational institution for the immediately preceding year or term and (B) there is a reasonable assurance that the individual will be so enrolled for the immediately succeeding academic year or term after the period described in subdivision (A).
(xxi) Service performed by a direct seller if the individual is in compliance with all the following:
(I) The individual is engaged in the trade or business of selling or soliciting the sale of consumer products, including services or other intangibles, in the home or a location other than in a permanent retail establishment, including whether the sale or solicitation of a sale is to any buyer on a buy-sell basis, a deposit-commission basis, or any similar basis for resale by the buyer or any other person.
(II) Substantially all the remuneration, whether or not received in cash, for the performance of the services described in subdivision (I) of this subdivision (C)(xxi) is directly related to sales or other output, including the performance of services, rather than to the number of hours worked.
(III) The services performed by the individual are performed pursuant to a written contract between the individual and the person for whom the services are performed, and the contract provides that the individual will not be treated as an employee for federal and state tax purposes.
(D) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this subdivision, service with respect to which a tax is required to be paid under any federal law imposing a tax against which credit may be taken for contributions required to be paid into a state unemployment fund or that as a condition for full tax credit against the tax imposed by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act is required to be covered under this chapter.
(7) “Employment office” means a free public employment office, or branch thereof, of the Vermont Employment Service Division, or an office maintained by another state as a part of a state-controlled system of free public employment offices, or by a federal agency or any agency of a foreign government charged with the administration of an unemployment compensation program or free public employment offices; or such other agencies as the Secretary of Labor may approve.
(8) “Fund” means the Unemployment Compensation Fund established by this chapter, to which all contributions required and from which all benefits provided under this chapter shall be paid.
(9) “Total and partial unemployment.”
(A) An individual shall be deemed “totally unemployed” in any week during which the individual performs no services and with respect to which no wages are earned by him or her.
(B) An individual shall be deemed “partially unemployed” in any week of less than full-time work if the wages earned by him or her with respect to such week are less than the weekly benefit amount he or she would be entitled to receive if totally unemployed and eligible.
(C) As used in this subdivision, “wages” includes only that part of remuneration in any one week rounded to the next higher dollar that is in excess of the amount specified in section 1338a of this title.
(D) An individual’s week of unemployment shall be deemed to commence only after his or her registration at an employment office, except as the Vermont Employment Security Board may by regulation otherwise prescribe.
(10) “State” means the states of the United States of America, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and after December 31, 1977, the Virgin Islands.
(11) “Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund” means the Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund established by this chapter, from which administrative expenses under this chapter shall be paid.
(12) “Wages” means all remuneration paid for services rendered by an individual, including commissions and bonuses and the cash value of all remuneration paid in any medium other than cash. Gratuities customarily received by an individual in the course of his or her employment from persons other than the individual’s employer and reported by the individual to the individual’s employer shall be treated as wages paid by the individual’s employer. The reasonable cash value of remuneration paid in any medium other than cash shall be estimated and determined in accordance with rules prescribed by the Board. The term “wages” as used in this chapter shall not include:
(A) The amount of any payment (including any amount paid by an employer for insurance or annuities, or into a fund, to provide for any such payment) made to, or on behalf of, an employee or any of his or her dependents under a plan or system established by an employer that makes provision for his or her employees generally (or for his or her employees generally and their dependents) or for a class or classes of his or her employees (or for a class or classes of his or her employees and their dependents), on account of:
(i) sickness or accident disability (but, in the case of payments made directly to an employee or any of his or her dependents, this subparagraph shall exclude from the term “wages” only payments that are received under a workers’ compensation law);
(ii) medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability; or
(iii) death.
(B) Any payment on account of sickness or accident disability, or medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability, made by an employer to, or on behalf of, an employee after the expiration of six calendar months following the last calendar month in which the employee worked for such employer.
(C) Any payment made to, or on behalf of, an employee or his or her beneficiary (i) from or to a trust described in Section 401(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code that is exempt from tax under Section 501(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code at the time of such payment unless such payment is made to an employee of the trust as remuneration for services rendered as such employee and not as a beneficiary of the trust, or (ii) under or to an annuity plan that, at the time of such payment, is a plan described in Section 403(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
(D) The payment by an employer (without deduction from the remuneration of the employee) of the tax imposed upon an employee under Section 3101 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
(E) Any amounts received from the federal government by members of the National Guard and organized reserve, as drill pay, including longevity pay and allowances.
(F) Provided that if the definition of “wages” in section 3306 of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act is amended so as to no longer exclude from such definition any or all of the payments or amounts enumerated in subdivisions (12)(A) through (E) of this section, then any or all such payments or amounts shall no longer be excluded from the definition of “wages” under this chapter, effective on a date to coincide with the effective date of such amendment (or amendments) to the Federal Unemployment Tax Act.
(G) Any foster care payments excluded from the definition of gross income under Section 131 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
(13) “Week” means such period or periods of seven consecutive days, as the Board may by regulation prescribe.
(14) “Calendar quarter” means a period of three consecutive calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31, or the equivalent thereof as the Board may by regulation prescribe.
(15) An individual’s “weekly benefit amount” with respect to any week means the amount of benefits he or she would be entitled to receive for such week if totally unemployed and eligible for benefits therein.
(16)(A) “Benefit year,” with respect to any individual, means the one-year period beginning with the first day of the week with respect to which the individual first files a valid claim for benefits in accordance with section 1346 of this title, and thereafter the one-year period beginning with the first day of the first week with respect to which the individual next files such a claim for benefits after the termination of his or her last preceding benefit year.
(B) [Repealed.]
(17)(A) For benefit years beginning prior to January 3, 1988, the “base period” is the period of 52 weeks ending with the day immediately preceding the first day of a claimant’s benefit year. Such period shall be extended by one week for each week, not to exceed 18, in which the claimant had no earnings because of sickness or disability as certified by a duly licensed physician.
(B) For benefit years beginning on January 3, 1988 and subsequent thereto, the “base period” shall be the period made up of the first four of the most recently completed five calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of a claimant’s benefit year, and for any individual who fails to meet the eligibility requirements of section 1338 of this title in this base period, the Commissioner shall make a redetermination of entitlement based upon a base period that consists of the last four completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the claimant’s benefit year.
(C) For any individual who fails to qualify for benefits under subdivision (B) of this subdivision, the Commissioner shall make a redetermination of entitlement based upon a base period that consists of the last three completed calendar quarters and all wages paid prior to the effective date of the claimant’s initial claim in the calendar quarter in which the initial claim was filed.
(D) All wages that fall within the “base period” of valid claims under this section shall not be available for reuse in qualifying for any subsequent benefit years under section 1338 or 1318 of this title.
(18) “Institution of higher education” means an educational institution that (A) admits as regular students only individuals having a certificate of graduation from a high school, or the recognized equivalent of such a certificate; (B) is legally authorized in this State to provide a program of education beyond high school; (C) provides an educational program for which it awards a bachelor’s or higher degree, or provides a program which is acceptable for full credit toward such a degree, a program of post-graduate or post-doctoral studies, or a program of training to prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation; and (D) is a public or other nonprofit institution. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing provisions, all colleges and universities in this State are institutions of higher education for purposes of this chapter.
(19) “Hospital” means an institution that has been licensed, certified, or approved by the Department of Health as a hospital or an institution that is operated by the State of Vermont or any of its instrumentalities as a hospital.
(20) “Rate year” means the period beginning on July 1 of a year and ending on June 30 of the following year.
(21) “Bona fide employer” means the federal government, state governments and political subdivisions of state governments, railroads, tax exempt nonprofit organizations, established agricultural employers, employers liable under the unemployment compensation laws of this State, and an employer who has been assigned an employer identification number by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
(22) “Rounding.” Notwithstanding any other provisions of this law to the contrary, any amount of unemployment compensation payable to any individual for any week if not an even dollar amount shall be rounded to the next lower full dollar amount.
(23) “Valid claim” means a claim for benefits filed by an individual who, at the time of filing the claim, has had sufficient wages in employment with an employer or employers to qualify for benefits pursuant to section 1338 of this title. The filing of a valid claim is a prerequisite to the making of a determination of an individual’s eligibility for benefits under section 1343 of this title and a determination of an individual’s disqualification for benefits under section 1344 of this title.
(24) “Self-employment”:
(A) Except as provided in subdivision (B) of this subdivision (24), an individual shall be deemed “self-employed” or “engaged in self-employment” in any week during which he or she is engaged, not in the employ of another, in the formation, development, or operation of a trade, business, enterprise, profession, or any other activity that he or she has undertaken for the purpose of producing income and that is in the form of a sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, or other similar entity.
(B) An individual who is able to work and available for full-time work shall not be deemed to be self-employed or engaged in self-employment solely by reason of continued participation without substantial change during a period of unemployment in any activity undertaken while customarily employed by an employer in full-time work (whether or not such work constituted employment) and continued subsequent to separation from such work when such activity is not engaged in as a primary source of livelihood. Earnings from such a sideline activity shall not constitute wages or disqualifying income for unemployment purposes.
(25) “Son,” “daughter,” and “child” include an individual’s biological child, foster child, adoptive child, stepchild, a child for whom the individual is listed as a parent on the child’s birth certificate, a legal ward of the individual, a child of the individual’s spouse, or a child that the individual has day-to-day responsibilities to care for and financially support.
(26) “Spouse” includes an individual’s domestic partner or civil union partner. As used in this subdivision, “domestic partner” means another individual with whom an individual has an enduring domestic relationship of a spousal nature, provided that the individual and the individual’s domestic partner:
(A) have shared a residence for at least six months;
(B) are at least 18 years of age;
(C) are not married to, in a civil union with, or considered the domestic partner of another individual;
(D) are not related by blood closer than would bar marriage under State law; and
(E) have agreed between themselves to be responsible for each other’s welfare. (Amended 1959, No. 10, eff. Feb. 27, 1959; 1959, No. 33, eff. March 11, 1959; 1959, No. 107, § 1, eff. April 10, 1959; 1959, No. 120, eff. Jan. 1, 1960; 1959, No. 262, § 35, eff. June 11, 1959; 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, §§ 15, 16, eff. July 11, 1961; 1963, No. 84,§§ 1, 2; 1963, No. 122, eff. June 3, 1963; 1965, No. 64, eff. Jan. 1, 1966; 1967, No. 43, § 1, eff. March 23, 1967; 1967, No. 184, eff. April 17, 1967; 1967, No. 247 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Feb. 20, 1968; 1971, No. 77, § 1, eff. Dec. 31, 1971; 1971, No. 184 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. March 29, 1972; 1973, No. 74, § 1, eff. April 14, 1973; 1975, No. 40; 1977, No. 64, §§ 1-7, 21, 22; 1979, No. 53; 1979, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1-5, eff. April 14, 1980; 1981, No. 66, § 5(b), eff. May 1, 1981; 1981, No. 86, § 8, eff. May 10, 1981; 1983, No. 16, §§ 1, 2, 10, 12, eff. April 4, 1983; 1985, No. 50, §§ 1-3; 1985, No. 146 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 1987, No. 31, eff. May 8, 1987; 1987, No. 66; 1987, No. 227 (Adj. Sess.) §§ 1, 3, eff. May 26, 1988; 1991, 1987, No. 82, § 1; 1991 No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1993, No. 227 (Adj. Sess.), § 17; 1997, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1, 6; 2003, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006; 2005, No. 136 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2007, No. 104 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 139; 2023, No. 53, § 124, eff. June 8, 2023; 2023, No. 76, § 39, eff. July 1, 2023; 2023, No. 76, § 39, eff. July 1, 2024.)
§ 1301. Definitions [Effective July 1, 2024]
As used in this chapter:
(1) “Benefits” and “compensation” means the money payments payable to an individual, as provided in this chapter, with respect to his or her unemployment.
(2) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Labor established by this chapter, or his or her authorized representative.
(3) “Contributions” means the money payments to the State Unemployment Compensation Fund required by this chapter.
(4) “Employing unit” means any individual or type of organization, including any partnership, association, labor organization as defined in section 2(5) of the National Labor Relations Act, trust, estate, joint stock company, insurance company, or corporation, whether domestic or foreign, or the receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee, or successor thereof, or the legal representative of a deceased person, any federal, state, or local governmental entity, which has had in its employ since January 1, 1936, one or more individuals performing services for it within this State. All individuals performing services within this State for any employing unit which maintains two or more separate establishments within this State shall be deemed to be employed by a single employing unit for all the purposes of this chapter.
(5) “Employer” includes:
(A) Any employing unit that in any calendar quarter in either the current or preceding calendar year paid for service in employment, as defined pursuant to subdivision (6) of this section, wages of $1,500.00 or more, or for some portion of a day in each of 20 different calendar weeks, whether or not such weeks were consecutive, in either the current or the preceding calendar year, had in employment at least one individual (irrespective of whether the same individual was in employment in each such day). When an employing unit described in either this subdivision or subdivision (B) of this subdivision (5), becomes an employer within any calendar year, it shall be subject to this chapter for the whole of the calendar year.
(B)(i) Any employing unit for which service in employment for a religious, charitable, educational, or other organization as defined in subdivision (6)(A)(ix) of this section is performed after December 31, 1971, except as provided in subdivision (C) of this subdivision (5).
(ii) Any employing unit for which service in employment for the State and any of its instrumentalities, for a hospital or an institution of higher education as defined in subdivision (6)(A)(x)(I) of this section is performed after December 31, 1971; except as provided in subdivision (5)(C) of this section.
(iii) Any employing unit for which service in employment for the State or any political subdivision thereof as defined in subdivision (6)(A)(x)(II) of this section is performed after December 31, 1977; except as provided in subdivision (5)(C) of this section.
(iv) Any employing unit for which agricultural labor as described in subdivision (6)(A)(vii)(I) of this section is performed after December 31, 1977.
(v) Any employing unit for which domestic service in employment as described in subdivision (6)(A)(viii) is performed after December 31, 1977.
(C) An employing unit as described in subdivisions (5)(A) and (B) of this section except:
(i) In determining whether or not an employing unit for which service other than domestic service is also performed is an employer under this subdivision, the wages earned or the employment of an employee performing domestic service as described in subdivision (5)(B)(v) of this section after December 31, 1977, shall not be taken into account unless the total cash remuneration paid in any calendar quarter for domestic services is $1,000.00 or more.
(ii) In determining whether or not an employing unit for which service other than agricultural labor is also performed is an employer under this subdivision, the wages earned or the employment of an employee performing service in agricultural labor after December 31, 1977 shall not be taken into account unless the agricultural labor is in accordance with subdivision (6)(A)(vii)(I) of this section. If an employing unit is determined an employer of agricultural labor, such employing unit shall be determined an employer for purposes of subdivision (5)(A) of this section.
(D) Any individual or employing unit which acquired the organization, trade, or business of another which at the time of such acquisition was an employer subject to this chapter.
(E)(i) Any employing unit that filed with and had approved by the Commissioner, on the proper forms prescribed and supplied by the Commissioner, its written election to become fully subject to this chapter for not less than two calendar years. Such employing unit, not otherwise subject to this chapter, that files with the Commissioner its written election to become an employer subject to this chapter for not less than two calendar years, shall, with the written approval of such election by the Commissioner, become an employer subject to this chapter to the same extent as all other employers, as of the date stated in the approval.
(ii) Any employing unit for which services that are excluded from the term “employment” by subdivisions (6)(A)(ix) and (6)(C)(i) and (ii) of this section are performed may, by election and approval, elect that all services performed by individuals in its employ, in one or more establishments or places of business, shall be deemed to constitute employment for all the purposes of this chapter for not less than two calendar years. Upon the written approval of such election by the Commissioner such services shall be deemed to constitute employment subject to this chapter from the date stated in the approval.
(iii) Any such employing unit may cease to be subject under either subdivision (5)(E)(i) or (ii) of this section, as of January 1, of any calendar year subsequent to such two calendar years, only if at least 30 days prior to such first day of January it has filed with the Commissioner a written notice of its intention to cancel such election but this requirement may be waived by the Commissioner for good cause.
(F) Any employing unit which acquires a part of the organization, trade, or business of another, which part, if a separate organization, trade, or business, would have been an employer. Any employing unit which acquires the organization, trade, or business, or acquires substantially all the assets of another employing unit, if the employment record of such acquiring employing unit subsequent to such an acquisition, together with the employment record of the acquired unit prior to such acquisition, both within the same calendar year, would be sufficient to constitute an employing unit an “employer.”
(G) Any employing unit not an employer by reason of any other provision of this subdivision for which, within either the current or preceding calendar year, service is or was performed with respect to which such employing unit is liable for any federal tax against which credit may be taken for contributions required to be paid into a state unemployment fund; or which, as a condition for approval of this chapter for full tax credit against the tax imposed by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, is required, pursuant to such act, to be an “employer” under this chapter.
(6)(A)(i) “Employment,” subject to the other provisions of this subdivision (6), means service within the jurisdiction of this State performed by an employee, as defined in subsections 3306(i) and (o) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, including service in interstate commerce, performed for wages or under any contract of hire, written or oral, expressed or implied. Services partly within and partly outside this State may by election as provided in subdivision (5)(E)(i) of this section be treated as if wholly within the jurisdiction of this State. If an employing unit has elected to come under the provisions of a similar act of a state where a part of the services of an employee are performed, the Commissioner, upon approving the election as to the employee, may treat the services covered by the election as having been performed wholly outside the jurisdiction of this State.
(ii) The term “employment” shall include an individual’s entire service, performed within, or both within and without, this State if the service is localized in this State. Service shall be deemed to be localized within a state if:
(I) the service is performed entirely within such state; or
(II) the service is performed both within and without such state but the service performed without such state is incidental to the individual’s service within the state; for example, is temporary or transitory in nature or consists of isolated transactions.
(iii) The term “employment” shall include an individual’s entire service, performed within, or both within and outside, this State if the service is not localized in any state but some of the service is performed in this State and:
(I) the individual’s base of operations is in this State; or
(II) if there is no base of operations, then the place from which such service is directed or controlled is in this State; or
(III) the individual’s base of operations or place from which such service is directed or controlled is not in any state in which some part of the service is performed, but the individual’s residence is in this State.
(iv) The term “employment” shall include an individual’s service wherever performed within the United States, the Virgin Islands, or Canada, if:
(I) such service is not covered under the unemployment compensation law of any other state, the Virgin Islands, or Canada; and
(II) the place from which the service is directed or controlled is in this State.
(v) The term “employment” shall include the service of an individual who is a citizen of the United States, performed outside the United States after December 31, 1971 (except in Canada) or after December 31, 1977 in the case of the Virgin Islands in the employ of an American employer (other than service which is deemed “employment” under the provisions of subdivisions (6)(A)(ii), (iii), or (iv) of this section or the parallel provisions of another state’s law), if:
(I) the employer’s principal place of business in the United States is located in this State; or
(II) the employer has no place of business in the United States, but the employer is an individual who is a resident of this State; or the employer is a corporation which is organized under the laws of this State; or the employer is a partnership or a trust and the number of the partners or trustees who are residents of this State is greater than the number who are residents of any one other state; or
(III) none of the criteria of subdivisions (6)(A)(v)(I) and (II) of this subdivision is met but the employer has elected coverage in this State or, the employer having failed to elect coverage in any state, the individual has filed a claim for benefits, based on such service under the law of this State.
(IV) an “American employer,” for purposes of this subdivision means a person who is:
(aa) an individual who is a resident of the United States; or
(bb) a partnership if two-thirds or more of the partners are residents of the United States; or
(cc) a trust, if all of the trustees are residents of the United States; or
(dd) a corporation organized under the law of the United States or of any state.
(vi) The term “employment” shall also include all service performed after July 1, 1946 by an officer or member of the crew of an American vessel on or in connection with such vessel, provided that the operating office, from which the operations of such vessel operating on navigable waters within or within and without the United States is ordinarily and regularly supervised, managed, directed, and controlled, is within this State.
(vii) The term “employment” shall also include all service performed after December 31, 1977, by an individual in agricultural labor as defined in subdivision (6)(C)(i)(I) of this section when:
(I) such service is performed for a person who:
(aa) during any calendar quarter in either the current or the preceding calendar year paid remuneration in cash of $20,000.00 or more to individuals employed in agricultural labor, not taking into account service in agricultural labor performed before January 1, 1980, by an alien referred to in subdivision (6)(A)(vii)(II) of this section; or
(bb) for some portion of a day in each of 20 different calendar weeks, whether or not such weeks were consecutive, in either the current or the preceding calendar year, employed in agricultural labor (not taking into account service in agricultural labor performed before January 1, 1980, by an alien referred to in subdivision (6)(A)(vii)(II) of this section) 10 or more individuals, regardless of whether they were employed at the same moment of time.
(II) such service is not performed in agricultural labor if performed before January 1, 1980, or after December 31, 1986, by an individual who is an alien admitted to the United States to perform service in agricultural labor pursuant to sections 214(c) and 101(a)(15)(H) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, provided, that if section 3306 in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act is amended so as to include such service in the definition of employment in agricultural labor beginning on or after January 1, 1988, then such service shall be employment in agricultural labor under this chapter.
(III) for the purposes of this subdivision any individual who is a member of a crew furnished by a crew leader to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person shall be treated as an employee of such crew leader:
(aa) if such crew leader holds a valid certificate of registration under the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act of 1963; or substantially all the members of such crew operate or maintain tractors, mechanized harvesting or cropdusting equipment, or any other mechanized equipment, which is provided by such crew leader; and
(bb) if the individual is not an employee of such other person within the meaning of subdivision (6)(A) of this section.
(IV) for the purposes of this subdivision (vii), in the case of any individual who is furnished by a crew leader to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person and who is not treated as an employee of such crew leader under subdivision (6)(A)(vii)(III) of this section:
(aa) the other person and not the crew leader shall be treated as the employer of such individual; and
(bb) the other person shall be treated as having paid cash remuneration to such individual in an amount equal to the amount of cash remuneration paid to such individual by the crew leader (either on the crew leader’s own behalf or on behalf of such other person) for the service in agricultural labor performed for such other person.
(V) for the purposes of this subdivision (vii) the term “crew leader” means an individual who:
(aa) furnishes individuals to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person;
(bb) pays (either on the crew leader’s own behalf or on behalf of such other persons) the individuals so furnished by the crew leader for the service in agricultural labor performed by them; and
(cc) has not entered into a written agreement with such other person under which such individual is designated as an employee of such other person.
(viii) The term “employment” shall also include domestic service as used in subdivision (6)(C)(ii) of this section after December 31, 1977, in a private home, in a local college club or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority, performed for a person who paid cash remuneration of $1,000.00 or more in any calendar quarter after December 31, 1977, in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year to individuals employed in such domestic service.
(ix) The term “employment” shall also include service for any employing unit performed by an individual in the employ of a religious, charitable, educational, or other organization if the service is excluded from “employment” as defined in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act solely by reason of subdivision 3306(c)(8) of that act.
(x)(I) The term “employment” shall also include service for any employing unit which is performed after December 31, 1971 by an individual in the employ of this State or any of its instrumentalities, or in the employ of this State and one or more other states or their instrumentalities, for a hospital or institution of higher education located in this State provided that such service is excluded from “employment” as defined in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act solely by reason of section 3306(c)(7) of that act and is not excluded from “employment” under subdivision (6)(C)(vii) of this section.
(II) The term “employment” shall also include service for any employing unit which is performed after December 31, 1977 by an individual in the employ of this State or any political subdivision thereof or any of its instrumentalities or any instrumentality of one or more of the foregoing; and service performed for this State or any political subdivision thereof and one or more other states or political subdivisions thereof or any instrumentality of the foregoing which is wholly owned by such states or political subdivisions, provided that such service is excluded from “employment” as defined in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act by section 3306(c)(7) of that act and is not excluded from “employment” under subdivision (6)(C)(vii) of this section.
(B) Services performed by an individual for wages shall be deemed to be employment subject to this chapter unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that:
(i) Such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such services, both under his or her contract of service and in fact; and
(ii) Such service is either outside the usual course of the business for which such service is performed, or that such service is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise for which such service is performed; and
(iii) Such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business.
(C) The term “employment” shall not include:
(i)(I) Service performed by an individual in agricultural labor except as provided in subdivision (6)(A)(vii) of this section. For purposes of this subdivision, the term “agricultural labor” means any service performed prior to January 1, 1972 which was agricultural labor as defined in this subdivision prior to such date, and remunerated service performed after December 31, 1971:
(aa) on a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with cultivating the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training, and management of livestock, bees, poultry, and fur-bearing animals and wildlife;
(bb) in the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm, in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement, or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment or in salvaging timber or clearing land of brush and other debris left by a hurricane, if the major part of such service is performed on a farm;
(cc) in connection with the production or harvesting of any commodity defined as an agricultural commodity in section 15(g) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, as amended (12 U.S.C. § 1141j) or in connection with the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs, or waterways, not owned or operated for profit, used exclusively for supplying and storing water for farming purposes;
(dd) in the employ of the operator of a farm in handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing, or delivering to storage or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, in its unmanufactured state, any agricultural or horticultural commodity; but only if such operator produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed;
(ee) in the employ of a group of operators of farms, or a cooperative organization of which such operators are members, in the performance of service described in subdivision (dd) of this subdivision (C)(i)(I), but only if such operators produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed;
(ff) on a farm operated for profit if such service is not in the course of the employer’s trade or business.
(II) As used in subdivision (6)(C)(i)(I), the term “farm” includes stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing animal, and truck farms, plantations, ranches, nurseries, ranges, greenhouses or other similar structures used primarily for the raising of agricultural or horticultural commodities, and orchards.
(III) The provisions of (dd) and (ee) of subdivision (6)(C)(i)(I) shall not be deemed to be applicable with respect to service performed in connection with commercial canning or commercial freezing or in connection with any agricultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption.
(ii) Domestic service in a private home except as provided in subdivision (6)(A)(viii) of this section;
(iii)(I) Service not in the course of the employer’s trade or business performed in any calendar quarter by an employee, unless the cash remuneration paid for that service is $50.00 or more and the service is performed by an individual who is regularly employed by the employer to perform the service. For purposes of this subdivision, an individual shall be deemed to be regularly employed by an employer during a calendar quarter if:
(aa) on each of some 24 days during the quarter the individual performs for the employer for some portion of the day service not in the course of the employer’s trade or business; or
(bb) the individual was regularly employed (as determined under the preceding subdivision) by the employer in the performance of the service during the preceding calendar quarter.
(II) The term “service not in the course of the employer’s trade or business” includes service that does not promote or advance the trade or business of the employer. Services performed for a corporation do not come within the exception.
