Unemployment Compensation

• 1Approximately how much PER EMPLOYEE per year do you pay in unemployment compensation taxes?
• 1aWhich would be the closest to what you pay in unemployment compensation taxes PER EMPLOYEE per year? Would it be:?
• 1bUnemployment compensation taxes per employee per year (combined results of prior two questions).
• 1cAre your unemployment compensation premiums administratively set, that is, a fixed percentage; experience-rated, that is, higher or lower depending on the number of your former employees who claim unemployment benefits; or don’t you know?
• 2In the last year, how many of your employees voluntarily quit? An estimate is fine.
• 3In the last year, how many of your employees were fired or let go for cause? An estimate is fine.
• 3aWere any of those terminations related to harassment or inappropriate conduct associated with sex, race, disability, etc.?
• 3bWere any of those terminations related to unsafe work habits, practices, or incidents?
• 4In the last year, how many of your employees were laid-off as a result of slow sales or poor economic conditions? An estimate is fine.
• 5Employee turn-over in the last year (combined results of employee quits, terminations, and lay-offs).
• 6Did any of these former employees attempt to collect unemployment compensation benefits in the last year?
• 6aAbout how many of these former employees claimed unemployment compensation benefits in the last year? An estimate is fine.
• 6bTo the best of your knowledge were any of these former employees who claimed benefits on your account unemployed because they were laid-off by another employer after he or she left you?
• 6cDid you challenge ANY of the unemployment claims made against your business in the last year?
• 6dWhich best describes your policy toward challenging unemployment compensation claims?
• 7Think of the most recent claim for unemployment benefits filed against you. How long ago was that? Was it within the last year, the last two years, the last three years or longer than that?
• 7aTo be eligible to collect unemployment compensation benefits, a former employee must be unemployed through no fault of his or her own. Given that qualification, should the most recent former employee who claimed unemployment benefits have been eligible to receive those benefits or not?
• 7bDid you challenge that (most recent) claim?
• 7cWhich best describes the reason you challenged the (most recent) claim?
• 7c1Did you challenge the (most recent) claim in writing only, by appearing at the hearing, or by having a lawyer appear at the hearing for you?
• 7c2What was the outcome of the challenge (to the most recent claim)? Did you win or did the claimant win?
• 7dWhy didn’t you challenge the (most recent) claim? Was it because:?
• 8Do you pay unemployment compensation taxes on the owner or owners who work in the business?
• 9A(employment practice) Verify your unemployment compensation account to ensure its accuracy at least once annually.
• 9B(employment practice) Periodically explore employee turn-over and the reasons for it.
• 9C(employment practice) Voluntarily contribute or prepay your unemployment compensation taxes to get a better rate.
• 9D(employment practice) Refuse to hire people with a history of job hopping.
• 9E(employment practice) Examine every unemployment compensation claim made whether or not you challenge it.
• 9F(employment practice) Review an employee’s performance just before he or she qualifies for unemployment coverage.
• 9G(employment practice) Obtain resignation letters from employees who quit.
• 9H(employment practice) Keep records of events or circumstances leading to and including employee termination.
• 10Do you have an employment contract with any of your employees?
• 11Do you have written employment policies or an employee handbook?
• 12Are all of your employees, some of your employees, or none of your employees members of a labor union in the jobs they hold at your firm?
• 12aWere any attempts made in the last three years to unionize your non-union employees?

Volume 7, Issue 1, 2007
ISSN 1534-8326

William J. Dennis, Jr.
NFIB Research Foundation