Important News for Employers on Texas Insurance

January 5th, 2007 Posted by Mark

The Texas Department of Insurance wants every employer in the state to know that they are offering at unprecedented opportunity for them to learn about insurance labor law and insurance in general. This opportunity will happen in the capital of Austin, on January 31 of this new year.

What will happen is that speakers from the Texas Department of Insurance will give a program covering all of the bases in insurance, from the health insurance that takes so much of your money and your budgetary power, to life insurance benefits that you give your employees, to the standard property and casualty insurance programs that you must have in place for workers’ comp, to protect your office buildings and warehouses, and to protect you and your employees from law suits and other class action type torts.

The main focus of the January 31 meeting with the Texas Department of Insurance, however, will be on workers’ comp and how you have set up your network of workers’ comp health care providers. The Department of Insurance wants to make it clear to as many employers as want to come listen that there are certain updates on how workers’ comp health care provider networks must be set up; that there have been other changes to the Texas state workers’ comp system; the transition on Independent Representative Panel and how employers can be involved; and future possible legislative issues that employers could be facing down the road with their workers’ comp program.

Spacing at the program is limited, but online is still available if you act now. You can visit the state Department of Insurance Web site for more information, or call them at 512-322-4211. Email is also possible at the following email address: wcnet@tdi.state.tx.us. If you are a Texas employer worried about workers’ comp, you may not want to miss this one.

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

Texas Unemployment Insurance Posters

September 4th, 2006 Posted by Emily

According to Texas Unemployment Insurance poster, the Texas law provides that under certain conditions weekly payments of money may be made to unemployed individuals from an unemployment compensation fund contributed to by employers subject to unemployment taxes or reimbursements

An unemployed individual can qualify for benefits if during that claimant’s Base Period sufficient wage credits were earned by that claimant from employers covered by the Act on which the claim may be established in accordance with the Act. A base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the date of an initial claim for unemployment compensation. Additionally, if a claimant qualified for benefits on a prior claim, they must have earned 6 times their current computed Weekly Benefit Amount since then.

As employees will learn by reading Texas Unemployment Insurance posters, the amount of a claimant’s benefits depends on the amount of qualifying wages they were paid during their base period. The weekly payment for a seven consecutive day period of total unemployment is determined by taking the wage total of the highest calendar quarter in their base period and dividing that total by 25. This weekly payment is called the Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA). If the answer is not an exact dollar amount, it is raised to the next highest dollar amount not to exceed the maximum allowed under the law. The resulting answer (quotient) can be neither less than the current minimum nor more than the current maximum amount per week. These amounts are established in accordance with the Act.

An employer should protest a claim when knowledge of any facts is available that may adversely affect the claimant’s right to receive unemployment benefits or that may affect a charge to the employer’s account. The law provides that an employer has 14 days from the date the notice is mailed in which to call, mail or fax a protest. Such protest should be mailed, faxed or submitted verbally to the office from which notice of the claim was mailed.

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

Texas Unemployment Insurance Law

August 4th, 2006 Posted by Nicole

I found that in every state, there are specific unemployment insurance laws that are governed by the Federal government. The Federal government lays out guidelines for how each state should handle the unemployment law.

Basically, it is important to note that employers are responsible for paying unemployment insurance as long as they have more than 4 employees. When the employers pay for the unemployment insurance, their employees might never need it, but if an employee is laid off or loses a job through no fault of his or her own, then the employee may take advantage of the unemployment insurance that the employer has paid.

In order to collect unemployment insurance benefits, an employer needs to have first been employed with an organization and have been receiving base pay for the amount of time that the employee worked with the organization.

Next, the employee needs to be unemployed through no fault of his or her own. For example, if an employee is found to be an incompetent and is thus fired, then the employee will not have the opportunity to collect unemployment insurance benefits. Employees that might be eligible are employees or are laid off or who are part of an organization that goes under.

When an employee does get qualified to receive the benefits, the employee must continue to search for jobs and report on the job search weekly. There is a certain minimum amount of jobs that the benefits recipient needs to apply for each week in order to prove that he or she is making a due effort to find a living. At any time, an inspector can ask for a detailed explanation of jobs applied for and if someone if offered a job, then he or she needs to have a hood reason for not accepting the job.

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