(iv) Service performed by an individual in the employ of his or her son, daughter, or spouse, and service performed by a minor in the employ of his or her father or mother; or service by one member of a family to another under circumstances which, under the general law, do not give rise to the relation of employer and employee;
(v) Service performed in the employ of the U.S. government or of an instrumentality of the United States but if the Congress of the United States shall permit states to require that the U.S. government or any instrumentalities of the United States. shall make payments into an unemployment fund under a state unemployment compensation act, then, to the extent permitted by Congress, and from and after the date as of which such permission becomes effective, all of the provisions of this chapter shall be applicable to the U.S. government or such instrumentalities, in the same manner, to the same extent and on the same terms as to all other employers, employing units, individuals, and services; provided that if this State should not be certified by the Secretary of Labor under section 3304 of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act for any year, then the payments required of the U.S. government or such instrumentalities with respect to such year shall be deemed to have been erroneously collected within the meaning of section 1337 of this title and shall be refunded by the Commissioner from the Fund in accordance with the provisions of section 1337;
(vi)(I) Before January 1, 1978, service performed in the employ of a state, a political subdivision thereof, or an instrumentality of one or more states or political subdivisions except as otherwise provided in this chapter with respect to service for a hospital or institution of higher education located in this State, and except as to any town, city, or other municipal corporation, as defined by 24 V.S.A. § 1751, or an instrumentality thereof, that duly elects otherwise, as provided by this chapter with the Commissioner’s approval;
(II) After December 31, 1977, in the employ of a governmental entity referred to in subdivision (6)(A)(x) of this section if such service is performed by an individual in the exercise of duties:
(aa) as an elected official;
(bb) as a member of a legislative body, or a member of the judiciary, of a state or political subdivision;
(cc) as a member of the State National Guard or Air National Guard;
(dd) as an employee serving on a temporary basis in case of fire, storm, snow, earthquake, flood, or similar emergency; or
(ee) in a position which, under or pursuant to the laws of this State, is designated as a policymaking or advisory position the performance of the duties of which ordinarily does not require more than eight hours per week.
(vii) For the purposes of subdivisions (6)(A)(ix) and (6)(A)(x) of this section, the term “employment” does not include service performed:
(I) in the employ of a church or convention or association of churches, or an organization which is operated primarily for religious purposes and which is operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches;
(II) by a duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister of a church in the exercise of his or her ministry or by a member of a religious order in the exercise of duties required by such order;
(III) prior to January 1, 1978, in the employ of a school which is not an institution of higher education;
(IV) in a facility conducted for the purpose of carrying out a program of rehabilitation for individuals whose earning capacity is limited due to being an elder or having a disability or injury or providing remunerative work for individuals who because of having a disability cannot be readily absorbed in the competitive labor market by an individual receiving such rehabilitation or remunerative work;
(V) as part of an unemployment work-relief or work-training program assisted or financed in whole or in part by any federal agency or an agency of a state or political subdivision thereof, by an individual receiving such work relief or work training; or
(VI) prior to January 1, 1978, for a hospital in a state prison or other state correctional institution by an inmate of the prison or correctional institution and after December 31, 1977, by an inmate of a custodial or penal institution.
(viii) Service with respect to which unemployment compensation is payable under an unemployment compensation system established by an act of Congress; provided, that the Commissioner is hereby authorized and directed to enter into agreements with the proper agencies under such act of Congress, which agreements shall become effective 10 days after publication thereof in one or more newspapers of general circulation in this State, to provide reciprocal treatment to individuals who have, after acquiring potential rights to unemployment compensation under such act of Congress, acquired rights to benefits under this chapter;
(ix) Service performed on and after July 1, 1939, with respect to which unemployment compensation is payable under an act of Congress entitled “Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act”;
(x) Service as an officer or member of a crew of an American vessel performed on or in connection with such vessel, if the operating office, from which the operations of the vessel operating on navigable waters within or without the United States are ordinarily and regularly supervised, managed, directed, and controlled, is without this State;
(xi) Service performed on or in connection with a vessel not an American vessel by an individual, if the individual performs services on and in connection with such vessel when outside the United States; and, for the purpose of this section, the term “American vessel” means any vessel documented or numbered under the laws of the United States; and includes any vessel which is neither documented or numbered under the laws of the United States nor documented under the laws of any foreign country, if its crew performs services solely for one or more citizens or residents of the United States or corporations organized under the laws of the United States or of any state;
(xii) Service performed by an individual in, or as an officer or member of the crew of a vessel while it is engaged in, the catching, taking, harvesting, cultivating, or farming of any kind of fish, shellfish, crustacea, sponges, seaweeds, or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life, including service performed by any such individual as an ordinary incident to any such activity, except:
(I) Service performed in connection with the catching or taking of salmon or halibut, for commercial purposes; and
(II) Service performed on or in connection with a vessel of more than 10 net tons, determined in the manner provided for determining the register tonnage of merchant vessels under the laws of the United States;
(xiii) Service performed in any calendar quarter in the employ of any organization exempt from income tax under Section 501(a) (other than an organization described in Section 401(a)) or under Section 521 of the federal Internal Revenue Code, if the remuneration for such service is less than $50.00;
(xiv) Service performed, in the employ of a school, college, or university, if such service is performed by a student who is enrolled and is regularly attending classes at such school, college, or university, or by the spouse of such a student, if the spouse is advised, at the time such spouse commences to perform such service, that the employment of such spouse to perform such service is provided under a program to provide financial assistance to such student by school, college, or university, and such employment will not be covered by any program of unemployment insurance;
(xv) Service performed by an individual under the age of 22 who is enrolled at a nonprofit or public educational institution which normally maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly organized body of students in attendance at the place where its educational activities are carried on as a student in a full-time program, taken for credit at such institution, which combines academic instruction with work experience, if such service is an integral part of such program, and such institution has so certified to the employer, except that this subdivision shall not apply to service performed in a program established for or on behalf of an employer or group of employers;
(xvi) Service performed in the employ of a hospital, if such service is performed by a patient of the hospital, as defined in this section;
(xvii) Service performed by an individual for a person as an insurance agent or as an insurance solicitor, if all such service performed by such individual for such person is performed for remuneration solely by way of commission;
(xviii) Service performed by an individual for a person as a salesman, agent, or solicitor if the state law requires the individual to be registered or licensed to engage in the performance of the service and if the individual in the performance of such service is an independent contractor under common law rules and if the individual performs all such service for remuneration solely by way of commission;
(xix) Service performed by an individual engaged in the harvesting of timber, or in the transportation of timber from the place where harvested to market, or service performed by an individual engaged as a stone artisan, including sculpting, etching, or carving quarried stone when:
(I) such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such services, both under his or her contract of service and in fact; and
(II) such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business; and
(III) such individual furnishes substantially all of the equipment, tools, and supplies necessary in carrying out his or her contractual obligations to his or her clients.
(xx) Service performed by a full-time student as defined in subsection (III) in the employ of an organized camp.
(I) if such camp:
(aa) did not operate for more than seven months in the calendar year and did not operate for more than seven months in the preceding calendar year; or
(bb) had average gross receipts for any six months in the preceding calendar year which were not more than 33 1/3 percent of its average gross receipts for the other six months in the preceding calendar year; and
(II) if such full-time student performed services in the employ of such camp for less than 13 calendar weeks in such calendar year; provided, that if the individual does not enroll in the immediately succeeding academic year or term, then the services of such individual as defined in this subsection shall be deemed to be employment for all purposes under this chapter.
(III) full-time student. For the purposes of subdivision (xx), an individual shall be treated as a full-time student for any period:
(aa) during which the individual is enrolled as a full-time student at an educational institution; or
(bb) which is between academic years or terms if (A) the individual was enrolled as a full-time student at an educational institution for the immediately preceding year or term; and (B) there is a reasonable assurance that the individual will be so enrolled for the immediately succeeding academic year or term after the period described in subdivision (A).
(xxi) Service performed by a direct seller if the individual is in compliance with all the following:
(I) The individual is engaged in the trade or business of selling or soliciting the sale of consumer products, including services or other intangibles, in the home or a location other than in a permanent retail establishment, including whether the sale or solicitation of a sale is to any buyer on a buy-sell basis, a deposit-commission basis, or any similar basis for resale by the buyer or any other person.
(II) Substantially all the remuneration, whether or not received in cash, for the performance of the services described in subdivision (I) of this subdivision (C)(xxi) is directly related to sales or other output, including the performance of services, rather than to the number of hours worked.
(III) The services performed by the individual are performed pursuant to a written contract between the individual and the person for whom the services are performed, and the contract provides that the individual will not be treated as an employee for federal and state tax purposes.
(D) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this subdivision, service with respect to which a tax is required to be paid under any federal law imposing a tax against which credit may be taken for contributions required to be paid into a state unemployment fund or which as a condition for full tax credit against the tax imposed by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act is required to be covered under this chapter.
(7) “Employment office” means a free public employment office, or branch thereof, of the Vermont Employment Service Division, or an office maintained by another state as a part of a state-controlled system of free public employment offices, or by a federal agency or any agency of a foreign government charged with the administration of an unemployment compensation program or free public employment offices; or such other agencies as the Secretary of Labor may approve.
(8) “Fund” means the Unemployment Compensation Fund established by this chapter, to which all contributions required and from which all benefits provided under this chapter shall be paid.
(9) “Total and partial unemployment.”
(A) An individual shall be deemed “totally unemployed” in any week during which the individual performs no services and with respect to which no wages are earned by him or her.
(B) An individual shall be deemed “partially unemployed” in any week of less than full time work if the wages earned by him or her with respect to such week are less than the weekly benefit amount he or she would be entitled to receive if totally unemployed and eligible.
(C) As used in this subdivision, “wages” includes only that part of remuneration in any one week rounded to the next higher dollar which is in excess of the amount specified in section 1338a of this title.
(D) An individual’s week of unemployment shall be deemed to commence only after his or her registration at an employment office, except as the Vermont Employment Security Board may by regulation otherwise prescribe.
(10) “State” means the states of the United States of America, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and after December 31, 1977, the Virgin Islands.
(11) “Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund” means the Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund established by this chapter, from which administrative expenses under this chapter shall be paid.
(12) “Wages” means all remuneration paid for services rendered by an individual, including commissions and bonuses and the cash value of all remuneration paid in any medium other than cash. Gratuities customarily received by an individual in the course of his or her employment from persons other than the individual’s employer and reported by the individual to the individual’s employer shall be treated as wages paid by the individual’s employer. The reasonable cash value of remuneration paid in any medium other than cash shall be estimated and determined in accordance with rules prescribed by the Board. The term “wages” as used in this chapter shall not include:
(A) The amount of any payment (including any amount paid by an employer for insurance or annuities, or into a fund, to provide for any such payment) made to, or on behalf of, an employee or any of his or her dependents under a plan or system established by an employer which makes provision for his or her employees generally (or for his or her employees generally and their dependents) or for a class or classes of his or her employees (or for a class or classes of his or her employees and their dependents), on account of:
(i) sickness or accident disability (but, in the case of payments made directly to an employee or any of his or her dependents, this subparagraph shall exclude from the term “wages” only payments which are received under a workers’ compensation law);
(ii) medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability; or
(iii) death.
(B) Any payment on account of sickness or accident disability, or medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability, made by an employer to, or on behalf of, an employee after the expiration of six calendar months following the last calendar month in which the employee worked for such employer.
(C) Any payment made to, or on behalf of, an employee or his or her beneficiary (i) from or to a trust described in Section 401(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code which is exempt from tax under Section 501(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code at the time of such payment unless such payment is made to an employee of the trust as remuneration for services rendered as such employee and not as a beneficiary of the trust, or (ii) under or to an annuity plan which, at the time of such payment, is a plan described in Section 403(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
(D) The payment by an employer (without deduction from the remuneration of the employee) of the tax imposed upon an employee under Section 3101 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
(E) Any amounts received from the federal government by members of the National Guard and organized reserve, as drill pay, including longevity pay and allowances.
(F) Provided; that if the definition of “wages” in section 3306 of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act is amended so as to no longer exclude from such definition any or all of the payments or amounts enumerated in subdivisions (12)(A) through (E) of this section, then any or all such payments or amounts shall no longer be excluded from the definition of “wages” under this chapter, effective on a date to coincide with the effective date of such amendment (or amendments) to the Federal Unemployment Tax Act.
(G) Any foster care payments excluded from the definition of gross income under Section 131 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
(13) “Week” means such period or periods of seven consecutive days, as the Board may by regulation prescribe.
(14) “Calendar quarter” means a period of three consecutive calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31, or the equivalent thereof as the Board may by regulation prescribe.
(15) An individual’s “weekly benefit amount” with respect to any week means the amount of benefits he or she would be entitled to receive for such week if totally unemployed and eligible for benefits therein.
(16)(A) “Benefit year,” with respect to any individual, means the one-year period beginning with the first day of the week with respect to which the individual first files a valid claim for benefits in accordance with section 1346 of this title, and thereafter the one-year period beginning with the first day of the first week with respect to which the individual next files such a claim for benefits after the termination of his or her last preceding benefit year.
(B) [Repealed.]
(17)(A) For benefit years beginning prior to January 3, 1988, the “base period” is the period of 52 weeks ending with the day immediately preceding the first day of a claimant’s benefit year. Such period shall be extended by one week for each week, not to exceed 18, in which the claimant had no earnings because of sickness or disability as certified by a duly licensed physician.
(B) For benefit years beginning on January 3, 1988 and subsequent thereto the “base period” shall be the period made up of the first four of the most recently completed five calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of a claimant’s benefit year, and for any individual who fails to meet the eligibility requirements of section 1338 of this title in this base period, the Commissioner shall make a redetermination of entitlement based upon a base period which consists of the last four completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the claimant’s benefit year.
(C) For any individual who fails to qualify for benefits under subdivision (B) of this subdivision, the Commissioner shall make a redetermination of entitlement based upon a base period which consists of the last three completed calendar quarters and all wages paid prior to the effective date of the claimant’s initial claim in the calendar quarter in which the initial claim was filed.
(D) All wages which fall within the “base period” of valid claims under this section shall not be available for reuse in qualifying for any subsequent benefit years under section 1338 or 1318 of this title.
(18) “Institution of higher education” means an educational institution which (A) admits as regular students only individuals having a certificate of graduation from a high school, or the recognized equivalent of such a certificate; (B) is legally authorized in this State to provide a program of education beyond high school; (C) provides an educational program for which it awards a bachelor’s or higher degree, or provides a program which is acceptable for full credit toward such a degree, a program of post-graduate or post-doctoral studies, or a program of training to prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation; and (D) is a public or other nonprofit institution. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing provisions, all colleges and universities in this State are institutions of higher education for purposes of this chapter.
(19) “Hospital” means an institution that has been licensed, certified, or approved by the Department of Health as a hospital or an institution that is operated by the State of Vermont or any of its instrumentalities as a hospital.
(20) “Rate year” means the period beginning on July 1 of a year and ending on June 30 of the following year.
(21) “Bona fide employer” means the federal government, state governments and political subdivisions of state governments, railroads, tax exempt nonprofit organizations, established agricultural employers, employers liable under the unemployment compensation laws of this State, and an employer who has been assigned an employer identification number by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
(22) “Rounding.” Notwithstanding any other provisions of this law to the contrary, any amount of unemployment compensation payable to any individual for any week if not an even dollar amount, shall be rounded to the next lower full dollar amount.
(23) “Valid claim” means a claim for benefits filed by an individual who, at the time of filing the claim, has had sufficient wages in employment with an employer or employers to qualify for benefits pursuant to section 1338 of this title. The filing of a valid claim is a prerequisite to the making of a determination of an individual’s eligibility for benefits under section 1343 of this title and a determination of an individual’s disqualification for benefits under section 1344 of this title.
(24) “Self-employment”:
(A) Except as provided in subdivision (B) of this subdivision (24), an individual shall be deemed “self-employed” or “engaged in self-employment” in any week during which he or she is engaged, not in the employ of another, in the formation, development, or operation of a trade, business, enterprise, profession, or any other activity which he or she has undertaken for the purpose of producing income and which is in the form of a sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, or other similar entity.
(B) An individual who is able to work and available for full-time work shall not be deemed to be self-employed or engaged in self-employment solely by reason of continued participation without substantial change during a period of unemployment in any activity undertaken while customarily employed by an employer in full-time work (whether or not such work constituted employment) and continued subsequent to separation from such work when such activity is not engaged in as a primary source of livelihood. Earnings from such a sideline activity shall not constitute wages or disqualifying income for unemployment purposes.
(25) “Son,” “daughter,” and “child” include an individual’s biological child, foster child, adoptive child, stepchild, a child for whom the individual is listed as a parent on the child’s birth certificate, a legal ward of the individual, a child of the individual’s spouse, or a child that the individual has day-to-day responsibilities to care for and financially support.
(26) “Spouse” includes an individual’s domestic partner or civil union partner. As used in this subdivision, “domestic partner” means another individual with whom an individual has an enduring domestic relationship of a spousal nature, provided that the individual and the individual’s domestic partner:
(A) have shared a residence for at least six months;
(B) are at least 18 years of age;
(C) are not married to, in a civil union with, or considered the domestic partner of another individual;
(D) are not related by blood closer than would bar marriage under State law; and
(E) have agreed between themselves to be responsible for each other’s welfare. (Amended 1959, No. 10, eff. Feb. 27, 1959; 1959, No. 33, eff. March 11, 1959; 1959, No. 107, § 1, eff. April 10, 1959; 1959, No. 120, eff. Jan. 1, 1960; 1959, No. 262, § 35, eff. June 11, 1959; 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, §§ 15, 16, eff. July 11, 1961; 1963, No. 84,§§ 1, 2; 1963, No. 122, eff. June 3, 1963; 1965, No. 64, eff. Jan. 1, 1966; 1967, No. 43, § 1, eff. March 23, 1967; 1967, No. 184, eff. April 17, 1967; 1967, No. 247 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Feb. 20, 1968; 1971, No. 77, § 1, eff. Dec. 31, 1971; 1971, No. 184 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. March 29, 1972; 1973, No. 74, § 1, eff. April 14, 1973; 1975, No. 40; 1977, No. 64, §§ 1-7, 21, 22; 1979, No. 53; 1979, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1-5, eff. April 14, 1980; 1981, No. 66, § 5(b), eff. May 1, 1981; 1981, No. 86, § 8, eff. May 10, 1981; 1983, No. 16, §§ 1, 2, 10, 12, eff. April 4, 1983; 1985, No. 50, §§ 1-3; 1985, No. 146 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 1987, No. 31, eff. May 8, 1987; 1987, No. 66; 1987, No. 227 (Adj. Sess.) §§ 1, 3, eff. May 26, 1988; 1991, 1987, No. 82, § 1; 1991 No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1993, No. 227 (Adj. Sess.), § 17; 1997, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1, 6; 2003, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006; 2005, No. 136 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2007, No. 104 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 139; 2023, No. 53, § 124, eff. June 8, 2023; 2023, No. 76, § 39, eff. July 1, 2023; 2023, No. 76, § 39, eff. July 1, 2024; 2023, No. 76, § 40, eff. July 1, 2024.)
§ 1301a. Department of Labor; composition
The Department of Labor, created by 3 V.S.A. § 212, shall consist of a Commissioner of Labor, the Vermont Employment Security Board, the Vermont Workforce Development Division, the Economic and Labor Market Information Division, the Workforce Development Council, the Unemployment Insurance and Wages Division, and the Workers’ Compensation and Safety Division. The Chair of the Employment Security Board shall be the Commissioner of Labor ex officio. The Deputy Commissioner of Labor or a designee chosen by the Commissioner may serve as Chair in the absence of the Commissioner as the Commissioner’s designee. (Added 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.) § 20, eff. March 1, 1961; amended 1981, No. 66, § 2, eff. May 1, 1981; 2005, No. 212 (Adj. Sess.), § 13, eff. May 29, 2006; 2011, No. 162 (Adj. Sess.), § E.401.11.)
§ 1301b. Repealed. 2001, No. 142, § 302c.
§ 1302. Vermont Employment Security Board, composition, duties
(a) There is hereby created a board of three members to be known as the Vermont Employment Security Board. One member, who will serve as the chair of the Board, shall be the Commissioner of Labor, ex officio. The two other members of the Board shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The term of each appointed member shall be six years. Biennially, in the month of February, with the advice and consent of the Senate, the Governor shall appoint a person as a member of the Board for the term of six years, whose term of office shall commence March 1 of the year in which such appointment is made. Any appointment to a vacancy shall be for the unexpired term. In case of a vacancy by resignation, the member resigning shall continue in office until that member’s successor is appointed. Not more than two members of the Board shall be members of the same political party. The Governor may at any time remove an appointed member of such Board for gross inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance in office.
(b) The Board may hear and decide all matters appealed to it under this chapter. It shall determine its own methods of procedure. It may, with the approval of the Governor, adopt, amend, suspend, or rescind such rules and regulations as it considers necessary and consistent with this chapter. The rules and regulations of the Board shall have the force and effect of law after public hearing thereon of which reasonable notice has been given, and after filing with the Secretary of State, and publication in such manner as the Board shall prescribe. The Board may administer oaths, take depositions, certify to official acts, and subpoena witnesses and compel the production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records necessary and material in the discharge of its duties imposed by this chapter. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 1, eff. July 11, 1961; 2023, No. 53, § 134, eff. June 8, 2023.)
§ 1303. Compensation
The Commissioner of Labor shall be paid an annual salary, as provided by 32 V.S.A. § 1003 and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of the Commissioner’s duties. Each other member of the Board shall be paid a per diem fixed by the Emergency Board while engaged in work connected with his or her official duties and shall be entitled to his or her actual and necessary expenses when away from home in discharge of such duties. All vouchers for salary, per diem, or expenses of a member shall be approved by the other members of the Board before payment thereof. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 2, eff. July 11, 1961; 1981, No. 66, § 5(b), eff. May 1, 1981; 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006.)
§ 1304. Quorum
Any two members of the Board shall constitute a quorum to transact business. No vacancy shall impair the right of the remaining members to exercise all of the powers of the Board, as long as a majority remain. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 3, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1305. Divisions; Comprehensive Employment and Training Office
There is hereby established within the Department of Labor, the Vermont Employment Service Division, the Unemployment Compensation Division, and the Comprehensive Employment and Training Office. Each division and office shall be responsible for the discharge of its distinctive function. Each division and office shall be so far as is practicable a separate administrative unit with respect to personnel, budget, and duties. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 21, eff. March 1, 1961; 1981, No. 66, § 3, eff. May 1, 1981; 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006.)
§ 1305a. Comprehensive Employment and Training Office
(a) With the approval of the Governor, the Commissioner shall appoint a Director of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Office and fix his or her salary. The Director shall serve at the pleasure of the Commissioner. The Commissioner may appoint such other personnel and may organize the Office as he or she deems necessary to carry out its functions and duties, and may delegate such powers and authority to the Director of the Office as he or she deems necessary for its efficient administration.
(b) The Comprehensive Employment and Training Office shall provide job training and employment opportunities for economically disadvantaged, unemployed, and underemployed persons through a system of federal and State programs, and is hereby authorized to serve on behalf of the Governor, through the Commissioner of Labor, as the prime sponsor in accordance with the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (P.L. 95-524); provided further, that such responsibilities and authorization shall continue only so long as the federal government provides funds to execute such responsibilities. (Added 1981, No. 66, § 4, eff. May 1, 1981; amended 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006.)
§ 1305b. Repealed. 1995, No. 45, § 4.
§ 1306. Repealed. 2021, No. 134 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. May 24, 2022.
(Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1969, No. 206 (Adj. Sess.); 2005, No. 212 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 29, 2006; 2009, No. 135 (Adj. Sess.), § 18; § 5.)
§ 1307. Commissioner of Labor, duties and powers of
The Commissioner of Labor shall administer this chapter. The Commissioner may employ such persons, make such expenditures, require such reports, make such investigations, and take such other action as he or she considers necessary or suitable to that end. In the discharge of his or her duties imposed by this chapter, the Commissioner may administer oaths, take depositions, certify to official acts, and subpoena witnesses and compel the production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records necessary and material to the administration of this chapter. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 4, eff. July 11, 1961; 1981, No. 66, § 5(b), eff. May 1, 1981; 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006.)
§ 1308. Organization
The Commissioner shall determine his or her method of procedure in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1309. Reports; solvency of Trust Fund
(a)(1) On or before January 31 of each year, the Commissioner shall submit to the Governor and the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs and on Finance and the House Committees on Commerce and Economic Development and on Ways and Means a report covering the administration and operation of this chapter during the preceding calendar year.
(2) The report shall include:
(A) a balance sheet of the monies in the Fund and data as to probable reserve requirements based upon accepted actuarial principles, with respect to business activity, and other relevant factors for the longest available period;
(B) recommendations for amendments of this chapter as the Board considers proper; and
(C) an accounting of the amount of supplemental benefits paid to claimants pursuant to subdivision 1338(e)(2) of this chapter.
(b) Whenever the Commissioner believes that the solvency of the Fund is in danger or the balance of the Fund drops below $180,000,000.00, the Commissioner shall promptly inform the Governor and the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs and on Finance and the House Committees on Commerce and Economic Development and on Ways and Means and make recommendations for preserving an adequate level in the Trust Fund. The provisions of 2 V.S.A. § 20(d) (expiration of required reports) shall not apply to the report to be made under this section. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 5, eff. July 11, 1961; 2009, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2013, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 36; 2021, No. 51, § 13, eff. June 1, 2021.)
§ 1310. Repealed. 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 59, eff. March 1, 1961.
§ 1311. Employees
Subject to other provisions of this chapter, the Commissioner is authorized to appoint a Deputy Commissioner and such officers, accountants, attorneys, and employees as may be necessary in the performance of his or her duties. The Commissioner may delegate to any such person so appointed such power and authority deemed reasonable and proper for the effective administration of this chapter, and may, in the Commissioner’s discretion, bond any person handling monies or signing checks hereunder. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1971, No. 191 (Adj. Sess.), § 12; 1985, No. 225 (Adj. Sess.), § 16.)
§ 1311a. Professional training for employees
The Commissioner, using grant funds made available by the United States, may, to the extent permitted and subject to the approval of the Governor, provide professional training for the Department’s employees by contracting with educational institutions for short courses or other forms of intensive instruction. (Added 1959, No. 137, eff. April 22, 1959; amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1981, No. 66, § 5(b), eff. May 1, 1981; 2021, No. 20, § 219.)
