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1992-04-30
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@077 CHAP ZZ
. TIPS ON REDUCING THE UNEMPLOYMENT TAX BITE.
In most states, the unemployment tax rate you pay as an employer is one
of the few taxes where you have some control over the rate of tax you
pay. The state usually maintains a reserve account for each employer,
in which it monitors the unemployment taxes you pay in and the unem-
ployment benefits it pays out to your former employees. The more
benefits the state pays to your ex-employees, the higher your company's
unemployment tax rate will be and vice versa. So it pays to have as
few ex-employees as possible collecting unemployment benefits that are
charged to your reserve account.
To succeed in keeping down such claims charged to your account, you
need to vigorously challenge any ex-employees' claims that appear to
be unjustified. Often you will be surprised to learn that an employee
you had fired for stealing or who had quit on you has filed for bene-
fits and has lied about his or her reasons for leaving. In general, an
ex-employee cannot collect unemployment based on his or her work for
you if the employee left your employment for one of these reasons:
. Refusal to work;
. Voluntarily quitting, on his or her own accord;
. Inability to continue work due to illness, injury, etc.; or
. Discharge for misconduct, such as theft, not showing up for
work, etc.;
An employee who leaves your employ for virtually any other reason (such
as being fired for incompetence) can generally collect benefits, which
will cost you money by raising your unemployment tax rate.
The following are some tips on how you can keep down the number of
unemployment claims filed against your account (not all of these apply
in every state):
. Be aware, when you are hiring, of the cost if you have to
lay people off. You may hire a number of new employees for
an expansion or new project with the view that if things do
not work out as planned, you will simply lay them off and
cancel the project with no further cost. Count the cost.
Remember that if you do have to lay them off, you may be
paying a much higher unemployment tax rate for several years
as a result.
. Document in writing your reasons for firing an employee, if
for reasons such as theft, insubordination, absence, or
intoxication on the job (but be careful of possible slander
or libel exposure). Doing so will buttress your argument
that the fired employee is not entitled to benefits if he or
she should file a claim with the state.
. Be aware that if you change an employee's hours of work and
he or she quits as a result, it will be considered involun-
tary dismissal and the employee will probably be eligible
for benefits. So it pays to have a written agreement signed
by the employee to work any shift, hours, weekends, etc.,
that are required.
. If you decide to fire someone for misconduct, do it on the
spot. If you keep them on at your convenience until you
find a replacement, it will usually NOT be considered a
discharge for misconduct, and the fired employee will most
likely be eligible for benefits.
. If new employees do not work out, consider terminating them
before they have worked for you long enough to earn unemploy-
ment benefits that are chargeable to your reserve account
(3 months, in many states).
In general, it pays to keep a close eye on your employer reserve ac-
count and be aware of who is filing benefit claims that will cost you
money. With the advice of your lawyer, contest any claims that you do
not feel are legitimate.