The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 21 : Labor

Chapter 017 : Unemployment Compensation

Subchapter 001 : GENERAL BENEFITS

• § 1322. Reports; liability

  (a) Every employer shall file with the Commissioner periodic reports to disclose its liability for contributions under this chapter on forms and at times prescribed by the Commissioner.

  (b)(1) Every employer subject to this chapter who sells in bulk 50 percent or more of its assets, including any stock of goods, wares, or merchandise of any kind, fixtures, machinery, equipment, buildings, or real estate, when the 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.

  (2) 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. The employer shall also file the detailed quarterly wage report required by section 1314a of this subchapter covering employee wages to date of proposed transfer.

  (3)(A) The Commissioner shall furnish to the employer within 10 days after the reports are filed a certificate showing that all reports have been filed and contributions, interest, and penalties have been 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.

  (B) The employer shall present the certificate to the purchaser of the property.

  (C) 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 court order or to any sales made by assignees for the benefit of creditors, executors, administrators, receivers, or any public officer in the officer’s official capacity or by any officer of the court.

  (d) An employing unit that has been liable otherwise than by its election to pay contributions as an employer under this chapter for any calendar year shall file reports and pay 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; 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 181, eff. July 1, 2024.)