§ 1312. Publication of rules, regulations, reports
The Commissioner shall cause to be printed for distribution to the public the text of this chapter, the Board’s rules and regulations, his or her annual reports to the Governor, and any other material the Commissioner considers relevant and suitable. He or she shall furnish the same to any person upon application therefor. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 6, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1313. Repealed. 2003, No. 122 (Adj. Sess.), § 294(o).
§ 1314. Reports and records; separation information; determination of eligibility; failure to report employment information; disclosure of information to other State agencies to investigate misclassification or miscoding
(a) The Commissioner may require any employing unit to keep such true and accurate records and make such reports covering persons employed by it respecting employment, wages, hours, unemployment, and related matters as the Commissioner deems reasonably necessary for the effective administration of this chapter. Such records shall be open to inspection and subject to being copied by the Commissioner or his or her authorized representatives at any reasonable time and as often as may be necessary.
(b) On request of the Commissioner, an employing unit shall report, within 10 days of the mailing or personal delivery of the request, employment and separation information with respect to a claimant and the wages paid to a claimant.
(c) If an employing unit fails to comply adequately with the provisions of subsection (b) of this section and section 1314a of this title, the Commissioner shall determine the benefit rights of a claimant upon such information as is available. Prompt notice in writing of the determination shall be given to the employing unit. The determination shall be final with respect to a noncomplying employer as to any charges against its experience-rating record for benefits paid to the claimant before the week following the receipt of the employing unit’s reply. The employing unit’s experience rating record shall not be relieved of these charges, notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, unless the Commissioner determines that failure to comply was due to unavoidable accident or mistake.
(d)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, information obtained from any employing unit or individual in the administration of this chapter and determinations as to the benefit rights of any individual shall be held confidential and shall not be disclosed or open to public inspection in any manner revealing the individual’s or employing unit’s identity, nor be admissible in evidence in any action or proceeding other than one arising out of this chapter, or to support or facilitate an investigation by a public agency identified in subdivision (e)(1) of this section.
(2) An individual or his or her duly authorized agent may be supplied with information from those records to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of his or her claims for benefits or to inform him or her of his or her existing or prospective rights to benefits; an employing unit may be furnished with such information as may be deemed proper, within the discretion of the Commissioner, to enable it to fully discharge its obligations and safeguard its rights under this chapter.
(3) Automatic data processing services and systems and programming services within the Department of Labor shall be the responsibility and under the direct control of the Commissioner in the administration of this chapter and chapter 15 of this title.
(4) Notwithstanding the provisions in subdivision (3) of this subsection, the Department of Labor shall, at the request of the Agency of Administration, perform such services for other departments and agencies of the State as are within the capacity of its data processing equipment and personnel, provided that such services can be accomplished without undue interference with the designated work of the Department of Labor.
(e)(1) Subject to such restrictions as the Board may by regulation prescribe, information from unemployment insurance records may be made available to any public officer or public agency of this or any other state or the federal government dealing with the administration or regulation of relief, public assistance, unemployment compensation, a system of public employment offices, wages and hours of employment, workers’ compensation, misclassification or miscoding of workers, occupational safety and health, or a public works program for purposes appropriate to the necessary operation of those offices or agencies. The Commissioner may also make information available to colleges, universities, and public agencies of the State for use in connection with research projects of a public service nature and to the Vermont Economic Progress Council with regard to the administration of 32 V.S.A. chapter 105, subchapter 2, but no person associated with those institutions or agencies may disclose that information in any manner that would reveal the identity of any individual or employing unit from or concerning whom the information was obtained by Commissioner.
(A) The Department of Labor shall participate in the income and eligibility verification procedures under the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, Pub. L. No. 98-369, which provides for the exchange of information among state agencies administering programs funded with federal monies provided under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), SSI, Unemployment Compensation, and any other state program under a plan approved under Title I, X, XIV, or XVI of the Social Security Act.
(B) The Department of Labor is designated as the Vermont agency for the collection of wage records on workers covered under this chapter, as required by the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, Pub. L. No. 98-369.
(2)(A)(i) The Department of Labor shall disclose, upon request, to officers or employees of any state or local child support enforcement agency any wage information or other information material to the location of an individual, the individual’s assets, or the individual’s place of employment or other source of income contained in the Department’s unemployment compensation claim records with respect to an identified individual that is contained in those records.
(ii) The term “state or local child support enforcement agency” means any agency of a state or political subdivision thereof operating pursuant to a plan described in Section 454 of the Social Security Act, which has been approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under part D, Title IV of the Social Security Act.
(B) The requesting agency shall agree that information provided under this subsection is to be used only for the following purposes:
(i) establishing and collecting child support obligations from, and locating, individuals owing such obligations that are being enforced pursuant to a plan described in Section 454 of the Social Security Act that has been approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under part D, Title IV of the Social Security Act; and
(ii) establishing parentage and expediting procedures relating to establishing parentage pursuant to Section 466(c)(1) of the Social Security Act as added by Section 325(a)(2) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-193.
(3)(A) The Department of Labor shall disclose, upon request, to officers and employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and any state agency, with respect to an identified individual, any of the following information that is contained in its records:
(i) wage information;
(ii) whether the individual is receiving, has received, or has made application for unemployment compensation and the amount of any compensation being received or to be received by such individual;
(iii) the current or most recent home address of the individual; and
(iv) whether the individual has refused an offer of employment and, if so, a description of the employment offered and the terms, conditions, and rate of pay therefor.
(B) The term “state agency” means any agency described in 7 U.S.C. § 2012(s) that administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program established under that act.
(C) The requesting agency shall agree that such information shall be used only for purposes of determining the applicant’s eligibility for benefits, or the amount of benefits, under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program established under 7 U.S.C. chapter 51.
(D) The information shall not be released unless the requesting agency agrees to reimburse the costs involved for furnishing such information.
(E) In addition to the requirements of this subdivision, all other requirements with respect to confidentiality of information obtained in the administration of this chapter and the sanctions imposed for improper disclosure of information obtained in the administration of this chapter shall apply to the use of such information by the officers and employees of any state agency or the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
(4)(A)(i) The Department of Labor shall disclose, upon request, to officers or employees of any state or local agency charged with administering TANF, any wage information with respect to an identified individual that is contained in its records, which is necessary for the purpose of determining an individual’s eligibility for aid or services or the amount of such aid or services to needy families with children.
(ii) The term “state or local agency charged with administering TANF” means any such agency administering a plan approved under part A of Title IV of the Social Security Act.
(B) The information requested shall not be released unless the requesting TANF agency agrees to reimburse the Department of Labor for the costs involved in furnishing such information.
(C) The requesting agency shall agree that the requested information shall be used only for the purposes authorized in subdivision (e)(4)(A) of this section.
(5)(A) The Department of Labor shall disclose to officers or employees of the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) or National New Hire Directory any employment, wage, and unemployment compensation claim information contained in its claim records that may be useful in locating an absent parent or the parent’s employer solely for purposes of administering the child support enforcement provisions of Title IV of the Social Security Act.
(B) The requesting Federal Parent Locator Service shall agree that the requested information shall be used only for purposes authorized in Section 303(h)(1) of the Social Security Act.
(C) The information requested shall not be released unless the requesting Federal Parent Locator Service agrees to reimburse the Department of Labor for the costs involved in furnishing the requested information.
(6)(A) The Department of Labor shall disclose, upon request, to officers or employees of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and to representatives of a public housing agency any wage information and unemployment compensation benefit information that is contained in its records with respect to an identified individual applying for or participating in any housing assistance program administered by HUD that is necessary for the purposes of determining the individual’s eligibility for benefits or the amount of benefits under a HUD housing assistance program. For the purposes of this subdivision, the term “public housing agency” means any agency described in section 3(b)(6) of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 that is authorized to engage in or assist in the development or operation of low-income housing.
(B) HUD or the requesting public housing agency shall agree that the requested information shall be used only for purposes of determining individual’s eligibility for benefits or the amount of benefits under a HUD housing assistance program and that it will comply with the provisions of 20 C.F.R. § 603.7 and the limitations on the use of the information set forth in section 904(c)(2) of P.L. 100-628.
(C) The information requested shall not be released unless the individual about whom the requested information relates has signed a consent form, approved by the Secretary of HUD, which permits the release of the requested information.
(D) The information requested shall not be released unless HUD or the requesting public housing agency agrees to reimburse the Department of Labor for the costs involved in furnishing the requested information.
(7)(A) The Department of Labor shall disclose, upon request, to officers and employees of the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services, with respect to an identified individual, the name and address of the individual’s employer.
(B) The Center and the Department shall develop an agreement that complies with 20 C.F.R. § 603.6, and the Center shall comply with the confidentiality requirements of 20 C.F.R. § 603.7.
[Subdivision (e)(8) effective until July 1, 2026; see also subdivision (e)(8) effective July 1, 2026 set out below.]
(8) The Department of Labor shall disclose, upon request:
(A) to the Attorney General and employees of the Office of the Attorney General, information necessary for the Attorney General to investigate a complaint and enforce the provisions of this chapter as provided pursuant to section 1379 of this chapter; and
(B) to the Commissioners of Financial Regulation and of Taxes and employees of the Departments of Financial Regulation and of Taxes, information necessary to investigate misclassification or miscoding of workers under the insurance and tax laws that are under their jurisdiction.
[Subdivision (e)(8) effective July 1, 2026; see also subdivision (e)(8) effective until July 1, 2026 set out above.]
(8) [Repealed.]
(f) Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to interfere with the disclosure of certain information obtained under this chapter as provided in sections 1315, 1316, and 1317 of this title or to interfere with disclosure to the Internal Revenue Service of the U.S. Department of the Treasury or to any state for purposes of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act or for the purposes of taxation of unemployment compensation benefits paid to individuals by this Department. Information may be exchanged with the Vermont Department of Taxes for the purpose of establishing liability of employers for unemployment compensation purposes or identifying employers affected by Vermont tax laws. Information reported to the Department of Labor may be provided to the Vermont Department of Taxes for the purposes of assessment and collection of Vermont taxes, including identifying nonfilers of the State tax; locating and identifying persons in debt to the Department of Taxes; and verifying eligibility for tax credits, tax adjustments, or other tax benefits.
(g) All written or oral reports, or other communications, from an employer or his or her workers to each other, or to the Commissioner or any of his or her agents, representatives, or employees, made in connection with the requirements and administration of this chapter or the regulations thereunder, shall be absolutely privileged and shall not be made the subject matter or basis for any suit for slander or libel in any court of this State, unless they are false in fact and malicious in intent.
(h) Any employing unit that fails to report employment and separation information with respect to a claimant and wages paid to a claimant required under subsection (b) of this section shall be subject to a penalty of $100.00 for each report not received by the prescribed due date, which penalty shall be collected in the manner provided for the collection of contributions in section 1329 of this title and shall be paid into the contingent fund provided in section 1365 of this title. If the employing unit demonstrates that its failure was due to a reasonable cause, the Commissioner may waive the penalty. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1965, No. 26, eff. April 14, 1965; 1967, No. 89; 1973, No. 168 (Adj. Sess.); 1975, No. 62, § 1, eff. April 18, 1975; 1979, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.), § 6, eff. Jan. 1, 1980; 1981, No. 66, § 5(a), eff. May 1, 1981; 1981, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1985, No. 50, §§ 4, 5; 1987, No. 278 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. June 21, 1988; 1989, No. 132 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1, 2; 1991, No. 186 (Adj. Sess.), § 34, eff. May 7, 1992; 1993, No. 177 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1997, No. 63, §§ 19, 19a, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; 2003, No. 70 (Adj. Sess.), § 63, eff. March 1, 2004; 2003, No. 92 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006; 2005, No. 184 (Adj. Sess.), § 14; 2009, No. 54, § 69a, eff. June 1, 2009; 2009, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 8; 2009, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 6; 2011, No. 50, § 7, eff. May 26, 2011; 2013, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 125; 2013, No. 179 (Adj. Sess.), § E.400; 2015, No. 157 (Adj. Sess.), § H.3, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 2017, No. 74, § 48; 2019, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. Feb. 20, 2020; 2019, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 12, eff. July 1, 2026; 2021, No. 20, § 220.)
§ 1314a. Quarterly wage reporting; misclassification; penalties
(a)(1) Each employing unit that is an employer that has individuals in employment as defined in subdivision 1301(6) of this chapter shall file with the Commissioner on forms supplied by the Commissioner a detailed wage report for each calendar quarter that contains each individual worker’s name, Social Security number, gross wages paid during each calendar quarter, and any other information the Commissioner deems necessary in the administration of this chapter.
(2) In addition to other information required by this section, the wage reports required by this subsection shall include for each worker paid by the hour the worker’s gender and the worker’s hourly wage.
(b) Reports required by subsection (a) of this section shall be filed with the Commissioner by the last day of the calendar month following the calendar quarter for which the report is submitted.
(c) An employing unit that is not an employer shall, upon request of the Commissioner, submit reports on forms furnished by the Commissioner regarding employment, wages, hours of employment, unemployment, and related matters that the Commissioner deems necessary in the administration of this chapter.
(d) Reports required by subsection (c) of this section shall be submitted to the Commissioner not later than 10 calendar days after the date the Commissioner’s request was mailed to the employing unit.
(e) On request of the Commissioner, any employing unit or employer shall report, within 10 days of the mailing or personal delivery of the request, separation information for a claimant, any disqualifying income the claimant may have received, and any other information that the Commissioner may require to determine the claimant’s eligibility for unemployment compensation. The Commissioner shall make a request when:
(1) the claimant’s eligibility is dependent upon:
(A) wages paid during an incomplete calendar quarter in which the claimant was separated; or
(B) the last completed quarter; and
(2) obtaining the information will result in more timely benefit payments.
(f)(1) Any employing unit or employer that fails to:
(A) File a report required by this section shall be subject to an administrative penalty of $100.00 for each report not received by the prescribed due dates.
(B) Properly classify an individual regarding the status of employment shall be subject to an administrative penalty of not more than $5,000.00 for each improperly classified employee. In addition, an employer found to have violated this section is prohibited from contracting, directly or indirectly, with the State or any of its subdivisions for up to three years following the date the employer was found to have failed to properly classify, as determined by the Commissioner in consultation with the Commissioner of Buildings and General Services or the Secretary of Transportation, as appropriate. Either the Secretary or the Commissioner, as appropriate, shall be consulted in any appeal relating to prohibiting the employer from contracting with the State or its subdivisions.
(2)(A) Penalties under this subsection (f) shall be collected in the same manner as contributions under section 1329 of this title and shall be paid into the Contingent Fund established in section 1365 of this title.
(B) If the employing unit demonstrates that its failure was due to a reasonable cause, the Commissioner may waive or reduce the penalty.
(g)(1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the Commissioner may, where practicable, require any employing unit to file the reports required pursuant to subsections (a) through (d) of this section, or any departmental registration required prior to submitting the reports required by this section, in an electronic media form.
(2) The Commissioner may waive the requirement that an employing unit submit a report in an electronic media form if the employing unit attests that it is unable to file the required report in that form. (Added 1985, No. 50, § 6; amended 1985, No. 146 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 1987, No. 227 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 26, 1988; 1989, No. 132 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 1997, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 1999, No. 119 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. May 18, 2000; 2001, No. 56, § 1; 2009, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 9; 2013, No. 173 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2019, No. 91 (Adj. Sess.), § 29, eff. July 1, 2020.)
§ 1315. State-federal cooperation
In the administration of this chapter, the Commissioner shall cooperate to the fullest extent consistent with the provisions thereof, with the Secretary of Labor; shall make such reports, in such form and containing such information as the Secretary of Labor may from time to time require, and shall comply with such provisions as the Secretary of Labor may from time to time find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of such reports; and shall comply with the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Labor governing the expenditures of such sums as may be allotted and paid to this State under Title III of the Social Security Act for the purpose of assisting in the administration of this chapter. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1316. Furnishing data
Upon request therefor, the Commissioner shall furnish to any agency of the United States charged with the administration of public works or assistance through public employment the name, address, ordinary occupation, and employment status of each recipient of benefits and such recipient’s rights to further benefits under this chapter. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1317. Railroad Retirement Board
The Commissioner may make available to the Railroad Retirement Board such records relating to the administration of this chapter as that Board deems necessary for its purposes in administering the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act and may furnish copies of such records to the Board at the latter’s expense. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1318. Reciprocal benefit arrangements
(a) The Commissioner is hereby authorized to enter into arrangements with the appropriate agencies of other states or the federal government whereby potential rights to benefits accumulated under the unemployment compensation laws of the several states or under such law of the federal government, or both, may constitute the basis for the payment of benefits through a single appropriate agency under terms which the Commissioner finds will be fair and reasonable as to all affected interests and will not result in any substantial loss to the Fund, and the Commissioner is authorized to reimburse such state or federal agency for such benefits as may be paid by that agency upon the basis of wages received in employment subject to this chapter or to receive from such state or federal agency such amounts as may be paid from the Fund upon the basis of wages received in employment subject to the laws of such state or of the federal government.
(b) The Commissioner shall participate in any arrangements for the payment of compensation on the basis of combining an individual’s wages and employment covered under this chapter with his wages and employment covered under the unemployment compensation laws of other states which are approved by the Secretary of Labor of the United States in consultation with the state unemployment compensation agencies as reasonably calculated to assure the prompt and full payment of compensation in such situation and which include provisions for:
(1) applying the base period of a single state law to a claim involving the combining of an individual’s wages and employment covered under two or more state unemployment compensation laws; and
(2) avoiding the duplicate use of wages and employment by reason of such combining.
(c) Reimbursements paid from the Fund pursuant to this section shall be deemed to be benefits for the purposes of this chapter, except that no charge on account of said reimbursements shall be made to an employer’s experience rating record under subsection 1325(a) of this title. Benefits paid from the Fund to an individual, under arrangements entered into pursuant to this section, shall not be charged to an employer’s experience rating record under subsection 1325(a) of this title when such benefits would not have been payable to the individual but for this section because of lack of wages in subject employment necessary to qualify for benefits under section 1338 of this title. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1969, No. 189 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. April 9, 1970; 1971, No. 77, § 2, eff. Dec. 31, 1971.)
§ 1319. Agreements for collection and payment of contributions
Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision 1301(6)(A) of this title, the Commissioner is authorized to enter into reciprocal agreements with the appropriate agencies of other states or the federal government adjusting the collecting and payment of contributions by employers for services of individuals not performed wholly within the jurisdiction of this State. Under the agreements, services may be agreed to be considered for all purposes, in the Commissioner’s discretion, as wholly within or wholly outside of the jurisdiction of this State. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 2021, No. 20, § 221.)
§ 1320. Investigations; general powers
(a) The Commissioner is authorized to make such investigations, secure and transmit such information, make available such services and facilities, and exercise such of the other powers provided herein with respect to the administration of this chapter as the Commissioner deems necessary or appropriate to facilitate the administration of any unemployment compensation or public employment service law, and in like manner, to accept and utilize information, services, and facilities made available to this State by any agency charged with the administration of any such other unemployment compensation or public employment service law. To the extent permissible under the laws and constitution of the United States, the Commissioner of Labor is authorized to enter into or cooperate in arrangements whereby facilities and services provided under this chapter and facilities and services provided under the unemployment compensation law of any foreign government, may be utilized for the taking of claims and the payment of benefits under this chapter, or under a similar law of such government.
(b) On request of an agency which administers an employment security law of another state or of a foreign government, and which has found in accordance with the provisions of such law that an individual is liable to repay benefits received under such law, the Commissioner may collect from the individual the amount of such benefits to be refunded to such agency, and such amounts may be collected by civil action in the name of the Commissioner acting as agent for such agency.
(c) Records, with any necessary authentication thereof, required in the prosecution of any criminal action brought by another state or foreign government for misrepresentation to obtain benefits under the law of this State shall be made available to the agency administering the employment security law of any such state or foreign government for the purpose of such prosecution.
(d) The Commissioner may begin and prosecute civil proceedings in any other state to collect contributions, penalties, and interest legally due under this chapter. The officials of other states which extend a like comity to this State may sue for the collection of contributions, interest, and penalties imposed by those other states, in the courts of this State; in any such case the Commissioner of Labor of this State may through his or her legal assistant, begin and conduct the suit for the other state. The courts of this State shall recognize and enforce liability for those contributions, interest, and penalties imposed by other states which extend a like comity to this State.
(e) The Commissioner may enter into or cooperate in arrangements or reciprocal agreements with authorized agencies of other states by which:
(1) overpayments of benefits as determined under this chapter may be recovered by offset from benefits otherwise payable under the unemployment compensation law of another state; and
(2) overpayments of benefits as determined under the unemployment compensation law of another state may be recovered by offset from benefits otherwise payable under this chapter. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1967, No. 88, eff. April 12, 1967; 1981, No. 66, § 5(b), eff. May 1, 1981; 1991, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006.)
§ 1321. Contributions; taxable wage base changes
(a) Payment of contributions. Contributions shall accrue and become payable by each employer for each calendar year in which he or she is subject to this chapter, with respect to wages paid for employment, as defined in subdivision 1301(6) of this title, occurring during such calendar year, except as otherwise provided in this section. The contributions shall become due and be payable at such time and in such installments as the Board prescribes.
(b) Base of contributions. Subsequent to December 31, 1982, the term “wages” shall not include that part of remuneration that, after remuneration equal to $8,000.00 has been paid in a calendar year to an individual by an employer with respect to employment during a calendar year, unless that part of the remuneration is subject to a tax under a federal law imposing a tax against which credit may be taken for contributions required to be paid into a state unemployment fund. For the period January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2010, the term “wages” shall not include that part of remuneration that, after remuneration equal to $10,000.00 has been paid in a calendar year to an individual by an employer with respect to employment during a calendar year, unless that part of the remuneration is subject to a tax under a federal law imposing a tax against which credit may be taken for contributions required to be paid into a state unemployment fund. The term “wages” shall not include that part of remuneration that, after remuneration equal to $13,000.00 on January 1, 2011, and $16,000.00 on January 1, 2012, has been paid in a calendar year to an individual by an employer with respect to employment during a calendar year, unless that part of the remuneration is subject to a tax under a federal law imposing a tax against which credit may be taken for contributions required to be paid into a state unemployment fund. After January 1, 2012, whenever the Unemployment Compensation Fund has a positive balance and all advances made to the State Unemployment Compensation Fund pursuant to Title XII of the Social Security Act have been repaid as of June 1, the base of contribution amount shall be adjusted on January 1 of the following year by the same percentage as any increase in the State annual average wage as calculated by subsection 1338(g) of this title. When the unemployment contribution rate schedule established by subsection 1326(e) of this title is reduced to schedule III, the base of contribution amount shall be reduced by $2,000.00 on January 1 of the following year and shall be adjusted annually thereafter on January 1 of the following year by the same percentage as any increase in the State annual average wage as calculated by subsection 1338(g) of this title. When the unemployment contribution rate schedule established by subsection 1326(e) of this title is reduced to schedule I, the base of contribution amount shall be reduced by $2,000.00 on January 1 of the following year and shall be adjusted annually thereafter on January 1 of the following year by the same percentage as any increase in the State annual average wage as calculated by subsection 1338(g) of this title. For the purposes of this subsection:
(1) any employer who acquired the entire or a distinct and severable portion of the organization, trade, or business of an employer shall be treated as a single unit with its predecessor for the calendar year in which such acquisition occurs; and
(2) the term employment shall include service constituting employment under any unemployment compensation law of another state.
(c)(1) Financing benefits paid to employees of nonprofit organizations.
(A) Benefits paid to employees of nonprofit organizations shall be financed in accordance with the provisions of this subsection (c).
(B) As used in this subsection (c), “nonprofit organization” means an organization, or group of organizations, described in Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code that is exempt from income tax under Section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.
(2) Liability for contributions and election of reimbursement. Any nonprofit organization that, pursuant to subdivision 1301(5)(B)(i) of this chapter, is or becomes subject to this chapter shall pay contributions under the provisions of this section unless it elects, in accordance with this subsection, to pay to the Commissioner for the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund an amount equal to the amount of regular benefits and of one-half of the extended benefits paid that is attributable to service in the employ of the nonprofit organization to individuals for weeks of unemployment that begin during the effective period of the election.
(A) [Repealed.]
(B) Any nonprofit organization that becomes subject to this chapter may elect to become liable for payments in lieu of contributions for a period of not less than 12 months by filing a written notice of its election with the Commissioner not later than 30 days immediately following the date of the determination that the organization is subject to this chapter.
(C) Any nonprofit organization that makes an election in accordance with subdivision (B) of this subdivision (c)(2) shall continue to be liable for payments in lieu of contributions until it files with the Commissioner a written notice terminating its election not later than 30 days prior to the beginning of the calendar year for which the termination shall first be effective.
(D) Any nonprofit organization that has been paying contributions under this chapter may elect to become liable for payments in lieu of contributions by filing with the Commissioner not later than 30 days prior to the beginning of any calendar year a written notice of election to become liable for payments in lieu of contributions. An election under this subdivision (c)(2)(D) shall not be terminable by the organization for that year and the next year.
(E) The Commissioner may for good cause extend the period within which a notice of election, or a notice of termination, must be filed and may permit an election to be retroactive.
(F) The Commissioner, in accordance with any applicable rules adopted by the Board, shall notify each nonprofit organization of any determination that the Commissioner makes with regard to its status as an employer and the effective date of any election that the organization makes and of any termination of an election. The determinations shall be subject to reconsideration and to appeal and review in accordance with the provisions of section 1337a of this title.
(3) Reimbursement payments. Payments in lieu of contributions shall be made in accordance with the provisions of this subdivision, including either subdivision (A) or (B).
(A) At the end of each calendar quarter, or at the end of any other period as determined by the Commissioner, the Commissioner shall bill each nonprofit organization, or group of nonprofit organizations, that has elected to make payments in lieu of contributions for an amount equal to the full amount of regular benefits plus one-half of the amount of extended benefits paid during the quarter or other prescribed period that is attributable to service in the employ of the organization.
(B)(i) Each nonprofit organization that has elected payments in lieu of contributions may request permission to make payments as provided in this subdivision (c)(3)(B). Payment pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision (c)(3)(B) shall become effective upon approval of the Commissioner.
(ii) At the end of each calendar quarter, the Commissioner shall bill each nonprofit organization approved to make payments pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision (c)(3)(B) for an amount representing a percentage of its total payroll for the immediately preceding calendar year that the Commissioner determines to be appropriate based on the average benefit costs attributable to service in the employ of nonprofit organizations during the preceding calendar year. The Commissioner may determine a different rate for any organization that did not pay wages throughout the four calendar quarters of the preceding calendar year.
