Florida Unemployment Insurance Update

December 30th, 2006 Posted by Mark

We can consider another important time when you the employer has to provide accurate information to the state unemployment insurance system, by looking at how the Florida unemployment insurance system operates.

Every business quarter, the state of Florida expects its employers to provide the unemployment insurance system with an Employer’s Quarterly Report. This report’s main purpose to help the state determine if it is paying unemployed workers unemployment payments that they don’t deserve.

When filling out this Employer’s Quarterly Report, it is crucial that you provide all of the accurate info that you have stored on your employees—former and current employees—in your personnel files. This info surely can be found on their job applications, on their resumes, on the exit interview forms, on their job offer acknowledgement forms, and on any other document that you have on that employee in your files.

With all that info, you will surely be able to provide an accurate social security number for each and every employee, past and present, on your rolls. One of the best ways, according to the state of Florida, to make sure that you have the accurate social security number is to make sure your employees show them their card when they first start working for you.

Another thing you must provide the state is the dates that every employee’s wages were paid to them—not the dates of when they were earned. These wages can include any bonuses or commissions that may have earned, any severance pay, vacation pay, and tips and gratuities that they may have earned that is more than $20 per month.

Keep accurate records, and you should have no problem when the state authorities from Florida call up asking for info on a former employee. Or you should have no problem when the state contacts you asking if a now unemployed worker recently was on your pay roll.

No Comments >> Posted in Employee Benefits,Flordia,Unemployment Insurance

Florida Unemployment Insurance Posters

August 22nd, 2006 Posted by Emily

With hurricanes an annual threat to the state, Florida Unemployment Insurance posters contain information about Disaster Unemployment Assistance. If employees have been working or residing in an officially declared disaster area and are now unemployed as a result of the disaster, employees may be eligible for Unemployment Compensation Benefits or Disaster Unemployment Assistance. Disaster Unemployment Assistance is a federally funded unemployment benefit program, which provides assistance to individuals who become unemployed a result of a disaster. This means, that as the employer, you simply need to make your employees aware of these benefits. They will not come out of your pocket.

For the program to be implemented it must be request by the governor of Florida, approved by the President of the United States, and a signed written agreement must be in effect prior to any action being taken. After a disaster is declared, an official announcement regarding the availability of Disaster Unemployment Assistance funds is made by the state employment security agency. Florida Unemployment Insurance posters advise that eligible individuals will have 30 days from the announcement date to file a claim for Disaster Unemployment Assistance.

The disaster period is the 26-week period beginning with the first week following the date the major disaster began and ending with the 26th week subsequent to the date the major disaster was declared. Depending on the date of the declaration, it is possible for individuals to receive more than 26 weeks of benefits.

An individual must exhaust all entitlement (Unemployment Compensation, EUC) prior to being eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance. These entitlements are listed on Florida Unemployment Insurance posters. A claimant who is disqualified from receiving regular unemployment may be entitled to Disaster Unemployment Assistance. Therefore, do not feel that you must provide regular unemployment if they do not qualify.

The Disaster Unemployment Assistance entitlement is calculated with a base period of the most recent tax year that ended prior to the individual’s unemployment that was the direct result of a disaster.

For any week that the claimant’s earnings are in excess of the calculated weekly benefit amount, the individual receives no payment for the week. A detailed description of all unemployment insurance information can be found on the Florida Unemployment Insurance posters.

No Comments >> Posted in Compliance Issues,Employee Benefits,Employer Requirements,Flordia,Florida,Labor Law Posters,Unemployment Insurance

Florida Unemployment Insurance

March 9th, 2006 Posted by Jane

Florida’s Unemployment Compensation Law provides temporary wage replacement benefits to workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. As I understand the law, unemployment taxes are paid by the employer and cannot be deducted from an employee’s wages.

Employees may be eligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits if they:
1. Are totally or partially unemployed through no fault of their own
2. Are registered for work and file a claim.
3. Have sufficient employment and wages (usually )
4. Are ABLE to work and AVAILABLE for work

An unemployed worker can qualify for benefits only if they have worked for a minimum time and earned a minimum amount of wages in the base period (usually a year). The worker must have worked in two or more quarters of the year, earn a minimum of $3,400, and benefits are limited to $275 a week.
I know that Florida also has compensation plans in place for workers displaced by special circumstances, such as a state disaster, a reduction in hours to part-time, and if a worker is displaced by foreign imports. There is also a separate process for ex-service members.
Employee benefits may be denied for a number of reasons:
• Quitting either part-time or full-time work for personal reasons or no good cause
• Being discharged for misconduct connected with work.
• Not being able to work or available for work.
• Refusing an offer of suitable work.
• Being on a leave of absence requested by the employee,
• Knowingly making false statements to obtain benefit payments.

An employee may request an appeal for non-payment, but the appeal must be filed within 20 calendar days after the determination.

Employers must register with the Department of Revenue, and post a notice of the Florida Unemployment Compensation Law in their place of business. All of the most current Florida laws can be found on the Florida Complate Labor Law poster reflecting all of teh state, federal, and OSHA laws.

2 Comments >> Posted in Employee Benefits,Flordia,Unemployment Insurance