(iii) At the end of each calendar year, the Commissioner may modify the quarterly percentage of payroll thereafter payable by the nonprofit organization in order to minimize excess or insufficient payments.
(iv) At the end of each calendar year, the Commissioner shall determine whether the total of payments for the year made by a nonprofit organization is less than, or in excess of, the total amount of regular benefits plus one-half of the amount of extended benefits paid to individuals during the taxable year based on wages attributable to service in the employ of the organization. Each nonprofit organization whose total payments for the year are less than the amount determined shall be liable for payment of the unpaid balance to the Trust Fund in accordance with subdivision (C) of this subdivision (c)(3). If the total payments exceed the amount so determined for the taxable year, all or a part of the excess shall, at the election of the nonprofit organization, be refunded from the Trust Fund or retained in the Trust Fund as part of the payments that may be required for the next calendar year.
(C) Payment of any bill rendered under subdivision (2) of this subsection (c) or this subdivision (c)(3) shall be made not later than 30 days after the bill is mailed to the last known address of the nonprofit organization or is otherwise delivered to it unless there has been an application for redetermination by the Commissioner or a petition for hearing before a referee in accordance with subdivision (E) of this subdivision (c)(3).
(D) Payments made by any nonprofit organization under the provisions of this section shall not be deducted or deductible, in whole or in part, from the remuneration of individuals in the employ of the organization.
(E)(i) The amount due specified in any bill from the Commissioner shall be conclusive on the organization unless, not later than 30 days after the date of the bill, the organization files an application for reconsideration by the Commissioner, or a petition for a hearing before a referee, setting forth the grounds for the application or petition.
(ii) The Commissioner shall promptly review and reconsider the amount due specified in the bill and shall thereafter issue a redetermination in any case in which an application for redetermination has been filed. Any such redetermination shall be conclusive on the organization unless, not later than 30 days after the date of the redetermination, the organization files a petition for a hearing before a referee setting forth the grounds for the petition.
(iii) Proceedings on the petition for a hearing before a referee on the amount of a bill rendered under this section or a redetermination of the amount shall be in accordance with the provisions of section 1331 of this title, and the decision of the referee shall be subject to the provisions of that section. Review of the decision of the referee by the Employment Security Board shall be in accordance with, and its decision shall be subject to, the provisions of section 1332 of this title.
(F) Any employer, including the State of Vermont, that makes payments in lieu of contributions under this section shall be subject to the provisions of sections 1314, 1322, 1328, 1329, 1334, and 1336 of this title as follows:
(i) The employer shall be liable for any reports required by the Commissioner pursuant to sections 1314 and 1322 of this title.
(ii) The employer shall be liable for any penalty imposed pursuant to sections 1314 and 1328 of this title.
(iii) The employer shall be liable for the same interest on past due payments pursuant to subsection 1329(a) of this title.
(iv) The employer shall be subject to a civil action for the collection of past due payments as if those payments were contributions pursuant to subsections 1329(b) and 1334(a) of this title.
(v) The employer shall be subject to actions for the collection of past due payments as if those payments were contributions pursuant to subsections 1329(c) and (d) and 1334(b) and (c) and section 1336 of this title; however, those provisions shall not apply to the State of Vermont.
(4) Authority to terminate elections. If any nonprofit organization is delinquent in making payments in lieu of contributions as required under this subsection, the Commissioner may terminate the organization’s election to make payments in lieu of contributions as of the beginning of the next taxable year, and the termination shall be effective for that and the next taxable year.
(5) Allocation of benefit costs.
(A) Each employer that is liable for payments in lieu of contributions shall pay to the Commissioner for the Trust Fund the amount of regular benefits plus the amount of one-half of extended benefits paid that are attributable to service in the employ of the employer.
(B) If benefits paid to an individual are based on wages paid by more than one employer and one or more of the employers are liable for payments in lieu of contributions, the amount payable to the Trust Fund by each employer that is liable for payments in lieu of contributions shall be an amount that bears the same ratio to the total benefits paid to the individual as the total base-period wages paid to the individual by the employer bear to the total base-period wages paid to the individual by all of the individual’s base-period employers.
(6) Group accounts. Two or more employers that have become liable for payments in lieu of contributions, in accordance with the provisions of this section and section 1380 of this title, may file a joint application to the Commissioner for the establishment of a group account for the purpose of sharing the cost of benefits paid that are attributable to service in the employ of the employers. Each application shall identify and authorize a group representative to act as the group’s agent for the purpose of this section. Upon approval of the application, the Commissioner shall establish a group account for the employers effective as of the beginning of the calendar quarter in which the Commissioner receives the application and shall notify the group’s representative of the effective date of the account. The account shall remain in effect for not less than two years and thereafter until terminated at the discretion of the Commissioner or upon application by the group. Upon establishment of the account, each member of the group shall be liable for payments in lieu of contributions with respect to each calendar quarter in the amount that bears the same ratio to the total benefits paid in the quarter that are attributable to service performed in the employ of all members of the group as the total wages paid for service in employment by the member in the quarter bear to the total wages paid during the quarter for service performed in the employ of all members of the group. The Board shall adopt rules as it deems necessary with respect to applications for establishment, maintenance, and termination of group accounts that are authorized by this subdivision, for addition of new members to, and withdrawal of active members from, such accounts, and for the determination of the amounts that are payable under this subsection by members of the group and the time and manner of the payments.
(7) [Repealed.]
(d) In lieu of contributions required of employers subject to this chapter, the State of Vermont, including State hospitals but excluding any State institution of higher education, shall pay to the Commissioner, for the Unemployment Compensation Fund, an amount equal to the amount of benefits paid, including the full amount of extended benefits paid, attributable to service by individuals in the employ of the State. At the end of each calendar quarter, or at the end of any other period as determined by the Commissioner, the Commissioner shall bill the State for the amount of benefits paid during such quarter or other prescribed period that is attributable to service in the employ of the State. Subdivisions (c)(3)(C) through (3)(F), inclusive, and subdivisions (c)(5) and (6) of this section as they apply to nonprofit organizations shall also apply to the State of Vermont, except that the State shall be liable for all benefits paid, including the full amount of extended benefits paid, attributable to service in the employ of the State.
(e) Any municipality, any State institution of higher education, and any political or governmental subdivisions or instrumentalities of the State shall pay contributions unless it elects to pay to the Commissioner for the Unemployment Compensation Fund, an amount equal to the amount of benefits paid, including the full amount of extended benefits paid, attributable to service by individuals in the employ of these entities. Subsections (a) and (b) and subdivisions (c)(3)(C) through (3)(F), inclusive, and subdivisions (c)(4) through (6), inclusive of this section as they apply to nonprofit organizations shall also apply to the entities designated in this subsection, except that these entities shall be liable for all benefits paid, including the full amount of extended benefits paid, attributable to service in the employ of these entities.
(1) Any entity designated in this subsection that is, or becomes, subject to this chapter on January 1, 1978 may elect to become liable for payments in lieu of contributions for a period of not less than one calendar year beginning with January 1, 1978 provided it files with the Commissioner a written notice of its election within the 30-day period immediately following that date.
(2) Any entity designated in this subsection that becomes subject to this chapter after January 1, 1978 may elect to become liable for payments in lieu of contributions for a period of not less than one calendar year following the date on which the subjectivity begins by filing a written notice of its election with the Commissioner not later than 30 days immediately following the date of the determination of that subjectivity.
(3) Any entity designated in this subsection that makes an election in accordance with subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection will continue to be liable for payments in lieu of contributions until it files with the Commissioner a written notice terminating its election not later than 30 days prior to the beginning of the calendar year for which the termination shall first be effective.
(4) Any entity designated in this subsection that has been paying contributions under this chapter for a period subsequent to January 1, 1978 may change to a reimbursable basis by filing with the Commissioner not later than 30 days prior to the beginning of any calendar year a written notice of election to become liable for payments in lieu of contributions. The election shall not be terminable by the organization for that year and the next year.
(5) The Commissioner may for good cause extend the period within which a notice of election, or a notice of termination, must be filed and may permit an election to be retroactive but not any earlier than with respect to benefits paid after the date that entity became subject to this chapter.
(6) The Commissioner shall notify each entity designated in this subsection of any determinations that he or she may make of its status as an employer and of the effective date of any election that it makes and of any termination of that election. The determination shall be subject to reconsideration and to appeal and review in accordance with the provisions of section 1337a of this title.
(f) Any employer who makes payments in lieu of contributions under the provisions of this section is considered to be self-insuring and shall pay to the Commissioner for the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund any amounts the Commissioner finds to be due under this chapter, including benefits paid but denied on appeal or benefits paid in error that cannot be properly charged either against another employer who makes payments in lieu of contributions or against the experience-rating record of another employer who pays contributions. Benefits improperly paid where repayment by the claimant is ordered pursuant to subsection 1347(a) or (b) of this title will be credited to the employer’s account when repayment from the claimant is actually received by the Commissioner. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1963, No. 106, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1964; 1971, No. 77, § 3, eff. Dec. 31, 1971; 1977, No. 64, §§ 8-11, 23; 1979, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. April 14, 1980; 1981, No. 86, § 9, eff. May 10, 1981; 1983, No. 16, §§ 3-5, eff. April 4, 1983; 1989, No. 132 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 1991, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 2009, No. 2 (Sp. Sess.), § 1, eff. June 9, 2009; 2009, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2023, No. 76, § 41, eff. July 1, 2023.)
§ 1321a. [Repealed.]
§ 1322. Reports; liability
(a) Every employer shall file with the Commissioner periodic reports on such forms and at such times as the Commissioner may prescribe to disclose his or her liability for contributions under this chapter.
(b) Every employer subject to this chapter who sells in bulk 50 percent or more of his or her assets, including any stock of goods, wares, or merchandise of any kind, fixtures, machinery, equipment, buildings, or real estate, when such sale constitutes the sale of the employer’s business to another shall give the Commissioner 10 days’ notice of the sale before the completion of the transfer of the property. The employer shall file all contribution reports with the Commissioner to the date of the proposed transfer of property and pay all contributions, interest, and penalties due and payable thereon. The employer shall also file the detailed quarterly wage report required by section 1314a of this title (subsequent to June 30, 1986) covering employee wages to date of proposed transfer. When the reports are filed the Commissioner shall furnish to the employer within 10 days thereafter a certificate showing that all reports have been filed and contributions, interest, and penalties paid to the date of the proposed transfer. If the certificate is not furnished by the Commissioner within 10 days no liability may thereafter be imposed upon the purchaser. The employer shall present the certificate to the purchaser of the property. The failure of the purchaser to require the certificate makes the purchaser liable to the Commissioner for the unpaid contributions, interest, and penalties owed by the employer in an amount not to exceed the reasonable value of the assets purchased. The liability imposed upon the purchaser by this subsection shall be secondary to the liability of the employer.
(c) Subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to sales made under any order of court or to any sales made by assignees for the benefit of creditors, executors, administrators, receivers, or any public officer in his or her official capacity or by any officer of the court or to any other transfer excepted under Uniform Commercial Code, 9A V.S.A. § 6-103.
(d) An employing unit which has been liable otherwise than by its election to pay contributions as an employer under this chapter for any calendar year shall file such reports and pay such contributions for the next succeeding calendar year as the Commissioner may prescribe. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1967, No. 226 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Jan. 17, 1968; 1985, No. 50, § 7.)
§ 1322a. Out-of-state or nonresident subcontractors
Any contractor, who is or becomes an employer under the provisions of this chapter, who contracts with any out-of-state or nonresident subcontractor, who also is or becomes an employer under the provisions of this chapter, shall withhold sufficient monies on said contract to guarantee that all contributions, penalties, and interest are paid upon completion of said contract, or shall require of said subcontractor a good and sufficient bond guaranteeing payment of all contributions, penalties, and interest due or to become due with respect to wages paid for employment on said contract. Failure to comply with the provisions of this section shall render said contractor directly liable for such contributions, penalties, and interest due from said subcontractor and the Commissioner shall have all of the remedies of collection against said contractor under the provisions of this chapter as though the services in question were performed directly for said contractor. Any such contractor who shall become liable for and pay contributions with respect to individuals in the employ of any such subcontractor may recover the same from such subcontractor. For the purpose of this section, the words “contractor” and “subcontractor” mean and include individuals, partnerships, firms or corporations, or other associations of persons engaged in the business of construction, alteration, repairing, dismantling, or demolition of buildings, roads, bridges, viaducts, sewers, water and gas mains, streets, disposal plants, water filters, tanks and towers, airports, dams, water wells, pipelines, and every other type of structure, project, development, or improvement coming within the definition of real property. (Added 1965, No. 115, eff. June 22, 1965.)
§ 1323. Termination of coverage; agreement by employee to make contribution
(a) An employing unit shall cease to be an employer subject to this chapter only as of the first day of January of any calendar year, if it files with the Commissioner, on or before March 31 next following, a written application for termination of coverage, and the Commissioner finds that such employing unit was not an employer during the preceding calendar year, but these requirements may be waived by the Commissioner for good cause.
(b) The Commissioner may terminate coverage of any employing unit on his or her own motion when he or she finds that the employing unit has not selected coverage in accordance with subdivision 1301(5)(E) of this title and:
(1) that the employing unit has not been an employer for the period of one year immediately preceding; or
(2) that the person who is the employing unit is deceased; or
(3) that the employing unit has ceased to employ at least one person within the State.
(c) Any agreement by an individual in his or her employ to pay the whole or any portion of the employer contributions required by this chapter shall be void and no employer shall make any deduction for such purpose from the wages or salary of any individual in his or her employ. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1969, No. 43.)
§ 1324. Rate of contribution
(a) For contribution rate years beginning prior to July 1, 1987, the standard rate of contributions shall be five and four-tenths percent. Each employer who has not been subject to this chapter for a sufficient period of time to have his or her rate computed under section 1326 of this title shall pay contributions at a rate, not exceeding five and four-tenths percent, that is the higher of (1) one percent or (2) that percent represented by rate class 11 in applicable rate schedule determined pursuant to section 1326 of this title, in effect with respect to the calendar quarter for which contributions are payable.
(b) For contribution rate years beginning July 1, 1987 and subsequent thereto:
(1) the standard rate of contributions shall be five and four-tenths percent;
(2) each employer who has not been subject to this chapter for a sufficient period of time to have the rate computed under section 1326 of this title shall pay contributions at the rate of one percent, except that foreign corporations classified in the three-digit North American Industry Classification System Code as 236, 237, or 238 shall pay contributions at a rate equal to the average rate as of the most recent computation date paid by all employers so classified. (Amended 1971, No. 77, § 4, eff. Dec. 31, 1971; 1977, No. 64, § 12, eff. Jan. 1, 1977; 1983, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1987, No. 81; 2001, No. 56, § 3; 2003, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)
§ 1325. Employers’ experience-rating records; disclosure to successor entity
(a)(1) The Commissioner shall maintain an experience-rating record for each employer. Benefits paid shall be charged against the experience-rating record of each subject employer who provided base-period wages to the eligible individual. Each subject employer’s experience-rating charge shall bear the same ratio to total benefits paid as the total base-period wages paid by that employer bear to the total base-period wages paid to the individual by all base-period employers. The experience-rating record of an individual subject base-period employer shall not be charged for benefits paid to an individual under any of the following conditions:
(A) The individual’s employment with that employer was terminated under disqualifying circumstances.
(B) The individual’s employment or right to reemployment with that employer was terminated by retirement of the individual pursuant to a retirement or lump-sum retirement pay plan under which the age of mandatory retirement was agreed upon by the employer and its employees or by the bargaining agent representing those employees.
(C) As of the date on which the individual filed an initial claim for benefits, the individual’s employment with that employer had not been terminated or reduced in hours.
(D) The individual was employed by that employer as a result of another employee taking leave under chapter 5, subchapter 4 of this title, and the individual’s employment was terminated as a result of the reinstatement of the other employee under chapter 5, subchapter 4 of this title.
(E) [Repealed.]
(F) The individual voluntarily separated from that employer to accompany a spouse who is on active duty with the U.S. Armed Forces or who holds a commission in the U.S. Foreign Service and is assigned overseas as provided by subdivision 1344(a)(2)(A) of this chapter.
(G) [Repealed.]
(H) [Repealed.]
(2) If an individual’s unemployment is directly caused by a major disaster declared by the President of the United States pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 5122 and the individual would have been eligible for federal disaster unemployment assistance benefits but for the receipt of regular benefits, an employer shall be relieved of charges for benefits paid to the individual with respect to any week of unemployment occurring due to the natural disaster up to a maximum amount of four weeks.
(3) [Repealed.]
(b)(1) Disclosure of contribution rate to successor entity. Any individual or employing unit who in any manner succeeds to or acquires the organization, trade, or business or substantially all of the assets of any employer who has been operating the business within two weeks prior to the acquisition, except any assets retained by the employer incident to the liquidation of the employer’s obligations, and who thereafter continues the acquired business shall be considered to be a successor to the predecessor from whom the business was acquired and, if not already an employer before the acquisition, shall become an employer on the date of the acquisition. The Commissioner shall transfer the experience-rating record of the predecessor employer to the successor employer. If the successor was not an employer before the date of acquisition, the successor’s rate of contribution for the remainder of the rate year shall be the rate applicable to the predecessor employers with respect to the period immediately preceding the date of acquisition if there was only one predecessor or there were only predecessors with identical rates. If the predecessors’ rates were not identical, the Commissioner shall determine a rate based on the combined experience of all the predecessor employers. If the successor was an employer before the date of acquisition, the contribution rate that was assigned to the successor for the rate year in which the acquisition occurred will remain assigned to the successor for the remainder of the rate year, after which the experience-rating record of the predecessor shall be combined with the experience rating of the successor to form the single employer experience-rating record of the successor. At any time prior to the issuance of the certificate required by subsection 1322(b) of this chapter, an employing unit shall, upon request of a potential successor, disclose to the potential successor its current experience-rating record.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, an individual or employing unit who in any manner succeeds to or acquires the organization, trade, or business or substantially all of the assets of any employing unit who was an employer before the date of acquisition and whose currently assigned contribution rate is higher than that currently assigned to the acquiring individual or employing unit shall not be treated as a successor.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to grant to any employer or to individuals performing services for the employer prior claims or rights to the amounts paid by the employer into the Fund.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the following shall apply to assignment of rates and transfers of experience:
(1) If an employer transfers its trade or business, or a portion thereof, to another employer and, at the time of the transfer, there is substantially common ownership, management, or control of the two employers, the employment experience attributable to the transferred trade or business shall be transferred to the employer to whom such business is so transferred. The rates of both employers shall be recalculated and made effective immediately upon the date of the transfer of trade or business.
(2) Whenever a person who is not an employer under this chapter at the time it acquires the trade or business of an employer, the unemployment experience of the acquired business shall not be transferred to such person if the Commissioner finds that such person acquired the business solely or primarily for the purpose of obtaining a lower rate of contributions. Instead, that person shall be assigned the highest rate assignable under this chapter until being subject to this chapter for a sufficient period of time to have his or her rate computed under section 1326 of this title. In determining whether the business was acquired solely or primarily for the purpose of obtaining a lower rate of contribution, the Commissioner shall use objective factors that may include:
(A) the cost of acquiring the business;
(B) whether the person continued the business enterprise of the acquired business;
(C) how long that business enterprise was continued; and
(D) whether a substantial number of new employees was hired to perform duties unrelated to the business activity conducted prior to acquisition of the new business.
(3) If a person knowingly violates or attempts to violate subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection or any other provision of this chapter related to determining the assignment of a contribution rate, or if a person knowingly advises another person in a way that results in a violation of those provisions, the person shall be subject to the following penalties:
(A) If the person is an employer, the person shall be assigned the highest rate assignable under this chapter for the rate year during which the violation or attempted violation occurred and the three rate years immediately following this rate year. If the person’s business is already at the highest rate for any year, or if the amount of increase in the person’s rate would be less than two percent for that year, a penalty rate of contributions of two percent of taxable wages shall be imposed for that year.
(B) If the person is not an employer, that person shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $5,000.00. A fine under this subdivision shall be deposited in the Contingent Fund established under section 1365 of this title.
(C) In addition to other penalties under this subdivision, a person who violates this section may be imprisoned not more than three years or fined not more than $5,000.00, or both.
(4) As used in this section:
(A) “Attempt to violate” means the intent to evade, misrepresentation, or willful nondisclosure.
(B) “Knowingly” means having actual knowledge of or acting with deliberate ignorance or reckless disregard of the prohibition.
(C) “Person” has the same meaning as in Section 7701(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(D) “Trade or business” includes the employer’s workforce.
(5) The Commissioner shall establish procedures, by rule, to identify the transfer or acquisition of a business for the purposes of this section.
(e)-(g) [Repealed.] (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 132, eff. May 19, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1963, No. 98; 1967, No. 262 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Feb. 28, 1968; 1969, No. 42, § 1; 1977, No. 64, § 13; 1981, No. 86, § 10, eff. May 10, 1981; 1985, No. 50, § 8; 1985, No. 146 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1987, No. 100, § 1; 1989, No. 17, eff. April 13, 1989; 1989, No. 47, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 18, 1989; 1989, No. 83, § 2; 1997, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 7, 9; 2005, No. 41, § 1; 2009, No. 118 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2011, No. 50, § 9c, eff. July 1, 2011; 2013, No. 82, § 1, eff. June 10, 2013; 2013, No. 173 (Adj. Sess.), § 9; 2017, No. 74, § 49; 2019, No. 91 (Adj. Sess.), § 30, eff. March 30, 2020; 2019, No. 91 (Adj. Sess.), § 32, eff. Oct. 1, 2021; 2021, No. 51, § 6, eff. June 1, 2021.)
§ 1326. Rate based on benefit experience
(a) The Commissioner shall for each rate year compute a benefit ratio for each employer who meets the requirements of section 1327 of this title. For an employer whose record has been chargeable with benefits throughout the three consecutive calendar years immediately preceding the rate year for which the ratio is computed, the benefit ratio shall be the quotient obtained by dividing the total benefits charged to his or her record in such three years by the total of his or her taxable payrolls for the same three-year period; for an employer whose record has been chargeable with benefits for at least one but less than three consecutive calendar years immediately preceding the rate year for which the ratio is computed, the benefit ratio shall be the quotient obtained by dividing the total benefits charged to his or her record for such calendar year or years by the total of his or her taxable payrolls for the same period. The contribution rate of each employer, not otherwise ineligible, who meets the requirements of section 1327 of this title, shall be determined under subsections (b) through (g) of this section.
(b) The Commissioner shall prepare a schedule on which he or she shall list all employers for whom a benefit ratio has been computed pursuant to this section, in the order of their benefit ratios, beginning with the lowest such ratio, and on which shall be shown with respect to each such employer:
(1) the amount of his or her benefit ratio;
(2) the amount of his or her annual taxable payroll; and
(3) a cumulative total consisting of the amount of his or her annual taxable payroll plus the amount of the annual taxable payrolls of all other employers preceding him or her on the list.
(c) The Commissioner shall segregate employers so listed into classes in accordance with the cumulative payrolls. The classes shall be determined by the cumulative payroll percentage limits set forth in column B of the table below. Each such class shall be identified by the rate class number in column A that is opposite the figures in column B that represents the percentage limits of each class. In the event an employer’s taxable payroll falls in more than one rate class, he or she shall be assigned to the lower numbered rate class except that no employer shall be assigned to a higher rate class than is assigned any other employer with the same benefit ratio.
(d) The Commissioner shall compute a current fund ratio, and a highest benefit cost rate, as follows:
(1) The current fund ratio shall be determined by dividing the available balance of the Unemployment Compensation Fund on December 31 of the preceding calendar year by the total wages paid for employment during that calendar year as reported by employers by the following March 31.
(2)(A) The highest benefit cost rate shall be determined by dividing the highest amount of benefit payments made during a consecutive 12-month period that ended within the 10-year period ending on the preceding December 31, by the total wages paid during the four calendar quarter periods that ended within that 12-month period.
(B) Notwithstanding any provision of subdivision (A) of this subdivision (d)(2) to the contrary, when computing the tax rate schedule to become effective on July 1, 2021 and on each subsequent July 1, the Commissioner shall calculate the highest benefit cost rate without consideration of benefit payments made in calendar year 2020.
(e) The rate schedule shall be determined by dividing the current fund ratio by the highest benefit cost rate. The applicable rate schedule shall be that schedule below the resultant quotient that appears in column C of the following table:
A. B. C. IF THE RESULTING QUOTIENT IS: Rate
Class% of Taxable
Payrolls2.50
and
over2.00
to
2.491.50
to
1.991.00
to
1.49under
1.00From To I. II. III. IV. V. _________________________________________ 0 00.00 00.00 0.4% 0.6% 0.8% 1.1% 1.3% 1 00.01 05.00 0.5 0.7 0.9 1.2 1.5 2 05.01 10.00 0.6 0.8 1.1 1.4 1.8 3 10.01 15.00 0.7 1.0 1.4 1.7 2.1 4 15.01 20.00 0.8 1.2 1.7 2.0 2.4 5 20.01 25.00 0.9 1.4 2.0 2.3 2.7 6 25.01 30.00 1.1 1.7 2.3 2.6 3.0 7 30.01 35.00 1.4 2.0 2.6 2.9 3.3 8 35.01 40.00 1.7 2.3 2.9 3.2 3.6 9 40.01 45.00 2.0 2.6 3.2 3.5 4.0 10 45.01 50.00 2.3 2.9 3.5 3.8 4.4 11 50.01 55.00 2.6 3.2 3.8 4.1 4.8 12 55.01 60.00 2.9 3.5 4.1 4.5 5.2 13 60.01 65.00 3.2 3.8 4.4 4.9 5.6 14 65.01 70.00 3.5 4.1 4.7 5.3 6.0 15 70.01 75.00 3.8 4.4 5.0 5.7 6.4 16 75.01 80.00 4.1 4.7 5.3 6.1 6.8 17 80.01 85.00 4.4 5.0 5.6 6.5 7.2 18 85.01 90.00 4.7 5.3 5.9 6.9 7.6 19 90.01 95.00 5.0 5.6 6.2 7.3 8.0 20 95.01 100.00 5.4 5.9 6.5 7.7 8.4 _________________________________________ (f) The contribution rate to become effective July 1, 1977 and thereafter on July 1 of each year shall be the rate determined for that class into which the given employer is placed by application of this section.
(g) If, subsequent to the assignment of rates of contribution for any rate year, the benefit ratio of any employer is recomputed and changed, such employer shall be placed in that position on the list that he or she would have occupied had his or her corrected benefit ratio been shown on the list, but such altered position on the list shall not affect the position of any other employer.
(h) In the determination of a rate schedule, only the wages paid by employers liable for payment of contributions into the fund and benefit payments not reimbursable by employers liable for payments in lieu of contributions shall be considered in the computation of a current fund ratio and highest benefit cost rate. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 65, eff. Jan. 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1963, No. 106, § 2; 1965, No. 77, § 1; 1967, No. 159, § 1; 1969, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.); 1973, No. 31, § 1, eff. March 27, 1973; 1977, No. 64, § 14, eff. Jan. 1, 1977; 1983, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2021, No. 51, § 9a, eff. June 1, 2021.)
§ 1327. Rate, reduction, conditions
No employer’s contribution rate shall be reduced from five and four-tenths percent for any rate year, except as provided in section 1324 of this title, unless and until his or her experience-rating record has been chargeable with benefits throughout the three consecutive calendar years immediately preceding the rate year with respect to which said rate shall be reduced and contributions were payable by him or her with respect to such three calendar years; provided that an employer who has not been subject to the law for a period of time sufficient to meet this requirement may qualify for a reduced rate if his or her record has been chargeable with benefits throughout a lesser number of consecutive calendar years but in no event less than one calendar year immediately preceding the rate year with respect to which said rate shall be reduced and contributions were payable by him or her with respect to such period. (Amended 1963, No. 106, § 3; 1971, No. 77, § 5, eff. Dec. 31, 1971; 1983, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 3.)
§ 1328. Filing employer quarterly tax contribution reports; failure
The Commissioner shall impose a penalty of $100.00 for each failure by an employer to file any contribution report required under section 1322 of this title on or before the date on which the report is due, which shall be collected in the manner provided for the collection of contributions in section 1329 of this title and shall be paid into the Contingent Fund provided in section 1365 of this title. If the employer demonstrates that its failure was due to a reasonable cause, the Commissioner may waive or reduce the penalty. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1963, No. 106, § 5; 1967, No. 178; 1985, No. 50, § 9; 1989, No. 132 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 2009, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 10.)
§ 1329. Collection of unpaid contributions; suit
(a)(1) If any employer fails to make, when due, any contributions or payments required of the employer under this chapter, the obligation shall carry interest at the rate of one and one-half percent per month from the due date.
(2)(A) It shall be the duty of the Commissioner to collect the overdue obligations and interest. Interest collected shall be paid into the Contingent Fund established pursuant to section 1365 of this title.
(B) If an employer has paid the contributions or payments timely to another state through error, the Commissioner may waive the interest.
(C) The Commissioner may waive all or a portion of the interest if the Commissioner determines that the untimeliness of the payment was not caused by fault, neglect, or bad faith on the part of the employer.
(b) In addition to other remedies and proceedings authorized by this chapter, a civil action in the name of the Commissioner may be maintained and the remedies available in such action, including attachment and trustee process, shall be available to the Commissioner for the collection of contributions, interest, and penalties under this chapter.
(c) An employer failing, for any two calendar quarters during the preceding 20 calendar quarters, to make return or to pay contributions required under this chapter, and who has not ceased to be an employer as provided in section 1323 of this title, may be required by the Commissioner to furnish a good and sufficient bond conditioned upon the payment of such delinquent contributions, together with interest and penalty from the due date thereof, and containing such terms as may be determined by the Commissioner. An employer who fails to furnish such bond when required by the Commissioner may be enjoined from employing individuals in employment, as defined by this chapter, upon complaint of the Commissioner in the Superior Court of any county in which the employer is doing business, until the contributions due, together with interest and penalty, are paid to the Commissioner.
(d) In the event of an employer’s dissolution, adjudicated insolvency, adjudicated bankruptcy, receivership, assignment for benefit of creditors, judicially confirmed extension proposals or composition, claims or contributions due under this chapter and for interest thereon then or thereafter due under this chapter shall be a lien upon such employer’s assets and shall have priority over all other claims except expenses of administration, taxes, wage claims, and prior liens valid under the laws of this State.
(e) No action shall be commenced for the collection of contributions, interest and penalties under this chapter more than three years after the date on which the contributions became due and payable, unless prior to the expiration of the three-year period:
(1) an assessment proceeding has been instituted under the provisions of section 1330 of this title;
(2) a civil action has been instituted under subsection (b) of this section; or
(3) a lien has been created under section 1336 of this title.
(f) The provisions of subsection (e) of this section shall not apply where an employer intentionally fails or refuses to file a report with the Commissioner or to include in any report all wages that the employer has paid, or otherwise attempts to avoid or reduce liability for the payment of contributions. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1965, No. 27, eff. April 14, 1965; 1967, No. 61; 1969, No. 41; 1983, No. 16, § 6; 1985, No. 121 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. April 16, 1986; 1987, No. 100, § 2; 2017, No. 74, § 50; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 408, eff. July 1, 2022.)
§ 1330. Assessment provided
When any employer fails to pay any contributions or payments required under this chapter the Commissioner shall make an assessment of contributions against such employer together with interest and penalty thereon. After making the assessment, due notice shall be given thereof, by ordinary or certified mail, to the employer and the assessment shall be final unless the employer petitions for a hearing on such assessment within the time hereinafter specified. (Amended 1961, No. 210, § 7, eff. July 11, 1961; 1989, No. 8, § 1; 1989, No. 8, § 1; 1991, No. 82, § 2.)
§ 1331. Notice; hearing
Any employer against whom an assessment is made may, within 30 days after date thereof, file with the Commissioner a petition for a hearing before a referee appointed for such purpose, which petition shall set forth specifically and in detail the grounds upon which it is claimed the assessment is erroneous. Hearing or hearings on the assessment shall be held by the referee at such times and places as may be provided by rules and regulations of the Board and due notice of the time and place of such hearing or hearings shall be given by ordinary or certified mail to the petitioner. After hearing as above provided, the petitioner shall be promptly notified by ordinary or certified mail of the findings of fact, conclusions, and decision of the referee. The decision of the referee shall be final unless the employer or Commissioner makes application for review thereof by the Board within 30 days after date thereof or unless the Board, on its own motion within said period, initiates a review thereof. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 8, eff. July 11, 1961; 1989, No. 8, § 2; 1991, No. 82, § 3.)
§ 1332. Review by board; Supreme Court appeal
The Board, upon an application filed or on its own motion, within the time specified, shall, on notice to interested parties, review the decision of the referee. Before rendering its decision, the Board may order the taking of additional evidence by the referee or, in its discretion, the Board may hear additional evidence to be made a part of the record in the case. Upon the basis of evidence previously submitted in the case and such additional evidence as the Board may take or direct to be taken, the Board may affirm, modify, or reverse the findings and conclusions of the referee and shall render its decision thereon. The parties shall be promptly notified by ordinary or certified mail of the findings of fact, conclusions, and decision of the Board. The decision of the Board shall be final unless an appeal is taken therefrom to the Supreme Court. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 9, eff. July 11, 1961; 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 195, eff. March 29, 1972; 1989, No. 8, § 3; 1991, No. 82, § 4.)
§ 1333. Repealed. 1961, No. 210, § 17, eff. July 11, 1961.
§ 1334. Judgment; exception
(a) Any liability for contributions, payments, penalties, interest, and costs imposed under this chapter becomes, from the time the liability is due and payable, a debt of the liable employer or employing unit to the State for the benefit of the Unemployment Compensation Fund and the Contingent Fund to be recovered in a civil action.
(b) The Commissioner may file in the Superior Court for the county wherein the employer resides, or the Washington Superior Court if the employer is a nonresident, a certified copy of an assessment for contributions from which an appeal has not been taken within the time allowed therefor, whereupon such court after due notice to all parties interested, shall summarily render a final judgment in accordance therewith. Such judgment shall have the same effect, and all proceedings in relation thereto shall thereafter be the same, as though such judgment had been rendered in an action duly heard and determined by such court, provided, however, there shall not be an appeal therefrom except on matters of law heard and determined in such court.
(c) When an assessment has been made under section 1330 of this title from which a timely appeal has not been taken or when any appeal taken has been finally determined under sections 1331 and 1332 of this title, the Commissioner may, as an additional or alternate remedy to other remedies and proceedings authorized by this chapter, issue a warrant directed to the sheriff of any county of this State. The warrant shall command the sheriff to levy upon and sell the real and personal property of any person liable for unpaid contributions, payments, interest, penalties, and costs due under this chapter, for payment of the amount due and the cost of executing the warrant, and to return the warrant to the Commissioner and to pay him or her the money collected by virtue of the warrant within 60 days after receipt of the warrant. The sheriff shall within five days after receipt of the warrant file with the county clerk a copy of the warrant, and the clerk shall then enter in the judgment docket the name of the person liable, the amount of the contributions, payments, interest, penalties, and costs for which the warrant is issued and the date when the copy is filed. The levy and sale shall be effected in the manner prescribed for levy of execution. If a warrant is returned not fully satisfied, the Commissioner may from time to time issue new warrants for the balance due in accordance with the procedure described hereinabove. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1973, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 9, 1974; 1977, No. 64, § 15.)
§ 1335. Repealed. 1961, No. 210, § 17, eff. July 11, 1961.
§ 1336. Lien, fee, foreclosure
(a) All contributions, interest, penalties, and costs thereon due and payable by an employer under the provisions of this chapter shall be a lien upon the real estate of such employer from the date a lien for such contributions, interest, penalties, and costs is entered in the land records of the town in which is located real estate of the employer. A lien for such contributions, penalties, interest, and costs shall be created upon the personal property or franchises of the employer if such lien is recorded in the town clerk’s office of the town in which the employer resides; and, if the employer is a corporation or a co-partnership, then such lien on the franchises or personal property of such employer shall be recorded in the town clerk’s office in the town in which such employer has its principal place of business in the State. Liens created under this section shall show name of employer, amount of contributions, and other indebtedness due to the Commissioner of Labor. A lien created under this section shall be a lien prior to all other liens except liens created for taxes due the State of Vermont, the federal government, or town or municipality in this State and wage claims. Such lien shall not be a prior lien to liens on record prior to the recording of the lien provided for herein.
(b) There shall be paid to the town clerk by the Commissioner for recording each such lien, and the discharge of a recorded lien, the fees prescribed in 32 V.S.A. § 1671. The fees shall be added to the amount due from the employer under the lien.
(c) An employer upon whose property a lien is created as provided herein shall be given due notice thereof by ordinary or certified mail within five days after the creation of such lien.
(d) When the contributions, interest, penalties, and costs, secured by a lien in accordance with this section, remains unpaid for 90 days after the creation of such lien, such lien on personal property may be foreclosed in the same manner as provided by law for the foreclosure of mortgages on personal property; and such a lien on real property may be foreclosed in the same manner as provided by law for the foreclosure of mortgages on real property. The foregoing remedy shall be in addition, or as an alternative, to the remedy provided by section 1329 of this title, for the collection of unpaid contributions.
(e) In the event the employer files a written protest to the creation of the lien within 30 days after date thereof, assessment proceedings as provided in sections 1329-1334 of this title shall be had.
(f) If final judgment is in favor of the employer the property of the employer shall be discharged from the lien. If final judgment is against the employer, the property under the lien shall be held to respond to the judgment rendered and may be taken in execution thereon unless the employer otherwise satisfies the execution and charges.
(g) The Commissioner shall issue and record a certificate of release of the lien if:
(1) The Commissioner finds that the liability for contributions due, together with interest, penalty, and costs, has been satisfied or has become unenforceable.
(2) There is furnished to the Commissioner a bond with surety approved by the Commissioner in a penal sum sufficient to equal the amount of contributions due, together with interest, penalty, and costs, said bond to be conditioned upon the payment of any judgment rendered in proceedings regularly instituted by the Commissioner to enforce collection thereof.
(3) The Commissioner determines at any time that the interest of the State of Vermont in the property has no value. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1963, No. 58; 1969, No. 40, § 1, eff. April 4, 1969; 1981, No. 66, § 5(b), eff. May 1, 1981; 1989, No. 8, §§ 4, 5; 1991, No. 82, § 5; 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006.)
§ 1337. Adjustments and refunds
If not later than three years after the date on which any contributions or interest thereon became due, an employer who has paid such contributions or interest thereon shall make application for an adjustment thereof in connection with subsequent contribution payments, or for a refund thereof because such adjustment cannot be made, and the Commissioner shall determine that such payments or any portion thereof were erroneously collected, the Commissioner shall allow such employer to make an adjustment thereof, without interest, in connection with subsequent payments by him or her, or if such adjustment cannot be made, shall refund said amount without interest from the fund. For like cause and within the same period, adjustment or refund may be so made on the Commissioner’s own initiative. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1997, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 3.)
§ 1337a. Administrative determination; hearing on
(a) Any employing unit aggrieved by an administrative determination affecting its rate of contributions, its rights to adjustment or refund on contributions paid, its coverage as an employer, or its termination of coverage may, within 30 days after date thereof, file with the Commissioner a petition for a hearing thereon, which petition shall set forth specifically and in detail the grounds upon which it is claimed the administrative determination is erroneous. Hearing or hearings on such petition shall be held by a referee appointed for such purpose, at such times and places as may be provided by rules of the Board, and due notice of the time and place of such hearing or hearings shall be given by ordinary or certified mail to the petitioner.
(b) After hearing as provided in subsection (a) of this section, the petitioner shall be promptly notified by ordinary or certified mail of the findings of fact, conclusions, and decision of the referee. The decision of the referee shall be final unless the employing unit or Commissioner makes application for review thereof by the Board within 30 days after date thereof or unless the Board, on its own motion within said period, initiates a review thereof. (Added 1961, No. 210, § 10, eff. July 11, 1961; amended 1965, No. 76, § 1, eff. May 26, 1965; 1989, No. 8, § 6; 1991, No. 82, § 6.)
§ 1338. Weekly benefits
(a) Each eligible individual who is totally unemployed in any week shall be paid with respect to such a week a weekly benefit amount determined as provided in this section.
(b), (c) [Repealed.]
(d)(1) To qualify for benefits an individual must:
(A) have been paid in one quarter of his or her base period wages in employment with an employer or employers subject to this chapter that equal at least $1,000.00; and
(B) have been paid in his or her base period additional wages in employment with an employer or employers subject to this chapter that equal or exceed 40 percent of the total wages paid in the highest quarter of his or her base period; and
(C) have earned subsequent to the beginning of his or her most recent benefit year wages in employment with an employer or employers subject to this chapter that equal or exceed four times his or her weekly benefit amount as determined under subsection (e) of this section for that prior benefit year.
(2) The base period wages shall not include any wages paid by an employing unit based on a separation for gross misconduct under subdivision 1344(a)(2)(B) of this title.
[Subsection (e) effective until occurrence of contingency; see also contingent amendments to subsection (e) by 2021, No. 183 §§ 52d–52e and 52g set out below.]
(e) An individual’s weekly benefit amount shall be determined by dividing the individual’s two high quarter total subject wages required under subdivision (d)(1) of this section by 45, provided that the weekly benefit amount so determined shall not exceed the maximum weekly benefit amount computed pursuant to subsection (f) of this section.
[Contingent amendment to subsection (e) by 2021, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 52d and 52e; see also subsection (e) effective until occurrence of contingencies set out above and contingent amendment to subsection (e) by 2021, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 52g set out below.]
(e) An individual’s weekly benefit amount shall be determined by dividing the individual’s two high quarter total subject wages required under subdivision (d)(1) of this section by 45 and adding $25.00 to the resulting quotient, provided that the weekly benefit amount so determined shall not exceed the maximum weekly benefit amount computed pursuant to subsection (f) of this section.
[Contingent amendment to subsection (e) by 2021, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 52g; see also subsection (e) effective until occurrence of contingencies and contingent amendments to subsection (e) by 2021, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 52d and 52e set out above.]
(e) An individual’s weekly benefit amount shall be determined by dividing the individual’s two high quarter total subject wages required under subdivision (d)(1) of this section by 45, provided that the weekly benefit amount so determined shall not exceed the maximum weekly benefit amount computed pursuant to subsection (f) of this section.
[Subdivision (f)(1) effective until occurrence of contingency; see also contingent amendments to subdivision (f)(1) by 2021, No. 183, §§52c–52e and 52g set out below.]
(f)(1) The maximum weekly benefit amount shall be annually adjusted on the first day of the first calendar week in July to an amount equal to the sum of $60.00 plus 57 percent of the State annual average weekly wage as determined by subsection (g) of this section.
[Contingent amendment to subdivision (f)(1) by 2021, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 52c and 52g; see also subdivision (f)(1) effective until occurrence of contingencies set out above and contingent amendment to subdivision (f)(1) by 2021, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 52d and 52e set out below.]
(1) The maximum weekly benefit amount shall be annually adjusted on the first day of the first calendar week in July to an amount equal to 57 percent of the State annual average weekly wage as determined by subsection (g) of this section.
[Contingent amendment to subdivision (f)(1) by 2021, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 52d and 52e; see also subdivision (f)(1) effective until occurrence of contingencies and contingent amendment to subdivision (f)(1) by 2021, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 52c and 52g set out above.]
(1) The maximum weekly benefit amount shall be annually adjusted on the first day of the first calendar week in July to an amount equal to the sum of $25.00 plus 57 percent of the State annual average weekly wage as determined by subsection (g) of this section.
(2) Notwithstanding any provision of subdivision (1) of this subsection to the contrary:
(A) The maximum weekly benefit amount shall not increase in any year that advances made to the State Unemployment Compensation Fund pursuant to Title XII of the Social Security Act, as amended, remain unpaid.
(B) The maximum weekly benefit amount shall not decrease.
(g) On or before the first day of June of each year, the total wages reported on contribution reports for the preceding calendar year shall be divided by the average monthly number of covered workers (determined by dividing the total covered employment reported on contribution reports pursuant to this chapter for the preceding year by 12). The State average annual wage thus obtained shall be divided by 52 and the State average weekly wage thus determined shall be rounded down to the nearest dollar.
(h) Effective with the first calendar week of July, 1990, and with the first full calendar weeks of each July thereafter, the minimum quarterly wage requirement of subdivision (d)(1) of this section shall be adjusted by a percentage increase equal to the percentage increase, if any, in the State minimum wage effective during the prior calendar year. This adjusted minimum quarterly wage requirement shall be applicable to new claims for benefits with effective dates during or after the first full calendar week of July 1990, and the first full calendar weeks of each July thereafter.
(i)(1) An individual filing a new claim for unemployment compensation shall, at the time of filing of such claim, be advised that:
(A) unemployment compensation is subject to federal and State income tax;
(B) requirements exist pertaining to estimated tax payments;
(C) the individual may elect to have federal income tax deducted and withheld from the individual’s payment of unemployment compensation in the amount specified in the federal Internal Revenue Code;
(D) the individual who elects to have federal income tax deducted and withheld shall have State income tax withheld at 24 percent of the federal rate; and
(E) the individual shall be permitted to change a previously elected withholding once during each benefit year.
(2) Amounts deducted and withheld from unemployment compensation shall remain in the Unemployment Trust Fund until transferred to the federal and State taxing authority as a payment of income tax.
(3) The Commissioner shall follow all procedures specified by the U.S. Department of Labor and the federal Internal Revenue Service pertaining to the deducting and withholding of income tax.
(4) Amounts shall be deducted and withheld under this section only after amounts are deducted and withheld for any overpayments of unemployment compensation, child support obligations, or other amounts required to be deducted and withheld under this chapter. (Amended 1959, No. 51, § 1; 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1963, No. 84, § 3; 1969, No. 42, § 2; 1971, No. 71, § 1, eff. April 15, 1971; 1973, No. 231 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 2, 3; 1977, No. 64, § 16; 1981, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. June 20, 1982; 1983, No. 16, § 7, eff. May 1, 1983; 1985, No. 146 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 1991, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 1993, No. 177 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 1995, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1997; 1997, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 10; 2001, No. 143 (Adj. Sess.), § 65, eff. June 21, 2002; 2003, No. 70 (Adj. Sess.), § 64, eff. March 1, 2004; 2009, No. 2 (Sp. Sess.), § 2, eff. June 9, 2009; 2009, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. July 1, 2011; 2013, No. 173 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 2021, No. 51, § 10, eff. June 1, 2021; 2021, No. 51, §§ 11, 12; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 409, eff. July 1, 2022; 2021, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 52b, eff. July 1, 2022; 2021, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 52c–52e, 52g.)
§ 1338a. Disregarded earnings
(a) An individual shall be deemed “partially unemployed” in any week of less than full-time work if the wages earned by the individual with respect to such week are less than the weekly benefit amount the individual would be entitled to receive if totally unemployed and eligible. As used in this section, “wages” in any one week includes only that amount of remuneration to the nearest dollar that is in excess of 50 percent of the individual’s weekly wage.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, an individual shall not be deemed to be “partially unemployed” if the individual performed less than full-time work only because there was a holiday in that week for which the individual was entitled to holiday pay. (Added 1959, No. 64, eff. March 31, 1959; amended 1967, No. 246 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Feb. 20, 1968; 1971, No. 70, eff. April 15, 1971; 1979, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.). § 8, eff. April 14, 1980; 1991, No. 62; 2001, No. 56, § 2; 2009, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. July 1, 2012; 2013, No. 173 (Adj. Sess.), § 8.)
§ 1339. Weekly benefit for partial unemployment
Each eligible individual who is partially unemployed in any week shall be paid with respect to such week a partial benefit. Such partial benefit shall be an amount equal to the difference between his or her weekly benefit amount and his or her wages, as used in section 1338a of this title, for such week. (Amended 1981, No. 86, § 11, eff. May 10, 1981.)
§ 1340. Computation of benefits
(a) Except as provided in subchapter 2 of this chapter, the maximum total amount of benefits payable to any eligible individual during any benefit year shall not exceed the lesser of 26 times his or her weekly benefit amount or 46 percent of the total wages paid to the individual during his or her base period.
(b) An individual who is discharged by his or her last employing unit for misconduct connected with his or her work under subdivision 1344(a)(1)(A) of this title is limited to a maximum amount during the benefit year which is the lesser of the maximum amount determined under subsection (a) of this section or 23 times his or her weekly benefit amount, provided that the individual has not already received more than 23 weeks in his or her benefit year. (Amended 1959, No. 51, § 2; 1959, No. 107, § 2, eff. April 10, 1959; 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1963, No. 84, § 5; 1971, No. 1, § 1, eff. Oct. 11, 1970; 2009, No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § E.401.3, eff. June 3, 2010; 2009, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. July 1, 2011.)
§ 1340a. Self-Employment Assistance Program
(a) As used in this section:
(1) “Full-time basis” means that the individual is devoting the necessary time as determined by the Commissioner to establish a business that will serve as a full-time occupation for that individual.
(2) “Regular benefits” shall have the same meaning as in subdivision 1421(5) of this title.
(3) “Self-employment assistance activities” means activities approved by the Commissioner in which an individual participates for the purpose of establishing a business and becoming self-employed, including entrepreneurial training, business counseling, and technical assistance.
(4) “Self-employment assistance allowance” means an allowance payable in lieu of regular benefits from the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund to an individual who meets the requirements of this section.
(5) “Self-Employment Assistance Program” means the program under which an individual who meets the requirements of subsection (d) of this section is eligible to receive an allowance in lieu of regular benefits for the purpose of assisting that individual in establishing a business and becoming self-employed.
(b) The weekly amount of the self-employment assistance allowance payable to an individual shall be equal to the weekly benefit amount for regular benefits otherwise payable pursuant to this title.
(c) The maximum amount of the self-employment assistance allowance paid pursuant to this section shall not exceed the maximum amount of benefits established pursuant to section 1340 of this title with respect to any benefit year.
(d)(1) An individual may receive a self-employment assistance allowance if that individual:
(A) is eligible to receive regular benefits or would be eligible to receive regular benefits except for the requirements described in subdivisions (2)(A) and (B) of this subsection (d);
(B) is identified by a worker profiling system as an individual likely to exhaust regular benefits;
(C) has received the approval of the Commissioner to participate in a program providing self-employment assistance activities;
(D) is engaged actively on a full-time basis in activities that may include training related to establishing a business and becoming self-employed; and
(E) has filed a weekly claim for the self-employment assistance allowance and provided the information the Commissioner requires.
(2) A self-employment allowance shall be payable to an individual at the same interval, on the same terms, and subject to the same conditions as regular benefits pursuant to this chapter, except:
(A) the requirements of section 1343 of this title, relating to availability for work, efforts to secure work, and refusal to accept work, are not applicable to the individual; and
(B)(i) the individual is not considered to be self-employed pursuant to subdivision 1301(24) of this title;
(ii) an individual who meets the requirements of this section shall be considered to be unemployed pursuant to section 1338 of this title; and
(iii) an individual who fails to participate in self-employment assistance activities or who fails to engage actively on a full-time basis in activities, including training, relating to the establishment of a business and becoming self-employed shall be disqualified from receiving an allowance for the week in which the failure occurs.
(e) The self-employment assistance allowance may be paid to up to 35 qualified individuals at any time, provided that the number of qualified individuals receiving a self-employment assistance allowance at any time shall not exceed five percent of the total number of individuals receiving regular benefits at that time.
(f)(1) The self-employment assistance allowance shall be charged to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund.
(2) In the event that the self-employment assistance allowance cannot be charged to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection, the allowance shall be charged in accordance with section 1325 of this title.
(g) The Commissioner may approve a program upon determining that it will provide self-employment assistance activities to qualified individuals.
(h)(1) The Commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this section.
(2) The rules adopted pursuant to this subsection shall include a detailed explanation of how an individual may apply for and establish eligibility for the Self-Employment Assistance Program and any criteria that the Commissioner will consider in determining whether to approve a program.
(i) The Commissioner may suspend the Self-Employment Assistance Program with approval of the Secretary of Administration and notice to the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development and the Senate Committee on Finance in the event that the Program presents unintended adverse consequences to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund.
(j) The Self-Employment Assistance Program may not result in any cost to the Unemployment Trust Fund in excess of the cost that would be incurred by the State and charged to the Fund if the Program were not in operation. (Added 2019, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 21, eff. Feb. 20, 2020.)
§ 1341. Repealed. 1965, No. 76, § 2, eff. May 26, 1965.
§ 1342. Repealed. 1959, No. 83, § 1, eff. April 2, 1959.
§ 1343. Conditions
(a) An unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week only if the Commissioner finds that all of the following requirements are met and the individual:
(1) Has registered for work at and thereafter has continued to report at an employment office in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Board.
(2) Has made a claim for benefits in accordance with the provisions of section 1346 of this title.
(3) Is able to work, and is available for work; provided, that in determining the availability of any individual during any week, the Commissioner may require, in addition to registration at any employment office, that the individual participate in reemployment services, or at any time make such other efforts to secure suitable work as the Commissioner may reasonably direct under the circumstances and to supply proper evidence thereof; and shall, if the individual fails without good cause to do so, be ineligible for each week such failure continues; provided further that no claimant shall be considered ineligible in any week of unemployment for failure to comply with the provisions of this subdivision if such failure is due to an illness or disability that occurs after the claimant has registered for work, filed a claim for benefits and during a week for which the individual was entitled to waiting period credit or benefit payments, and no work that would have been considered suitable but for the illness or disability has been offered after the beginning of such illness or disability.
(4) [Repealed.]
(5) Qualifies for a weekly benefit computed in accordance with section 1338 of this title.
(6) Participates in reemployment services, such as job search assistance services, if he or she has been determined to be likely to exhaust regular benefits and needs reemployment services pursuant to a profiling system established by the Commissioner.
(7) Is not self-employed or engaged in self-employment to the extent that it makes him or her unavailable for work.
(8) Has given written notice of resignation to his or her employer and the employer subsequently made the termination of employment effective prior to the date of termination as given in the notice. Provided that the claimant could not establish good cause for leaving work pursuant to subdivision 1344(a)(2)(A) of this title and was not discharged for misconduct as provided in subdivision 1344(a)(1)(A) or for gross misconduct as provided in subdivision 1344(a)(2)(B), in no case shall unemployment benefits awarded under this subdivision exceed four weeks or extend beyond the date of separation as provided in the employee’s notice to the employer.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, any otherwise eligible claimant regularly attending a training course or program approved for him or her by the Commissioner shall be deemed to be available for work and while attending the course and making satisfactory progress in the training shall not be denied benefits solely because of his or her attendance at the course or because of his or her refusal of an offer of suitable work. Benefits paid to an eligible claimant regularly attending a training course or program approved pursuant to this subsection for any unemployment following his or her refusal of an offer of suitable work, shall not be charged against the experience rating record of any employer, but shall be charged to the Fund.
(c) After March 31, 1984 benefits are payable on the basis of service in employment as defined in subdivisions 1301(6)(A)(ix) and (x) of this title, in the same amount, on the same terms, and subject to the same conditions as benefits payable on the basis of other service subject to this chapter, except that:
(1) With respect to services performed in an instructional, research, or principal administrative capacity for an educational institution, benefits shall not be payable on the basis of such services for any week of unemployment commencing during the period between two successive academic years or terms (or, when an agreement provides instead for a similar period between two regular but not successive terms, during such period) or during a period of paid sabbatical leave provided for in the individual’s contract, to any individual if such individual performs such services in the first of such academic years or terms and if there is a contract or reasonable assurance that such individual will perform services in any such capacity for any educational institution in the second of such academic years or terms.
(2) With respect to services performed in any other capacity for an educational institution benefits shall not be payable on the basis of such services to any individual for any week of unemployment that commences during a period between two successive academic years or terms if such individual performs such services in the first of such academic years or terms and there is a reasonable assurance that such individual will perform such services for any educational institution in the second of such academic years or terms, except that if benefits are denied to any individual under this subdivision and such individual was not offered an opportunity to perform such services for the educational institution for the second of such academic years or terms, such individual shall be entitled to a retroactive payment of the benefits for each week for which the individual filed a timely claim for benefits and for which benefits were denied solely by reason of this subdivision.
(3) With respect to any services described in subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection, benefits shall not be payable on the basis of services in any such capacities to any individual for any week that commences during an established and customary vacation period or holiday recess if such individual performs such services in the period immediately before such vacation period or holiday recess, and there is a reasonable assurance that such individual will perform such services in the period immediately following such vacation period or holiday recess.
(4) With respect to any services described in subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection, benefits shall not be payable on the basis of services in any such capacities as specified in subdivisions (1), (2), and (3) to any individual who performed such services in an educational institution while in the employ of an educational service agency. As used in this subdivision, the term “educational service agency” means a governmental agency or governmental entity that is established and operated exclusively for the purpose of providing such services to one or more educational institutions.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any otherwise eligible claimant who was separated from employment due to an accident or injury resulting in a temporary total disability for which the claimant received workers’ compensation benefits under chapter 9 of this title shall be entitled to receive, after the termination of the period of temporary total disability, benefits that would have been available at the time of separation from employment. Payment of benefits for any week under this section shall be made only if, at the time the claimant files the initial claim, he or she was not monetarily eligible for benefits under subsection 1338(d) of this title and the claim is filed within six months after the termination of the period of temporary total disability.
(e) After December 31, 1977, benefits shall not be paid to any individual on the basis of any services, substantially all of which consist of participating in sports or athletic events or training or preparing to so participate, for any week that commences during the period between two successive sport seasons, or similar periods, if such individual performed such services in the first of such seasons, or similar periods, and there is a reasonable assurance that such individual will perform such services in the later of such seasons, or similar periods.
(f)(1) After December 31, 1977, benefits shall not be payable on the basis of services performed by an alien unless such alien is an individual who was lawfully admitted for permanent residence at the time the services were performed, was lawfully present for purposes of performing the services, or was permanently residing in the United States under color of law at the time the services were performed, including an alien who was lawfully present in the United States as a result of the application of the provisions of section 203(a)(7) or section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Provided, that any modifications to the provisions of section 3304(a)(14) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act as provided by Public Law 94-566 that specify other conditions or other effective date than stated herein for the denial of benefits based on services performed by aliens and which modifications are required to be implemented under State law as a condition for full tax credit against the tax imposed by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, shall be deemed applicable under the provisions of this section.
(2) Any data or information required of individuals applying for benefits to determine whether benefits are not payable to them because of their alien status shall be uniformly required from all applicants for benefits.
(3) In the case of an individual whose application for benefits would otherwise be approved, no determination that benefits to such individual are not payable because of his or her alien status shall be made except upon a preponderance of the evidence. (Amended 1959, No. 51, § 3; 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1963, No. 84, § 4; 1965, No. 94, eff. June 14, 1965; 1971, No. 77, § 6, eff. Dec. 31, 1971; 1977, No. 64, §§ 17, 24, eff. Jan. 1, 1978; 1981, No. 86, § 1, eff. May 3, 1981, § 12, eff. May 10, 1981; 1981, No. 182 (Adj. Sess.); 1983, No. 16, § 9, eff. April 4, 1983; 1983, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 4, 5, eff. April 1, 1984; 1989, No. 132 (Adj. Sess.), § 6; 1991, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 1993, No. 177 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 1997, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 8; 1999, No. 126 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2001, No. 56, § 4; 2009, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 6, eff. July 1, 2012; 2009, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 16, eff. July 1, 2017; 2013, No. 173 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 2017, No. 74, § 51.)
§ 1344. Disqualifications
(a) An individual shall be disqualified for benefits:
(1) For not more than 15 weeks nor less than six weeks immediately following the filing of a claim for benefits, in addition to any applicable waiting period, as may be determined by the Commissioner according to the circumstances in each case, if the Commissioner finds that:
(A) The individual has been discharged by the individual’s last employing unit for misconduct connected with the individual’s work.
(B) The individual was separated from the individual’s last employing unit because the individual became unable to perform all or an essential part of the individual’s normal duties in the employment without good cause attributable to the employing unit because of the consequences that flow from the individual’s conviction for a felony or misdemeanor or from an action or order of a judge or court in any criminal or civil matter. In the event a conviction or the action or order of any judge or court in any criminal or civil matter is rescinded or expunged, the individual may be eligible for benefits from the time the individual would have otherwise been eligible for benefits.
(2) For any week benefits are claimed, except as provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection, until the individual has presented evidence to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that the individual has performed services in employment for a bona fide employer and has had earnings in excess of six times the individual’s weekly benefit amount if the Commissioner finds that the individual is unemployed because:
(A) The individual left the employ of the individual’s last employing unit voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employing unit. An individual shall not suffer more than one disqualification by reason of such separation. However, an individual shall not be disqualified for benefits if the individual left such employment to accompany a spouse who:
(i) is on active duty with the U.S. Armed Forces and is required to relocate due to permanent change of station orders, activation orders, or unit deployment orders, and when such relocation would make it impractical or impossible, as determined by the Commissioner, for the individual to continue working for such employing unit; or
(ii) holds a commission in the U.S. Foreign Service and is assigned overseas, and when such relocation would make it impractical or impossible, as determined by the Commissioner, for the individual to continue working for such employing unit.
(B) The individual has been discharged by the individual’s last employing unit for gross misconduct connected with the individual’s work. As used in this section, “gross misconduct” means conduct directly related to the employee’s work performance that demonstrates a flagrant, wanton, and intentional disregard of the employer’s business interest and that has direct and significant impact upon the employer’s business interest, including theft, fraud, intoxication, intentional serious damage to property, intentional infliction of personal injury, any conduct that constitutes a felony, or repeated incidents after written warning of either unprovoked insubordination or public use of profanity. An individual shall not suffer more than one disqualification by reason of such separation.
(C) The individual has failed, without good cause, either to apply for available, suitable work when directed by the employment office or the Commissioner, or to accept suitable work when offered, or has during the course of a job interview for available employment made verbal statements that are either untrue, show an unreasonable lack of interest, or are calculated to preclude an offer of work or a directive being made, or to return to the individual’s customary self-employment, if any, when directed by the Commissioner. An individual shall not suffer more than one disqualification for these causes.
(D) In determining whether or not any work or employment is suitable for an individual for purposes of this subdivision, the Commissioner shall consider the degree of risk involved to the individual’s health, safety, and morals; the individual’s physical fitness and prior training; the individual’s experience and prior earnings; the individual’s length of unemployment and prospects for securing local work in the individual’s customary occupation; and the distance of the available work from the individual’s residence.
(E) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, no work shall be deemed suitable and benefits shall not be denied under this chapter to any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new work under any of the following conditions:
(i) if the position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout, or other dispute;
(ii) if the wages, hours, or other conditions of the work offered are substantially less favorable to the individual than those prevailing for similar work in the locality;
(iii) if, as a condition of being employed, the individual would be required to join a union or to resign from or refrain from joining any bona fide labor organization.
(F)(i) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter:
(I) An otherwise eligible individual shall not be denied benefits for any week if the individual is in training approved under section 236(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. § 2296(a), or the individual is in approved training by reason of leaving work to enter training, provided the work left is not suitable employment as defined in section 236(e) of the Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. § 2296(e).
(II) An otherwise eligible individual shall not be denied benefits for any week because of the application to any week in approved training of provisions in this law, or any federal unemployment insurance law administered by the Department, relating to availability for work, active search for work, or refusal to accept work.
(ii) Benefits paid to an eligible claimant regularly attending a training course approved under the Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. § 2296(e), following a refusal of work or leaving of unsuitable work shall not be charged against the experience-rating record of any employer but shall be charged to the Fund.
(G) [Repealed.]
(H) [Repealed.]
(3) For not more than six weeks nor less than one week immediately following the filing of a claim for benefits (in addition to any applicable waiting period), as may be determined by the Commissioner according to the circumstances in each case, if the Commissioner finds that the individual has left the employ of the individual’s last employing unit without good cause attributable to the employing unit because of a health condition, as certified by a health care provider, as defined in 18 V.S.A. § 9432(9), that precludes the discharge of duties inherent in such employment.
(4) For any week with respect to which the Commissioner finds that the individual’s total or partial unemployment is due to a stoppage of work that exists because of a labor dispute at the factory, establishment, or other premises at which the individual is or was last employed, provided that this subdivision shall not apply if:
(A) the individual is not participating in or financing or directly interested in the labor dispute that caused the stoppage of work; or
(B) the stoppage of work was due solely to a lockout, effected by the employer in order to gain some concession from employees. A lockout does not include a temporary suspension of work in response to:
(i) actual or imminent damage to property of the employer; or
(ii) a purposeful effort by employees to reduce productivity.
(5) For any week with respect to which the individual is receiving or has received remuneration in the form of any of the following:
(A) Wages in lieu of notice.
(B) Vacation pay or holiday pay, provided that:
(i) Vacation pay due at time of separation in accordance with a work agreement (whether a formal contract or established custom) shall be allocated to the period immediately following separation, or if due subsequent to separation, it shall be allocated to the week in which due or the next following week, and that number of weeks immediately following as required to equal the total of the weeks of pay due. Any mutual agreement between the employer and employee(s) (whether or not payment is made), allocating such remuneration to any period during which work is performed, within four weeks prior to the date of separation, shall not be valid for the purpose of determining unemployment compensation entitlement or waiting period credit purposes and such payment shall be allocated to the period immediately following separation.
(ii) There shall be no disqualification amount for any holiday.
(C) Severance pay, back pay awards, and back pay settlements. These payments, awards, and settlements shall be allocated to the week(s) and in the manner as specified in the order or agreement, or, in the absence of such specificity, to the week(s) and in the manner that, in the judgment of the Commissioner, would be reasonable.
(D) Compensation for temporary partial disability or temporary total disability under the workers’ compensation law of any state or under a similar law of the United States.
(E)(i) A pension under a plan maintained or contributed to by a base period or chargeable employer, which shall include a governmental or other pension, retirement or retired pay, annuity, or any other similar periodic payment. The weekly benefit amount payable to an individual for the week in which the individual receives remuneration from a pension, retirement or retired pay, annuity, or similar payment shall be reduced, but not below zero:
(I) by the entire prorated weekly amount of the pension if no contributions to the plan were made by the individual;
(II) by no part of the pension if the entire contributions to the plan were provided by the individual, or by the individual and an employer, or any other person or organization; or
(III) by no part of the pension if the services performed by the individual during the base period, or remuneration received for the services, for the employer did not affect the individual’s eligibility for, or increase the amount of, the pension, retirement or retired pay, annuity, or similar payment.
(ii) If the remuneration specified in this subdivision, after applying the provisions of this subdivision, is less than the benefits that would otherwise be due under this chapter, the individual shall be entitled to receive for the week, if otherwise eligible, benefits reduced by the amount of the remuneration, after applying the provisions of this subdivision, and after rounding the remuneration to the next higher dollar, and the provisions of subdivision 1301(9) and sections 1338a and 1339 of this title do not apply.
(F) [Repealed.]
(6) For any week with respect to which or a part of which the individual has received or is seeking to receive unemployment benefits under an unemployment compensation law of another state or of the United States, provided that if the appropriate agency of the other state or of the United States finally determines that the individual is not entitled to unemployment benefits, this disqualification shall not apply.
(b) In periods of “high level unemployment” an individual shall be disqualified for benefits for not more than 12 nor less than six consecutive weeks immediately following the filing of a claim for benefits, as may be determined by the Commissioner according to the circumstances, when it is found that the individual would otherwise be disqualified under the provisions of subdivision (a)(2)(A) of this section, and except that the disqualification provided by this subdivision shall terminate if an individual has performed service in any employment as provided by subdivision (a)(2) of this section.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any individual who has been disqualified for regular or extended benefits pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (a)(1) or (a)(3) of this section shall not be eligible to receive extended benefits with respect to any week of unemployment in the individual’s eligibility period unless the individual has been employed after the beginning date of such disqualification and has earned in excess of four times the individual’s weekly benefit amount. (Amended 1959, No. 236; 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1971, No. 77, § 8, eff. Dec. 31, 1971; 1973, No. 155 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. March 15, 1974; 1973, No. 231 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1977, No. 64, §§ 18, 19, 25(b); 1979, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.), § 9, eff. March 31, 1980; 1981, No. 86, §§ 3, 6, 13; 1981, No. 165 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1981, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. Oct. 1, 1982; 1983, No. 16, § 11, eff. April 4, 1983; 1987, No. 179 (Adj. Sess.); 1989, No. 62; 1993, No. 177 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 4-6; 1999, No. 126 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2009, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. July 1, 2011; 2013, No. 173 (Adj. Sess.), § 10; 2017, No. 74, § 52; 2019, No. 91 (Adj. Sess.), § 31, eff. March 30, 2020; 2019, No. 91 (Adj. Sess.), § 33, eff. Oct. 1, 2021; 2021, No. 20, § 222; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 410, eff. July 1, 2022; 2023, No. 6, § 252, eff. July 1, 2023.)
§ 1345. Repealed. 1971, No. 77, § 8, eff. Dec. 31, 1971.
§ 1346. Claims for benefits; rules; notice
(a) Claims for benefits shall be made in accordance with rules adopted by the Board.
(b) Every person making a claim shall certify that he or she has not, during the week with respect to which waiting period credit or benefits are claimed, earned or received wages or other remuneration for any employment, whether subject to this chapter or not, otherwise than as specified in his or her claim. All benefits shall be paid in accordance with the rules adopted by the Board.
(c)(1) An employer shall post notice of how an unemployed individual can seek unemployment benefits in a form provided by the Commissioner in a place conspicuous to individuals performing services for the employer. The notice shall also advise individuals of their rights under the Domestic and Sexual Violence Survivor’s Transitional Employment Program, established pursuant to chapter 16A of this title. The Commissioner shall provide a copy of the notice to an employer upon request without cost to the employer.
(2) An employer shall provide an individual with notification of the availability of unemployment compensation at the time of the individual’s separation from employment. The notification may be based on model notification language provided by the U.S. Secretary of Labor. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1973, No. 155 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. March 15, 1974; 2019, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 19, eff. Feb. 20, 2020; 2019, No. 91 (Adj. Sess.), § 34, eff. March 30, 2020.)
§ 1347. Nondisclosure or misrepresentation
(a) Any person who fails, without good cause, to make reasonable effort to secure suitable work when directed to do so by the employment office or the Commissioner and has received any amount as benefits under this chapter with respect to weeks for which the person is determined to be ineligible for such failure, and any person who by nondisclosure or misrepresentation by him or her, or by another, of a material fact (irrespective of whether such nondisclosure or misrepresentation was known or fraudulent) has received any amount as benefits under this chapter while any conditions for the receipt of benefits imposed by this chapter were not fulfilled in his or her case or while he or she was disqualified from receiving benefits, shall be liable for such amount. Notice of determination in such cases shall specify that the person is liable to repay to the Fund the amount of overpaid benefits, the basis of the overpayment, and the week or weeks for which such benefits were paid. The determination shall be made within three years from the date of such overpayment.
(b) Any person who receives remuneration described in subdivision 1344(a)(5) of this title that is allocable in whole or in part to prior weeks during which he or she received any amounts as benefits under this chapter shall be liable for all such amounts of benefits or those portions of such amounts equal to the portions of such remuneration properly allocable to the weeks in question. Notice of determination in such cases shall specify that the person is liable to repay to the Fund the amount of overpaid benefits, the basis of the overpayment, and the week or weeks for which such benefits were paid. The determination shall be made within three years from the date of such overpayment or within one year from the date of receipt of the remuneration, whichever period is longer.
(c) The person liable under this section shall repay such amount to the Commissioner for the Fund. In addition to the repayment, if the Commissioner finds that a person intentionally misrepresented or failed to disclose a material fact with respect to his or her claim for benefits, the person shall pay an additional penalty of 15 percent of the amount of the overpaid benefits. Any additional penalty amount collected shall be deposited in the Fund. Such amount may be collectible by civil action in the Superior Court, in the name of the Commissioner.
(d) In any case in which under this section a person is liable to repay any amount to the Commissioner for the Fund, the Commissioner may withhold, in whole or in part, any future benefits payable to such person, and credit such withheld benefits against the amount due from such person until it is repaid in full, less any penalties assessed under subsection (c) of this section.
(e) In addition to the foregoing, when it is found by the Commissioner that a person intentionally misrepresented or failed to disclose a material fact with respect to his or her claim for benefits and in the event the person is not prosecuted under section 1368 of this title and penalty provided in section 1373 of this title is not imposed, the person shall be disqualified and shall not be entitled to receive benefits to which he or she would otherwise be entitled after the determination for such number of weeks not exceeding 26 as the Commissioner shall deem just. The notice of determination shall also specify the period of disqualification imposed hereunder.
(f) Interested parties shall have the right to appeal from any determination under this section and the same procedure shall be followed as provided for in subsection 1348(a) and section 1349 of this title. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1965, No. 74, eff. May 26, 1965; 1969, No. 205 (Adj. Sess.); 1973, No. 155 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. March 15, 1974; 1981, No. 86, § 14, eff. May 10, 1981; 1987, No. 100, § 3; 1993, No. 177 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; 1995, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1, 2; 1997, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2011, No. 162 (Adj. Sess.), § E.401.2; 2013, No. 179 (Adj. Sess.), § E.400.1; 2017, No. 74, § 53.)
§ 1348. Procedure
(a) An authorized representative of the Commissioner shall pass upon each claim for benefits as provided in this chapter and shall, after such filing, promptly award such benefits as shall be found to be payable under the provisions of this chapter. Prompt notice in writing of the determination of such representative and reasons therefor in respect to such claim shall be given to the claimant, his or her last employer, all other interested parties, and the Commissioner. Any interested party may, within 30 days after notice thereof, file an appeal from the determination with an appeals referee employed by the Commissioner. Such appeal shall, after notice to the claimant, his or her last employer, and all other interested parties, be heard at a place as convenient to the parties as, in the judgment of the referee, is practical, within 30 days after such appeal is filed with the referee; after the hearing the determination shall be sustained, modified, or set aside by the referee as may be warranted. Prompt notice in writing of the decision of the referee and the reasons therefor shall be given.
(b) The authorized representative of the Commissioner may, for good cause, at any time within one year after date of the original determination, reconsider an award of benefits or the denial of a claim therefor, and may issue a redetermination which may award, terminate, continue, increase, or decrease such benefits. Such redetermination shall not affect any benefits paid before the date thereof under authority of the prior determination in the absence of nondisclosure or misrepresentation of a material fact. Prompt notice in writing of such redetermination and the reasons therefor shall be given to the claimant, his or her last employer, and all other interested parties any of whom shall have the same right to appeal and the same procedure shall be followed as provided for in case of appeal from the original determination. (Amended 1959, No. 117; 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1965, No. 66, eff. May 19, 1965; 1989, No. 8, § 7.)
§ 1349. Appeals to Board; Supreme Court appeal
Within 30 days after date thereof, an interested party may appeal from the decision of the referee to the Board, by filing a written request therefor in the manner prescribed by regulations of the Board. The appeal shall be heard by the Board after notice to the claimant and his or her last employer, within a reasonable time after notice of the appeal is filed, and the Board may affirm, modify, or reverse the decision of the referee solely on the basis of evidence in the record transferred to it by the referee, or upon the basis of evidence in the record and such additional evidence as it may direct to be taken. Upon motion made by the Commissioner, a review may be initiated by the Board of a decision of the referee or a benefit determination. The Board shall make its findings of fact and conclusions thereon. Prompt notice of the findings of fact, ruling of law, conclusions, and decision of the Board shall be given as hereinabove provided. The decision shall be final unless an appeal to the Supreme Court is taken. Testimony given at any hearing upon a disputed claim shall be recorded, but the record need not be transcribed unless ordered. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 11, eff. July 11, 1961; 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 196, eff. March 29, 1972; 1989, No. 8, § 8.)
§ 1350. Interested party disqualified on behalf of Commissioner
A person shall not participate on behalf of the Commissioner in any case in which he or she is an interested party. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1351. Procedure
The manner in which disputed claims shall be presented and the conduct of hearings before the Commissioner, a referee, and the Board shall be governed by suitable rules and regulations established by the Board. The Commissioner, the referee, and the Board shall not be bound by common law or statutory rules of evidence or by technical or formal rules of procedure except as provided in this chapter, but may conduct a hearing or trial in such manner as to ascertain the substantial rights of the parties. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 12, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1352. Witnesses; fees
In the discharge of his or her duties prescribed by this chapter, any member of the Board, a referee, and any authorized agent of the Commissioner shall have power to administer oaths, take depositions, certify to official acts, and by subpoena compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, documents, and records, necessary and material to be used in connection with any disputed claim. Witnesses summoned by a member of the Board, a referee, or an agent of the Commissioner in proceedings within this section shall be paid the same fees as witnesses summoned to appear before a Criminal Division of the Superior Court in civil causes. Such fees shall be paid out of the Vermont Employment Security Board Administration Fund. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 13, eff. July 11, 1961; 1973, No. 249 (Adj. Sess.), § 75, eff. April 9, 1974; 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 238.)
§ 1353. Collateral use prohibited
Any determination, redetermination, finding of fact, conclusion of law, decision, final order, or final judgment entered or made by a claims adjudicator or other authorized representative of the Commissioner, an appeals referee, the Employment Security Board, or a court of competent jurisdiction in any type of proceeding under this chapter is binding only between the Department and all parties in that proceeding and is not binding, conclusive, or admissible in any separate or subsequent action between an individual and his or her present or former employer brought before an arbitrator, court, or judge of this State or of the United States, regardless of whether the prior proceeding was between the same or related parties or involved the same facts. (Added 1989, No. 132 (Adj. Sess.), § 7.)
§§ 1354, 1355. Repealed. 1961, No. 210, § 17, eff. July 11, 1961.
§ 1356. Limitation of fees
An individual shall not be charged fees of any kind by the Commissioner or his or her representatives, a referee, or the Board in any proceeding under this chapter. An individual claiming benefits in any such proceeding may be represented by counsel or other authorized agent; but no such counsel or agents shall together charge or receive for such services from any individual more than 10 percent of the maximum benefits at issue in such proceedings or court action, except as the Board or the court may allow in exceptional circumstances. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 14, eff. July 11, 1961; 1965, No. 75, § 1, eff. May 26, 1965.)
§ 1357. Notices; form and service
Notices required under the provisions of this chapter, unless otherwise provided herein or by rules of court promulgated by the Supreme Court, shall be deemed sufficient if given in writing and delivered to the person entitled thereto by an agent of the Commissioner, or sent by ordinary or certified mail to the last address of the person appearing upon the records of the Commissioner. The manner of service shall be certified by the agent of the Commissioner making the service. Regardless of the manner of service, appeal periods shall commence to run from the date of the determination or decision rendered. In the event that a person to whom a notice has been sent files with the Commissioner within 60 days from date of said notice a sworn statement to the effect that the notice was not received, or if the Commissioner is satisfied that the addressee did not receive the notice, a new notice shall be sent to that person and the appeal period shall commence to run from the date on which the new notice is sent. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 197, eff. March 29, 1972; 1987, No. 100, § 4; 1989, No. 8, § 9; 1991, No. 82, § 7.)
§ 1358. Unemployment Compensation Fund; establishment and control
There is hereby established as a special fund, to be kept separate and apart from all other public monies or funds of this State, an Unemployment Compensation Fund, which shall be administered by the Commissioner exclusively for the purposes of this chapter. This Fund shall consist of (1) all contributions collected under this chapter; (2) interest earned upon any monies in the Fund; (3) any property or securities acquired through the use of monies belonging to the Fund; (4) all earnings of such property or securities; (5) all money credited to this State’s account in the Unemployment Trust Fund pursuant to section 903 of the Social Security Act as amended; and (6) all other monies received for the Fund from any other source. All monies in the Fund shall be mingled and undivided. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1967, No. 190, § 1, eff. April 17, 1967.)
§ 1359. Administration of Unemployment Compensation Fund
(a) The Fund shall be administered in trust and used solely to pay benefits and refunds upon vouchers drawn on the Fund by the Commissioner pursuant to this chapter and to such rules as the Board is authorized to adopt, except that money credited to this State’s account under Section 903 of the Social Security Act, as amended, shall be used exclusively as provided in subsection (b) of this section. There shall be maintained within the Fund three separate fund accounts: (1) a clearing account; (2) an Unemployment Trust Fund account; and (3) a benefit account. All monies payable to the Fund upon receipt thereof shall be immediately deposited in the clearing account, and, after clearance thereof, shall, except that the monies may be expended for the payment of refunds under this chapter, be deposited immediately with the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to the credit of the Unemployment Trust Fund account of the State of Vermont in the Unemployment Trust Fund established and maintained pursuant to the act of Congress designated as the Social Security Act, as amended. The Commissioner shall requisition from the Vermont Unemployment Trust Fund account such amounts from time to time as are necessary for and to be used solely in the payment of benefits and refunds under this chapter. The requisitioned sums shall be deposited in the benefit account. Any monies so withdrawn shall not be used for expenses of administration or any purpose other than the payment of benefits and refunds under this chapter. Requirements with respect to specific appropriation or other formal release by State officers of monies belonging to the State shall not be applicable to withdrawals from the Fund.
(b) Money credited to the account of this State in the Unemployment Trust Fund by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America under section 903 of the Social Security Act, as amended:
(1) may not be requisitioned from this State’s account or used except for the payment of benefits and for the payment of expenses incurred for the administration of this chapter. Such money may be requisitioned under subsection (a) of this section for the payment of benefits. That money may also be requisitioned and used for the payment of expenses incurred for the administration of this chapter but only under a specific appropriation by the Legislature and only if the expenses are incurred and the money is requisitioned after the enactment of an appropriation law which:
(A) specifies the purpose for which the money is appropriated and the amount appropriated therefor;
(B) limits the period within which the money may be obligated to a period ending not more than two years after the date of the enactment of the appropriation law; and
(C) limits the amount which may be obligated during any 12-month period beginning on July 1 and ending on the next June 30, including the 12-month period which began on July 1, 1968 and ends on June 30, 1969, to an amount which does not exceed the amount by which:
(i) the aggregate of the amounts credited to the account of this State under Section 903 of the Social Security Act, as amended, during the same 12-month period and the 14 preceding 12-month periods, exceeds
(ii) the aggregate of the amount obligated for administration and paid out for benefits and charged against the amounts credited to the account of this State during those 15 12-month periods.
(2) which is obligated for administration or paid out for benefits shall be charged against equivalent amounts which were first credited and which are not already so charged; except that no amount obligated for administration during a 12-month period specified herein may be charged against any amount credited during such a 12-month period earlier than the 14th preceding such period. Amounts credited to this State’s account in the Unemployment Trust Fund under Section 903 of the Social Security Act, as amended, which has been appropriated for expenses of administration shall be excluded from the Unemployment Compensation Fund balance for the purposes of section 1326 of this title.
(c) Money appropriated as provided herein for the payment of expenses of administration shall be requisitioned as needed for the payment of obligations incurred under the appropriation and, upon requisition, shall be deposited in the Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund from which those payments shall be made. Money so deposited shall, until expended, remain a part of the Unemployment Compensation Fund and, if it will not be expended, shall be returned promptly to the account of this State in the Unemployment Trust Fund. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1967, No. 190, § 2, eff. April 17, 1967; 1969, No. 77, eff. April 18, 1969; 2015, No. 23, § 120.)
§ 1360. Treasurer
The Commissioner shall designate a treasurer of the Fund, who shall pay all vouchers duly drawn upon the Fund, in such manner as the Commissioner may prescribe. He or she shall have custody of all monies belonging to the Fund and not otherwise held or deposited or invested pursuant to this chapter. The treasurer shall give bond conditioned on the faithful performance of his or her duties as treasurer of the Fund in an amount specified by the Commissioner and approved by the Governor. All premiums upon bonds required pursuant to this section when furnished by an authorized surety company shall be paid from the Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund. The treasurer shall deposit the monies constituting the Fund, under the supervision and control of the Commissioner, according to the provisions of this chapter. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1361. Management of Funds upon discontinuance of Unemployment Trust Fund
The provisions of sections 1358-1360 of this title to the extent that they relate to the Unemployment Trust Fund, shall be operative only so long as such Unemployment Trust Fund continues to exist and so long as the Secretary of the Treasury continues to maintain for this State a separate book account of all Funds deposited therein by this State for benefit purposes, together with this State’s proportionate share of the earnings of such Unemployment Trust Fund, from which only the Commissioner of Labor is permitted to make withdrawals. If and when such Unemployment Trust Fund shall no longer be required by the laws of the United States to be maintained as aforesaid as a condition of approval of this chapter as provided in Title III of the Social Security Act, then all monies, properties, or securities therein, belonging to the Unemployment Compensation Fund of this State, shall be transferred to the treasurer of the Unemployment Compensation Fund, who shall hold, invest, transfer, sell, deposit, and release such monies, properties, or securities in a manner approved by the Commissioner and appropriate for trust funds, subject to all claims for benefits under this chapter. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1981, No. 66, § 5(b), eff. May 1, 1981; 2005, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 5, 2006.)
§ 1362. Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund
There is hereby created the Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund to consist of all monies received by the State or by the Commissioner for the administration of this chapter. This special fund shall be handled through the State Treasurer as other State monies are handled, but it shall be expended solely for the purposes and in the amounts found necessary by the Secretary of Labor for the proper and efficient administration of such chapter and its balance shall not lapse at any time but shall remain continuously available to the Commissioner for expenditures consistent herewith. All federal monies allotted or apportioned to the State by the Secretary of Labor, or other agency, for the administration of this chapter shall be paid into the Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund and are hereby appropriated to such Fund. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1362a. [Repealed.]
§ 1363. Expenditures
All monies made available by or received by the State for the State employment service, as provided in chapter 15 of this title, shall be paid to and expended from the Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund, and a special employment service account shall be maintained for that purpose as a part of said Fund. For the purpose of establishing and maintaining free public employment offices, the Commissioner is authorized to enter into agreements with the Railroad Retirement Board or any other agency of the United States charged with the administration of an unemployment compensation law, with any political subdivision of this State or with any private, nonprofit organization, and as a part of any such agreement, the Commissioner may accept monies, services, or quarters as a contribution to the employment service account. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.). § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1364. Replacement
This State shall replace any monies received after July 1, 1941, from the Secretary of Labor under Title III of the Social Security Act, any unencumbered balances in the Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund as of that date, any monies thereafter granted to this State pursuant to the provisions of the Wagner-Peyser Act, and any monies made available by the State or its political subdivisions and matched by such monies granted to this State pursuant to the provisions of the Wagner-Peyser Act, which the Secretary of Labor finds after reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing to the Commissioner have, because of any action or contingency, been lost or have been expended for purposes other than, or in amounts in excess of, those found necessary by the Secretary of Labor for the proper administration of this chapter. In the event that there are insufficient funds in the Contingent Fund as provided in section 1365 of this title, such monies shall be promptly replaced by monies appropriated for such purpose from the general funds of this State to the Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund for expenditure as provided in sections 1362 and 1363 of this title. The Commissioner shall promptly report to the Governor, and the Governor to the General Assembly, the amount required for such replacement. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1365. Contingent Fund
There is hereby created a special fund to be known as the Contingent Fund. All interest, fines, and penalties collected under the provisions of the unemployment compensation law after April 1, 1947, together with any voluntary contributions tendered as a contribution to this Fund, shall be paid into this Fund. Such monies shall not be expended or available for expenditures in any manner which would permit their substitution for, or a corresponding reduction in, federal funds which would in the absence of such monies be available to finance expenditures for the administration of the unemployment compensation law. But nothing in this chapter shall prevent such monies from being used as a revolving fund to cover expenditures, necessary and proper under the law for which federal funds have been duly requested but not yet received, subject to the charging of such expenditures against such funds when received. The monies in this Fund shall be used by the Commissioner for the payment of costs of administration which are found not to have been properly and validly chargeable against federal grants, or other funds, received for or in the Unemployment Compensation Administration Fund on or after January 1, 1947. No expenditure of the Fund shall be made unless and until the Commissioner finds that no other funds are available or can properly be used to finance such expenditures. The State Treasurer shall co-sign all expenditures from this Fund authorized by the Commissioner. The monies in this Fund are hereby specifically made available to replace, within a reasonable time, any monies received by this State pursuant to section 302 of the federal Social Security Act, as amended, which because of any action or contingency, have been lost or have been expended for purposes other than, or in amounts in excess of, those necessary for the proper administration of the unemployment compensation law. The monies in this Fund shall be continuously available to the Commissioner for expenditure in accordance with the provisions of this section and shall not lapse at any time or be transferred to any other fund except as herein provided. Provided, however, that on December 31 of each year all monies in excess of $10,000.00 in this Fund shall be transferred to the Unemployment Compensation Fund. On or before March 31 of each year, an audit of this Fund will be completed and a report of that audit will be made public. In the event that a refund of interest, a fine, or a penalty is found necessary, and such interest, fine, or penalty has been deposited in the Contingent Fund, such refund shall be made from the Contingent Fund. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1983, No. 16, § 8, eff. April 4, 1983; 1985, No. 121 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. April 16, 1986.)
§ 1366. Protection of rights and benefits; waiver of rights void
No agreement by an employee to waive his or her right to benefit or any other right under this chapter shall be valid.
§ 1367. Benefits not subject to assignment or trustee process
Benefits which are due or may become due under this chapter shall not be assignable before payment, but this provision shall not affect the survival thereof; and when awarded, adjudged, or paid shall be exempt from all claims of creditors, and from levy, execution, attachment, and trustee process or other remedy now or hereafter provided for recovery or collection of debt. This exemption may not be waived.
§ 1367a. Child support intercept of unemployment benefits
(a) An individual filing a new claim for unemployment compensation shall, at the time of filing such claim, disclose whether or not the individual owes child support obligations as defined under subsection (f) of this section. If any such individual discloses that he or she owes child support obligations and is determined to be eligible for unemployment compensation, the Commissioner shall notify the state or local child support enforcement agency enforcing such obligation that the individual has been determined to be eligible for unemployment compensation.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 1366 and 1367 of this title, the Commissioner shall deduct and withhold from any unemployment compensation payable to an individual who owes child support obligations as defined under subsection (f) of this section:
(1) the amount specified by the individual to the Commissioner to be deducted and withheld under this subsection if neither subdivision (2) nor (3) of this subsection is applicable; or
(2) the amount (if any) determined pursuant to an agreement submitted to the Commissioner under Section 454(20)(B)(i) of the Social Security Act by the state or local child support enforcement agency, unless subdivision (3) of this subsection is applicable; or
(3) any amount otherwise required to be so deducted and withheld from such unemployment compensation pursuant to legal process (as that term is defined in Section 462(e) of the Social Security Act) properly served upon the Commissioner.
(c) Any amount deducted and withheld under subsection (b) of this section shall be paid by the Commissioner to the appropriate state or local child support enforcement agency.
(d) Any amount deducted and withheld under subsection (b) of this section shall for all purposes be treated as if it were paid to the individual as unemployment compensation and paid by such individual to the state or local child support enforcement agency in satisfaction of the individual’s child support obligations.
(e) For purposes of this section, the term “unemployment compensation” means any compensation payable under the state law (including amounts payable by the commissioner pursuant to an agreement under any federal law providing for compensation, assistance, or allowances with respect to unemployment).
(f) The term “child support obligations” is defined for purposes of these provisions as including only obligations which are being enforced pursuant to a plan described in Section 454 of the Social Security Act which has been approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act.
(g) The term “state or local child support enforcement agency” as used in this section means any agency of a state or political subdivision thereof operating pursuant to a plan described in subsection (f) of this section.
(h) The Commissioner shall implement the provisions of this section only if appropriate arrangements have been made for full reimbursement by the state or local child support enforcement agency for all administrative costs incurred by the Commissioner under this section which are attributable to child support obligations being enforced by the state or local child support enforcement agency. (Added 1981, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. Sept. 26, 1982.)
§ 1367b. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program intercept of unemployment benefits
(a) An individual filing a new claim for unemployment compensation shall, at the time of filing such claim, disclose whether he or she owes an uncollected overissuance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits as defined in 7 U.S.C. § 2022(c)(1). The Commissioner shall notify the State agency administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program enforcing such obligation of any individual who discloses that he or she owes an uncollected overissuance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and who is determined to be eligible for unemployment compensation.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 1366 and 1367 of this title, the Commissioner shall deduct and withhold from any unemployment compensation payable to an individual who owes an uncollected overissuance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefits:
(1) the amount specified by the individual to the Commissioner to be deducted and withheld under this section;
(2) the amount, if any, determined pursuant to an agreement submitted to the State agency administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under 7 U.S.C. § 2022(c)(3)(A); or
(3) any amount otherwise required to be deducted and withheld from unemployment compensation pursuant to 7 U.S.C. § 2022(c)(3)(B).
(c) Any amount deducted and withheld under subsection (b) of this section shall be paid by the Commissioner to the appropriate State agency administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
(d) Any amount deducted and withheld under subsection (b) of this section shall for all purposes be treated as if it were paid to the individual as unemployment compensation and paid by such individual to the State agency administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as repayment of the individual’s uncollected overissuance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
(e) As used in this section, the term “unemployment compensation” means any compensation payable under this chapter and any federal benefit payments made pursuant to agreements with the U.S. Department of Labor.
(f) This section applies only if arrangements have been made for reimbursement by the State agency administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for the administrative costs incurred by the Commissioner under this section which are attributable to the repayment of uncollected overissuances of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to the State agency administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
(g) Any deduction and withholding authorized by this section shall not exceed 25 percent of the individual’s weekly benefit amount. (Added 1997, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; amended 2013, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 126, eff. May 20, 2014.)
§ 1368. False statements to increase payments
A person shall not willfully and intentionally make a false statement or representation to obtain or increase any benefit or other payment under this chapter, either for himself, herself, or any other person.
§ 1369. False statements to avoid unemployment program obligations
A person who willfully makes a material false statement or representation to avoid becoming or remaining subject to this chapter, or to avoid or reduce a contribution or other payment required of an employer under this chapter for either herself or himself or for any other person, after notice and opportunity for hearing, may be assessed an administrative penalty of not more than $5,000.00. (Amended 2009, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 11.)
§ 1370. Furnishing reports
A person shall not willfully fail or refuse to furnish any reports duly required under this chapter or to submit his or her records to inspection when duly required under this chapter, or to make or require any deduction from wages to pay all or any portion of the contributions required from employers.
§ 1371. Each statement separate offense
Each such false statement or representation, and each day of such failure or refusal and each such deduction from wages as provided in this section and sections 1369 and 1370 of this title shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.
§ 1372. Violation by corporate agent
If the employer in question is a corporation, any official or agent thereof responsible for such falsehood, failure, or refusal mentioned in sections 1369-1371 of this title shall be subject to the penalties provided in section 1373 of this title.
§ 1373. General penalty; civil
A person who violates a provision of this chapter or any lawful rule or regulation of the Board, for which no other penalty is provided, shall be assessed an administrative penalty of not more than $5,000.00. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 2009, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 12.)
§ 1374. Representation in court
The Attorney General shall represent the Commissioner and State in any court action relating to this chapter or to its administration and enforcement, except as other counsel may be designated by the Commissioner with the approval of the Attorney General; provided however, in prosecutions under this chapter the State’s Attorney of the county wherein such offense occurs shall represent the State as in other causes. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1375. Jurisdiction
Concurrent jurisdiction of offenses under this chapter is vested in the Superior Court. (Amended 1965, No. 194, § 10; 1973, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 3.)
§ 1376. Limitation of liability of State
Benefits shall be deemed to be due and payable under this chapter only to the extent provided in this chapter and to the extent that monies are available therefor to the credit of the Unemployment Compensation Fund. Neither the State nor the Commissioner shall be liable for any amount in excess of such sums. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1377. Rights hereunder subject to legislative control
All the rights, privileges, or immunities conferred by this chapter or by acts done pursuant hereto shall exist subject to the power of the General Assembly to amend or repeal this chapter at any time; and there shall be no vested rights of any kind against such amendment or repeal or the termination of this chapter or the subdivisions of any of its provisions by its own terms.
§ 1378. Requirements for obtaining license or governmental contract
(a) For purposes of this section, “agency” means any unit of State government, including agencies, departments, boards, commissions, authorities, or public corporations.
(b) [Repealed.]
(c) Every agency shall, upon request, furnish to the Commissioner a list of licenses and contracts issued or renewed by such agency during the reporting period; provided, however, that the Secretary of State shall, with respect to certificates of authority to transact business issued to foreign corporations, furnish to the Commissioner only those certificates originally issued by the Secretary of State during the reporting period and not renewals of such certificates. The lists should include the name, address, Social Security or federal identification number of such licensee or provider, and such other information as the Commissioner may require.
(d) If the Commissioner determines that any employing unit that has agreed to furnish goods, services, or real estate space to any agency has neglected or refused to pay contributions or payments in lieu of contributions and that the employing unit’s liability for such contributions or payments in lieu of contributions is not under appeal, the Commissioner shall notify the agency and the employing unit in writing of the amount owed by such employing unit. Upon receipt of such notice, the agency shall thereafter transfer to the Commissioner any amounts that would otherwise be payable by the agency to the employing unit, up to the amount certified by the Commissioner. The Commissioner may treat any such payment as if it were a payment received from the employing unit.
(e) No agency of the State shall make final payment of any amount owed under a contract that contemplates the employment of any employing unit within the State or the use of any property within the State, or otherwise release any employing unit from the obligations of any such contract, unless such employing unit shall first obtain a certificate issued by the Commissioner that the employing unit is in good standing with respect to or in full compliance with a plan to pay any and all contributions or payments in lieu of contributions due as of the date of issuance of the certificate.
(f) Upon written request by the Commissioner and after notice and hearing to the employing unit as required under any applicable provision of law, an agency shall revoke or suspend any license or other authority to conduct a trade or business (including a license to practice a profession) issued to any employing unit if the agency finds that contributions or payments in lieu of contributions have not been paid and the employing unit’s liability for contributions or payments in lieu of contributions is not under appeal. For purposes of such findings, the written representation to that effect by the Commissioner to the agency shall constitute prima facie evidence thereof. The Commissioner shall have the right to intervene in any hearing conducted with respect to such license revocation or suspension. Any findings made by the agency with respect to such license revocation or suspension shall be made only for the purposes of such proceeding and shall not be relevant to or introduced in any other proceeding at law, except for any appeal from such license revocation or suspension. Any license or certificate of authority suspended or revoked under this section shall not be reissued or renewed until the agency receives a certificate issued by the Commissioner that the applicable employing unit is in good standing with respect to any and all contributions or payments in lieu of contributions payable to the Commissioner as of the date of issuance of such certificate. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the agency may appeal therefrom in accordance with the provisions of 3 V.S.A. chapter 25.
(g)(1) For the purposes of this section, a person is in good standing with respect to any and all contributions or payments in lieu of contributions payable if:
(A) no contributions or payments in lieu of contributions are due and payable;
(B) the liability for any contributions or payments in lieu of contributions due and payable is on appeal;
(C) the employing unit is in compliance with a payment plan approved by the Commissioner; or
(D) in the case of a licensee, the agency finds that requiring immediate payment of contributions or payments in lieu of contributions due and payable would impose an unreasonable hardship.
(2) If the agency finds an unreasonable hardship, it may condition renewal on terms that will place the person in good standing with respect to any and all contributions or payments in lieu of contributions as soon as reasonably possible. (Added 1993, No. 177 (Adj. Sess.), § 8; amended 2009, No. 42, §§ 33b, 33c; 2017, No. 74, § 54.)
[Repealed effective July 1, 2026.]
§ 1379. Complaint of misclassification; enforcement by Attorney General
(a) Following the referral of a complaint by the Commissioner of Labor pursuant to the provisions of section 3 of this title, the Attorney General may investigate a complaint that an employing unit or employer has committed a willful, substantial, or systemic violation of section 1314a of this chapter by failing to properly classify one or more employees and may enforce the provisions of this chapter by restraining prohibited acts, seeking civil penalties, obtaining assurances of discontinuance, and conducting civil investigations in accordance with the procedures established in 9 V.S.A. §§ 2458-2461 as though the misclassification of an employee is an unfair act in commerce. Any employing unit or employer complained against shall have the same rights and remedies as specified in 9 V.S.A. §§ 2458-2461. The Superior Court may impose the same civil penalties and investigation costs and order other relief to the State of Vermont or an aggrieved employee for the misclassification of an employee and any related violations of the provisions of this chapter as they are authorized to impose or order under the provisions of 9 V.S.A. §§ 2458 and 2461 in an unfair act in commerce. In addition, the Superior Court may order restitution of wages or other benefits on behalf of an employee and may order reinstatement and other appropriate relief on behalf of an employee.
(b)(1) The Attorney General shall share information and coordinate investigatory and enforcement resources with the Departments of Financial Regulation, of Labor, and of Taxes pursuant to the provisions of section 3 of this title.
(2) Upon receiving notice that the Attorney General has determined that an employing unit or employer has committed a violation of section 1314a of this chapter by failing to properly classify one or more employees, the Commissioners of Financial Regulation and of Taxes shall review whether the employing unit or employer is in compliance with the insurance or tax laws that are under their jurisdiction. (Added 2019, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. Feb. 20, 2020; repealed on July 1, 2026 by 2019, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 11(b).)
§ 1380. Repealed. 1977, No. 64, § 25(a), eff. Jan. 1, 1978.
§ 1381. Repealed. 1987, No. 100, § 5.
§ 1382. Repealed. 1977, No. 64, § 25(a), eff. Jan. 1, 1978.
§ 1383. Severability of provisions
It is hereby declared to be the purpose and intention of the General Assembly that the provisions of this chapter are severable and that the invalidity or ineffectiveness of any provision or provisions of such chapter shall not affect the validity or operative force of the remainder of the chapter except only that it is the legislative intent that the whole chapter shall fail if any one or more of the following and only of the following provisions, are finally determined to be invalid and ineffective:
(1) the exaction of contributions from employers as provided in sections 1321-1327 of this title;
(2) the requirement contained in section 1359 of this title providing for the deposit with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of all monies received in the Unemployment Fund and the use of monies requisitioned from the Secretary of the Treasury;
(3) the provisions of subdivision 1344 (a)(2)(C)-(E) of section 1344 of this title relating to the denial of compensation upon refusal to accept new work under certain circumstances;
(4) the provisions of section 1377 of this title barring vested rights under this chapter;
(5) the provisions of sections 1386-1388 of this title with respect to suspension or termination of operation of this chapter or parts thereof in the event of modification or invalidity of the Act of Congress designated as the Social Security Act.
§ 1384. Construction
This chapter is declared to be enacted in correlation with Titles III and IX of the Act of Congress approved August 14, 1935, designated as the Social Security Act, and with the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, and the expediency of certain provisions of this chapter depend as hereinafter set forth upon the scope and operation within this State of the provisions of said titles and of said act as originally enacted or as hereafter amended. If the Federal Unemployment Tax Act shall be interpreted or extended to impose within this State a tax with respect to employing units having in their employ less than four persons, or with respect to employing units having in their employ individuals who are not now in “employment” as defined in subdivision 1301(6)(C) of this title the Governor by proclamation within 10 days of the effective date of said extension shall so declare and thereupon and thereafter the word “employer” and the words “individual in employment,” as used in this chapter shall extend to and include in the first instance all employing units having in their employ such smaller number of persons and the individuals in their employ, and in the second instance all employing units having in their employ individuals who thereafter shall be in “employment” and the individuals in their employ. Said persons shall be treated as individuals in the employ of said employer with respect to contributions and eligibility for benefits under this chapter.
§ 1385. Contingent provisions
If the Federal Unemployment Tax Act has been or shall be amended, interpreted, or extended so that employing units not heretofore included under the definition of “employer,” as that term is used in this chapter, are included under such definition after said Act of Congress is so amended, interpreted, or extended, then, subject to other provisions of this chapter benefits shall become payable to any individual on the basis of wages earned in the employ of such newly defined employer, and such wages shall be available to any individual for determining his or her eligibility for benefits after the effective date of such extension, or after the date when such newly defined employer’s approved election to be so defined shall have made him or her subject to this chapter, and the benefit year of such individual shall have begun subsequent to the date such newly defined employer became subject to this chapter.
§ 1386. Operation dependent upon federal act
It is hereby declared to be the legislative judgment that the expediency and beneficial operation of this chapter are dependent upon the effective operation within this State of certain sections of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, and amendments thereto: (1) section 3301 of said Act imposing an excise tax upon employers as defined in said Act; (2) section 3302 allowing against said tax credits for contributions exacted of employers for an unemployment fund whether or not exacted in full of the particular taxpayer under certain circumstances; (3) section 3303 prescribing the conditions upon which said credits may be allowed in addition to actual payments by said taxpayer; (4) sections 3303 and 3304 requiring the certification for the purpose of said credits of state law and prescribing the conditions precedent of such certification. If any of said sections shall be repealed, amended, suspended, or finally declared invalid so as to deprive a contributor under this act of credits against the excise tax against him or her under said section 3301 of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, then any contribution required by this chapter, to the extent that by reason of said repeal, amendment, suspension, or declared invalidity of said federal act, a contributor is deprived of the benefit of such credit, shall be suspended as provided in section 1387 of this title.
§ 1387. Suspension of contributions
Whenever the Governor shall determine that the conditions of suspension of the contributions required by this chapter, as hereinbefore defined, exist by reason of any repeal, amendment, suspension, or declared invalidity of the federal Social Security Act or the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, he or she shall so declare by proclamation and thereupon the suspension hereinbefore provided shall become effective and continue for a period of two years from said date, subject to such legislative amendment, modification, or repeal as may be enacted within said period.
§ 1388. Invalidity of acts
If the federal Social Security Act or the Federal Unemployment Tax Act shall be finally held and determined to be wholly invalid or shall be repealed, then this chapter shall become wholly inoperative and ineffective except only that thereafter the Commissioner shall continue in office for the purpose of:
(1) recovering any monies on deposit with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States and the redistribution to contributors of all monies on hand in proportion to contributions received, said redistribution to be under the direction of a presiding judge of a Superior Court upon an action brought by the Commissioner against five or more employers; and
(2) doing any other act or thing necessary or proper to liquidate assets and discharge obligations of the office. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961.)
§ 1389. Repealed. 1977, No. 25(a), eff. Jan. 1, 1978.
- Subchapter 002: Extended Benefits Program
§ 1421. Definitions
The following words and phrases, as used in this subchapter, shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(1) “Extended benefit period” means a period which:
(A) begins with the third week after a week for which there is a State “on” indicator; and
(B) ends with either of the following weeks, whichever occurs later:
(i) the third week after the first week for which there is a State “off” indicator; or
(ii) the 13th consecutive week of such period;
(I) However, no extended benefit period may begin by reason of a State “on” indicator before the 14th week following the end of a prior extended benefit period which was in effect with respect to this State.
(2) State “on” indicator.
(A) There is a State “on” indicator for a week beginning after September 25, 1982 and before March 7, 1993, if the Commissioner determines, in accordance with the regulations of the Secretary of Labor of the United States, that, for the period consisting of such week and the immediately preceding 12 weeks, the rate of insured unemployment, not seasonally adjusted, under this chapter:
(i) equaled or exceeded six percent; or
(ii) equaled or exceeded five percent and equaled or exceeded 120 percent of the average of those rates for the corresponding 13-week period ending in each of the two preceding calendar years.
(B) There is a State “on” indicator for a week beginning after March 6, 1993, if:
(i) The requirements of either subdivision (A)(i) or (ii) of this subdivision (2) are satisfied; or
(ii) The average rate of total unemployment in this State (seasonally adjusted) for the period consisting of the most recent three months for which data for all states are published before the close of such week:
(I) equaled or exceeded 6.5 percent; and
(II) equaled or exceeded 110 percent of such average rate for either (or both) of the corresponding three-month periods ending in the two preceding calendar years.
(3) State “off” indicator.
(A) There is a State “off” indicator for a week beginning after September 25, 1982 and before March 7, 1993, if the Commissioner determines, in accordance with the regulations of the Secretary of Labor of the United States, that, for the period consisting of that week and the immediately preceding 12 weeks, the rate of insured unemployment, not seasonally adjusted, under this chapter was:
(i) less than five percent; or
(ii) less than six percent and less than 120 percent of the average of those rates for the corresponding 13-week period ending in each of the preceding two calendar years.
(B) There is a State “off” indicator for a week beginning after March 6, 1993, if there would be a State “off” indicator pursuant to subdivision (3)(A) of this section and the requirements of either subdivision (2)(B)(ii)(I) or (II) of this section are not satisfied.
(4) “Rate of insured unemployment” and “rate of total unemployment.”
(A) “Rate of insured unemployment,” for purposes of subdivisions (2)(A) and (3)(A) of this section, means the percentage derived by dividing the average weekly number of individuals filing claims for regular benefits in this State for weeks of unemployment with respect to the most recent 13-consecutive-week period, as determined by the Commissioner on the basis of his or her reports to the Secretary of Labor of the United States, by the average monthly employment covered under this chapter for the first four of the most recent six completed calendar quarters ending before the end of the 13-week period.
(B) For purposes of subdivisions (2)(B) and (3)(B) of this section, determinations of the “rate of total unemployment” in this State for any period (and of any seasonal adjustment) shall be made by the Secretary of Labor of the United States.
(5) “Regular benefits” mean benefits payable to an individual under this chapter or under any other State law, including benefits payable to federal civilian employees and to ex-servicemen pursuant to chapter 85 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, other than extended benefits.
(6) “Extended benefits” mean benefits, including benefits payable to federal civilian employees and to ex-servicemen pursuant to chapter 85 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, payable to an individual under the provisions of this section for weeks of unemployment in his or her eligibility period.
(7) “Eligibility period” of an individual means the period consisting of weeks in his or her benefit year which begin in an extended benefit period and, if his or her benefit year ends within the extended benefit period, any weeks thereafter which begin in that period.
(8) “Exhaustee” means an individual who, with respect to any week of unemployment in his or her eligibility period:
(A) has received, prior to such week, all of the regular benefits that were available to him or her under this chapter or any other state law, including dependent’s allowances and benefits payable to federal civilian employees and ex-servicemen under chapter 85 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, in his or her current benefit year that includes the week; provided that, for the purposes of this subdivision, an individual shall be deemed to have received all of the regular benefits that were available to him or her although as a result of a pending appeal with respect to wages or employment that were not considered in the original monetary determination in his or her benefit year, he or she may subsequently be determined to be entitled to added regular benefits; or
(B) his or her benefit year having expired prior to the week, has no, or insufficient, wages or employment on the basis of which he or she could establish a new benefit year that would include that week; and
(C) has no right to unemployment benefits or allowances, as the case may be, under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, and such other federal laws as are specified in regulations issued by the Secretary of Labor of the United States; and has not received and is not seeking unemployment benefits under the unemployment compensation law of Canada; but if he or she is seeking such benefits and the appropriate agency finally determines that he or she is not entitled to benefits under such law he or she is considered an exhaustee.
(9) “State law” means the unemployment insurance law of any state, approved by the Secretary of Labor of the United States under section 3304 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(10) “Suitable work” means, with respect to any individual, any work which is within the individual’s capabilities; except that, if the individual furnished evidence satisfactory to the Commissioner that the individual’s prospects for obtaining work in his or her customary occupation within a reasonably short period are good, the determination of whether any work is suitable work with respect to the individual shall be made in accordance with the provisions of subdivision 1344(a)(2) of this title. (Added 1971, No. 1, § 2, eff. Oct. 11, 1970; amended 1973, No. 231 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. April 3, 1974; 1977, No. 64, § 20, eff. May 1, 1977; 1979, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. March 31, 1980; 1981, No. 86, § 5, eff. April 5, 1981; 1981, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. Sept. 25, 1982; 1993, No. 58, § 1, eff. June 3, 1993.)
§ 1422. Regular and extended benefits
Except when the result would be inconsistent with the other provisions of this subchapter the provisions of this chapter which apply to claims for, or the payment of, regular benefits shall apply to claims for, and the payment of, extended benefits. (Added 1971, No. 1, § 2, eff. Oct. 11, 1970.)
§ 1423. Eligibility requirements for extended benefits
(a) An individual shall be eligible to receive extended benefits with respect to any week of unemployment in his or her eligibility period only if the Commissioner finds that with respect to such week:
(1) he or she is an “exhaustee” as defined in section 1421 of this title,
(2) he or she has satisfied the requirements of this chapter for the receipt of regular benefits that are applicable to individuals claiming extended benefits, including not being subject to a disqualification for the receipt of benefits.
(3) For eligibility periods based upon benefit years beginning on and after January 3, 1988 and before March 7, 1993, the total wages paid which established that benefit year must equal or exceed one and one-half times the wages paid in the highest quarter of that base period.
(4) For eligibility periods based upon benefit years beginning on and after March 7, 1993, the total wages paid which established that benefit year must exceed 40 times the individual’s most recent weekly benefit amount.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, an individual shall not be eligible for extended benefits for any week if:
(1) extended benefits are payable for such week pursuant to an interstate claim filed in any state under the interstate benefit payment plan, and
(2) no extended benefit period is in effect for such week in such state.
(c) Subsection (b) of this section shall not apply with respect to the first two weeks for which extended benefits are payable pursuant to an interstate claim filed under this interstate benefit payment plan to the individual from the extended compensation account established for the individual with respect to the benefit year. (Added 1971, No. 1, § 2, eff. Oct. 11, 1970; amended 1981, No. 86, § 2, eff. May 31, 1981; 1981, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 6, eff. April 22, 1982; 1985, No. 146 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 1993, No. 58, §§ 2, 3, eff. June 3, 1993.)
§ 1423a. Disqualifications
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, if so found by the Commissioner, payment of extended compensation shall not be made to any individual for any week of unemployment in his or her eligibility period:
(1) during which he or she fails to accept any offer of suitable work; or
(2) fails to apply for any suitable work to which he or she was referred by the Commissioner; or
(3) during which he or she fails to actively engage in seeking work.
(b) If any individual is ineligible for extended compensation for any week by reason of a failure described in subsection (a) of this section, the individual shall be ineligible to receive extended compensation for any week which begins during a period which:
(1) begins with the week following the week in which such failure occurs; and
(2) does not end until such individual has been employed during at least four weeks which begin after such failure and the total of the remuneration earned by the individual for being so employed is not less than the product of six multiplied by the individual’s average weekly benefit amount as determined for his or her benefit year.
(c) Extended compensation shall not be denied under subsection (a) of this section to any individual for any week by reason of a failure to accept an offer of, or apply for, suitable work:
(1) if the gross average weekly remuneration payable to that individual for the position does not exceed the sum of:
(A) the individual’s average weekly benefit amount as determined for his or her benefit year, plus
(B) the amount, if any, of supplemental unemployment compensation benefits, as defined in section 501(c)(17)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, payable to that individual for that week;
(2) if the position was not offered to the individual in writing and was not listed with the State employment service;
(3) if the failure would not result in a denial of compensation under the provisions of subdivision 1344(a)(2) of this title to the extent that those provisions are not inconsistent with the provisions of subdivision 1421(10) of this title and subsection (d) of this section; or
(4) if the position pays wages less than the higher of:
(A) the minimum wage provided by section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, without regard to any exemption; or
(B) any applicable state or local minimum wage.
(d) For purposes of this subsection, an individual shall be treated as actively engaged in seeking work during any week if:
(1) the individual has engaged in a systematic and sustained effort to obtain work during that week, and
(2) the individual provides tangible evidence to the Commissioner that he or she has engaged in such an effort during that week.
(e) No provision of section 1344 which terminates a disqualification for voluntarily leaving employment, being discharged for misconduct, or refusing suitable employment shall apply for purposes of determining eligibility for extended compensation unless that termination is based upon employment subsequent to the date of the disqualification. (Added 1981, No. 86, § 4, eff. April 5, 1981; amended 1981, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. Sept. 25, 1982.)
§ 1423b. Repealed. 2009, No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § E.401.4, eff. June 3, 2010.
§ 1424. Weekly extended benefit amount
The weekly extended benefit amount payable to an individual for a week of total unemployment in his or her eligibility period shall be an amount equal to the weekly benefit amount payable to him or her during his or her applicable benefit year. (Added 1971, No. 1, § 2, eff. Oct. 11, 1970; amended 1981, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 8, eff. Sept. 26, 1982; 1985, No. 50, § 10.)
§ 1425. Total extended benefit amount
(a) The total extended benefit amount payable to any eligible individual with respect to his or her applicable benefit year shall be the least of the following amounts:
(1) 50 percent of the total amount of regular benefits which were payable to him or her under this chapter in his or her applicable benefit year;
(2) 13 times his or her weekly benefit amount which was payable to him or her under this chapter for a week of total unemployment in the applicable benefit year.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, if the benefit year of any individual ends within an extended benefit period, the remaining balance of extended benefits that such individual would, but for this section, be entitled to receive in that extended benefit period, with respect to weeks of unemployment beginning after the end of the benefit year, shall be reduced (but not below zero) by the product of the number of weeks for which the individual received trade readjustment allowances within that benefit year, multiplied by the individual’s weekly benefit amount for extended benefits.
(c) Effective with respect to weeks beginning in a high unemployment period, subsection (a) of this section shall be applied by substituting:
(1) “80 percent” for “50 percent” in subsection (a)(1) of this section; and
(2) “20” for “13” in subdivision (a)(2).
(d) For purposes of subsection (c) of this section, the term “high unemployment period” means any period during which an extended benefit period would be in effect if subdivision 1421(2)(B)(ii)(I) of this title were applied by substituting “8 percent” for “6.5 percent.” (Added 1971, No. 1, § 2, eff. Oct. 11, 1970; amended 1981, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 9, eff. Oct. 31, 1982; 1993, No. 58, § 4, eff. June 3, 1993.)
§ 1426. Beginning and termination of extended benefit period
(a) Whenever an extended benefit period is to become effective in this State, as a result of a State “on” indicator, or an extended benefit period is to be terminated in this State as a result of a State “off” indicator, the Commissioner shall make an appropriate public announcement.
(b) Computations required by the provisions of section 1421 of this title shall be made by the Commissioner, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Labor of the United States. (Added 1971, No. 1, § 2, eff. Oct. 11, 1970; amended 1981, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. April 22, 1982.)
§ 1427. Amendments to the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970
To the extent that the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 has been or may be amended so as to authorize this State to pay benefits for an extended benefit period in a manner other than provided by this title, then, and in such cases, all the terms and conditions contained in the amended provisions of such federal law shall become a part of this title to the extent necessary to authorize the payment of benefits to eligible individuals as permitted under such provisions, provided that the federal share continues to be at least 50 percent of the extended benefits paid to individuals under the extended benefits program. (Added 1993, No. 58, § 5, eff. June 3, 1993.)
- Subchapter 003: Short-Time Compensation Program
§ 1451. Definitions
As used in this subchapter:
(1) “Affected unit” means a specific plan, department, shift, or other definable unit consisting of not less than five employees to which an approved short-time compensation plan applies.
(2) “Defined benefit plan” means a plan described in 26 U.S.C. § 414(j).
(3) “Defined contribution plan” means a plan described in 26 U.S.C. § 414(i).
(4) “Short-time compensation” or “STC” means the unemployment benefits payable to employees in an affected unit under an approved short-time compensation plan as distinguished from the unemployment benefits otherwise payable under the conventional unemployment compensation provisions of this chapter.
(5) “Short-time compensation plan” means a plan of an employer under which there is a reduction in the number of hours worked by employees of an affected unit rather than layoffs. The term “layoffs” for this purpose means the total separation of one or more workers in the affected unit.
(6) “Short-time compensation employer” means an employer who has one or more employees covered by an approved “Short-time compensation plan.” “Short-time compensation employer” means an employer with an experience rating record or an employer who makes payments in lieu of contributions to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund and that meets all of the following criteria:
(A) Has five or more employees covered by an approved short-time compensation plan.
(B) Is not delinquent in the payment of contributions or reimbursement, or in the reporting of wages.
(C) Is not a negative balance employer. For the purposes of this section, a negative balance employer is an employer who has for three or more consecutive calendar years immediately prior to applying for the STC plan paid more in unemployment benefits to its employees than it has contributed to its unemployment insurance account. In the event that an employer has been a negative balance employer for three consecutive years, the employer shall be ineligible for participation unless the Commissioner grants a waiver based upon extenuating economic conditions or other good cause.
(7) “Usual weekly hours of work” means the normal hours of work for full-time or part-time employees in the affected unit when that unit is operating on its regular basis not to exceed 40 hours and not including hours of overtime work.
(8) “Unemployment compensation” means the unemployment benefits payable under this chapter other than short-time compensation and includes any amounts payable pursuant to an agreement under any federal law providing for compensation, assistance, or allowances with respect to unemployment.
(9) “Fringe benefits” means benefits, including health insurance, retirement benefits, paid vacations and holidays, sick leave, and similar benefits that are incidents of employment.
(10) “Intermittent employment” means employment that is not continuous but may consist of intervals of weekly work and intervals of no weekly work.
(11) “Seasonal employment” means employment with an employer who experiences at least a 20-percent difference between its highest level of employment during a particular season and its lowest level of employment during the off-season in each of the previous three years as reported to the Department, or employment with an employer on a temporary basis during a particular season. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2011, No. 162 (Adj. Sess.), § E.401.3; 2013, No. 72, § 35a.)
§ 1452. Criteria for approval
(a) An employer wishing to participate in an STC program shall submit a Department of Labor electronic application or a signed written short-time compensation plan to the Commissioner for approval. The Commissioner may approve an STC plan only if the following criteria are met:
(1) The plan identifies the specified affected units to which it applies.
(2) The employees in the affected unit or units are identified by name, Social Security number, and by any other information required by the Commissioner.
(3) The plan provides that if the employer provides fringe benefits, including health benefits and retirement benefits under a defined benefit plan or contributions under a defined contribution plan, to any employee whose workweek is reduced under the program, that the benefits will continue to be provided to employees participating in the short-time compensation program under the same terms and conditions as though the workweek had not been reduced. However, reductions in the benefits of short-time compensation plan participants are permitted to the extent that the reductions also apply to nonparticipant employees.
(4) The usual total weekly hours of work for employees in the affected unit or units are reduced by not less than 20 percent and not more than 50 percent.
(5) The plan certifies that the aggregate reduction in work hours is in lieu of layoffs of one or more workers which would have resulted in an equivalent reduction in work hours and which the Commissioner finds would have caused an equivalent dollar amount to be payable in unemployment compensation.
(6) The plan certifies that the STC employer will notify the Department within 24 hours after any layoff of an employee, at which time the Commissioner shall have the right to terminate the STC plan.
(7) The identified workweek reduction is applied consistently throughout the duration of the plan unless otherwise approved by the Department. The plan shall not subsidize seasonal employers during the off-season.
(8) The plan applies to at least 10 percent of the employees in the affected unit, and when determined to be applicable by the Commissioner applies to all affected employees of the unit equally.
(9) The plan will not subsidize seasonal employers during the off-season, nor subsidize employers who have traditionally used part-time employees or intermittent employment.
(10) The employer agrees to maintain records relative to the plan for a period of three years and furnish reports relating to the proper conduct of the plan and agrees to allow the Commissioner or his or her authorized representatives access to all records necessary to verify the plan prior to approval and, after approval, to monitor and evaluate application of the plan.
(11) The plan certifies that the collective bargaining agent or agents for the employees, if any, have agreed to participate in the program. If there is no bargaining unit, the employer specifies how he or she will notify the employees in the affected group and work with them to implement the program once the plan is approved.
(12) The plan describes the manner in which the requirements of this section will be implemented and where feasible how notice will be given to an employee whose workweek is to be reduced and an estimate of the number of layoffs that would have occurred absent the ability to participate in the short-time compensation program and any other information that the U.S. Secretary of Labor determines is appropriate.
(13) The employer certifies that the plan is consistent with employer obligations under applicable State and federal laws.
(b) In the event of any conflict between any provision of sections 1451-1460 of this title, or the regulations implemented pursuant to these sections, and applicable federal law, the federal law shall prevail and the provision shall be deemed invalid. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2007, No. 104 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2011, No. 162 (Adj. Sess.), § E.401.4; 2013, No. 72, § 35b, eff. June 30, 2013.)
§ 1453. Approval or rejection; resubmission
The Commissioner shall approve or reject a plan in writing within 30 days of its receipt, and in the case of rejection shall state the reasons therefor. The reasons for rejection shall be final and nonappealable, but the employer shall be allowed to submit another plan for approval, that addresses the reasons that led to the rejection of the original plan. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2011, No. 50, § 8; 2011, No. 162 (Adj. Sess.), § E.401.5.)
§ 1454. Effective date; duration
A plan shall be effective on the date specified in the plan or on a date mutually agreed upon by the employer and the Commissioner. It shall expire at the end of the sixth full calendar month after its effective date or on the date specified in the plan if such date is earlier; provided, that the plan is not previously revoked by the Commissioner; or on the effective date of any transfer of ownership of the legal business entity. If a plan is revoked or terminated by the Commissioner, it shall terminate on the date specified in the Commissioner’s written order of revocation. No employer shall be eligible for a short-time compensation plan that results in an employee receiving benefits in excess of 26 times the amount of regular unemployment benefits payable to such individual for a week of total unemployment. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2011, No. 162 (Adj. Sess.), § E.401.6.)
§ 1455. Revocation
(a) The Commissioner may revoke approval of a plan for good cause. The revocation order shall be in writing and shall specify the date the revocation is effective and the reasons therefor.
(b) Good cause shall include violation of any criteria on which approval of the plan was based.
(c) Such action may be taken at any time by the Commissioner on his or her own motion. The Commissioner shall review the operation of each qualified employer plan at least once during the first three months that the plan is in effect to assure its compliance with the requirements of this subchapter. In addition, the Commissioner shall investigate any written complaint about the operation of the approved plan and determine in writing whether or not good cause exists for revocation. Such determination to investigate is not appealable.
(d) An employer may appeal a revocation decision by the Commissioner and such appeal shall be treated as a “contested case” under the Administrative Procedure Act. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)
§ 1456. Modification
An approved STC plan may be modified by the employer with the approval of the Commissioner. If the hours of work are increased or decreased substantially beyond the level in the original plan, or any other conditions are changed substantially, the Commissioner shall approve or disapprove such modifications. The expiration of the original plan shall not change. If the substantial modifications do not meet the requirements for approval, the Commissioner shall disallow that portion of the plan in writing as specified in subsection 1455(a) of this title. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)
§ 1457. Eligibility
(a) An individual is eligible to receive STC benefits with respect to any week only if, in addition to eligibility for monetary entitlement, the Commissioner finds that:
(1) the individual is employed during that week as a member of an affected unit under an approved short-time compensation plan that was in effect for that week;
(2) the individual is able to work and is available for the normal work week with the short-time employer;
(3) notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter to the contrary, an individual is deemed unemployed in any week for which remuneration is payable to him or her as an employee in an affected unit for less than his or her normal weekly hours of work as specified under the approved short-time compensation plan in effect for the week;
(4) notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter to the contrary, an individual shall not be denied STC benefits for any week by reason of the application of provisions relating to availability for work and active search for work with an employer other than the short-time employer.
(b) Eligible employees may participate, as appropriate, in training, including employer-sponsored training or worker training funded under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, to enhance job skills if the program has been approved by the Department. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2013, No. 72, § 35c, eff. June 30, 2013; 2019, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 126.)
§ 1458. Short-time compensation benefits
(a) The short-time weekly benefit amount shall be the product of the regular weekly unemployment compensation amount multiplied by the percentage of reduction in the individual’s usual weekly hours of work.
(b) No individual, including a claimant for STC, is eligible in any benefit year for more than the maximum unemployment compensation entitlement payable in accordance with section 1340 of this title.
(c) The STC benefits paid an individual shall be deducted from the maximum unemployment compensation entitlement amount established in accordance with section 1340 for that individual’s benefit year.
(d) Claims for STC benefits shall be filed in the same manner as claims for unemployment compensation or as prescribed by the Commissioner.
(e) Provisions of this subchapter and Vermont Employment Security Board rules applicable to unemployment compensation claimants shall apply to STC claimants to the extent that they are not inconsistent with this subchapter. An individual who files a new initial claim for STC benefits shall be provided, if eligible therefor, a monetary determination of entitlement to STC benefits and shall serve a waiting week as required under § 1343(a)(4) of this title.
(f)(1) If an individual works in the same week for both the short-time employer and another employer and his or her combined hours of work for both employers are equal to or greater than 81 percent of the usual hours of work with the short-time employer, he or she shall not be entitled to benefits under these short-time provisions or the unemployment compensation provisions.
(2) If an individual works in the same week for both the short-time employer and another employer and his or her combined hours of work for both employers are equal to or less than 80 percent of the usual hours of work for the short-time employer, the benefit amount payable for that week shall be the weekly unemployment compensation amount reduced by the same percentage that the combined hours are of the usual hours of work. A week for which benefits are paid under this provision shall count as a week of short-time compensation.
(3) An individual who does not work during a week for the short-time employer, and is otherwise eligible, shall be paid his or her full weekly unemployment compensation benefit amount under the provisions of the regular unemployment compensation program. Such a week shall not be counted as a week for which short-time compensation benefits were received.
(4) An individual who does not work the short-time employer’s identified workweek reduction hours as certified by the application due to the use of paid vacation or personal time shall be paid benefits for the week under the partial unemployment compensation provisions of the regular unemployment compensation program.
(5) An individual who does not work for the short-time employer during a week but works for another employer and is otherwise eligible, shall be paid benefits for that week under the partial unemployment compensation provisions of the regular UI program. Such a week shall not be counted as a week with respect to which STC benefits were received. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2007, No. 104 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 2009, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 9, eff. July 1, 2012; 2011, No. 162 (Adj. Sess.), § E401.7.)
§ 1459. Charging benefits
STC benefits paid to an employee shall be charged to the employers in the base period. Reimbursable employers participating in the STC Program shall be assessed for the STC benefits paid their employees. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2013, No. 173 (Adj. Sess.), § 6.)
§ 1460. Extended benefits program eligibility
An individual who has received all of the unemployment compensation or combined unemployment compensation and STC benefits available in a benefit year shall be considered an “exhaustee” as defined under the provisions of subdivision 1421(8) of this title. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)
§ 1461. Misrepresentation; penalties
If an approved plan or any representation for implementation of the plan is intentionally and substantially misleading or false, the employer shall be liable for any amount of benefits deemed by the Commissioner to have been improperly paid from the fund as a result thereof. (Added 1985, No. 140 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)
§ 1462. Period of dormancy
On July 1, 2020, the Short-Time Compensation Program established pursuant to sections 1451-1461 of this subchapter shall cease operation and shall not resume operation unless directed to do so by enactment of the General Assembly or, if the General Assembly is not in session, by order of the Joint Fiscal Committee. The Joint Fiscal Committee shall issue such order only upon finding that, due to a change in circumstances, resumption of the Short-Time Compensation Program would be the most effective way to assist employers in avoiding layoffs. Upon the effective date of such an enactment or order, the Short-Time Compensation Program shall resume operation pursuant to the provisions of sections 1451-1461 of this subchapter. (Added 2019, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 20, eff. Feb. 20, 2020.)
- Subchapter 004: Benefits for Approved Job Training Program
§ 1471. Training benefit program
(a) An individual who is otherwise eligible for benefits under this chapter, but who has exhausted his or her maximum benefit amount under section 1340 of this chapter and any other available federally funded extension, is entitled to a maximum of an additional 26 weeks of benefits in the same amount as the weekly benefit amount established in the individual’s most recent benefit year if the individual is enrolled in and making satisfactory progress in either a State-approved training program or a job training program authorized under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
(b) To be eligible for training benefits under this section, an individual shall be in compliance with both the following:
(1) The individual has been separated from a declining occupation or has been involuntarily and indefinitely separated from employment as a result of a permanent reduction of operations at the individual’s place of employment.
(2) The individual is enrolled in a program designed to train the individual for entry into a high demand occupation. (Added 2009, No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § E.401.1, eff. June 3, 2010; amended 2019, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 127.)
