Claims Information (continued)

Notification of Claim Filed

NCUI 500AB, Notice of Claim and Request for Separation Information
Employers may choose to reply to Form NCUI 500AB electronically. Electronic replies save time, money, and paper while also eliminating the possibility of loss or damage during the mail delivery process. Electronic replies also offer proof of a timely response. Employers who choose to respond electronically also contribute to the Commission's efforts to operate cost effectively. Sign up for electronic transmission of Form NCUI 500AB.,

Whenever an individual files an initial claim for unemployment benefits, the Employment Security Commission fully explores the reason for the separation from employment. After questioning the claimant, the Commission sends Form NCUI 500AB, Notice of Claim and Request for Separation Information, to the claimant's last employer.

If an individual became unemployed for any reason other than lack of work or a bona fide inability to perform assigned work, the claim must be adjudicated and a determination issued on the claimant's eligibility for unemployment benefits.

If the employer returns Form NCUI 500AB to the Commission within 10 days, information on the form is used to determine the claimant's eligibility for benefits. If the last employer is also an experience rated and base period employer, a timely response to Form NCUI 500AB serves as an official request for noncharging of any benefits that might be paid to the claimant. The 10 day period begins the day after the form is mailed or generated. The mark applied by an employer's postage meter is not a postmark. The receipt date for a hand-delivered document or a document that bears no postmark (including facsimile documents) is the date the document was received in an office of the Commission. The receipt date for an electronic response is the date the response was submitted. A faxed document is acceptable only if it is readable and received timely. The original Form NCUI 500AB must also be returned by first class mail to the Employment Security Commission Office designated on the form.

An employer who fails to return Form NCUI 500AB within 10 days may experience increased benefit charges and higher unemployment insurance taxes.

NCUI 551, Notice of Initial Claim and Potential Charges to Your Account
Whenever a new claim is processed, Form NCUI 551, Notice of Initial Claim and Potential Charges to Your Account, is generated and sent to each base period employer except one who is also the claimant's last employer. Form NCUI 551 notifies a base period employer, who is not the last employer, that a former or current worker has filed a claim for benefits based either wholly or in part on wages paid by the employer. Form NCUI 551 offers a base period employer an opportunity to request noncharging of unemployment benefits, provided noncharging is warranted. Through allowed noncharging of benefits, an employer's account will incur fewer charges resulting in a lower tax rate. Form NCUI 551 also provides a base period employer an opportunity to offer re-employment to the claimant.

Form NCUI 551L, Notice to Last Employer, is sent to an employer who is both the last employer and a base period employer. This form contains the same information as Form NCUI 551. However, it cannot be used to request noncharging. As noted earlier, returned Form NCUI 500AB, Notice of Claim and Request for Separation Information, serves as a noncharging request for such employers.

Depending upon the type of claim filed and the employer's status, other variations of Form NCUI 551 may be sent to each base period employer. All versions of Form NCUI 551 contain the same type of claim information, including the claimant's name and Social Security number, benefit year beginning day, earnings allowance, the local Employment Security Commission office where the claim was filed, percent of total base period wages paid by the employer, total base period wages paid to the claimant, the dollar amount of wages the employer paid the claimant during each base period quarter, the maximum potential charges to the employer's experience rating account, and the employer's account number.

Employers with specific questions about their unemployment insurance account should contact the Benefit Charges Determination Unit in the State Office at (919) 707-1279 or a Field Tax Auditor in the  nearest Employment Security Commission Office.

When Can Employers Request Noncharging of Benefits?

Experience rated employers can request that unemployment benefits not be charged to their accounts. State and local government employers who elect under 96-9(f)(2) of the Law to pay 120 percent of benefit charges on a reimbursable basis can also request noncharging. You, as an employer, may elect to receive the NCUI 551 via the Internet web portal. You can reply back to the electronic form if you wish to request noncharging. You may also elect to receive notification that there are forms to be reviewed.

Noncharging may be allowed for the following:

• The leaving of work without good cause attributable to the employer
• The separation of an employee for misconduct in connection with the work
• The separation of an employee for cause not rising to the level of misconduct but resulting from substantial fault on the part of an employee
• The discharge of a claimant for bona fide inability to do the work for which he/she was hired - if discharged within the first 100 days of employment
• Separation due to leaving for disability or health condition
• Providing employment on substantially the same basis as when base period wages were reported
• Benefits paid due to a major natural disaster that has been declared by the President
• Separation due to being an aggrieved party to domestic violence as set forth by Chapter 50B of the General Statutes
• Separation solely due to an inability to accept work during a particular shift as a result of undue family hardship

Employers who are both the claimant's last employer and a base period employer, should refer to NCUI 500AB, Notice of Claim and Request for Separation Information. Base period employers who are not the last employer, should refer to NCUI 551, Notice of Initial Claim and Potential Charges to Your Account.

What Is A Separation Payment? How Does It Affect An Individual's Benefit Claim?
A separation payment is any payment which was made, is being made, or will be made, to an individual as result of separation from last employment. Separation pay may be in the form of wages in lieu of notice, accrued vacation pay, terminal leave pay, or accumulated sick leave payment.

An individual who receives separation pay is not considered to be unemployed during the time period covered by the payment. If the employer does not specify a period of time covered by the separation payment, the Commission will use the claimant's previous pay rate to compute the covered time period. The resulting number is added to the last day of actual work to determine the date the individual is no longer in pay status. Week-ends are not used in computing time covered by separation payments for persons who worked a five-day week. The effective date of the new claim is the Sunday of the calendar week in which the number of days covered by the separation payment is less than five.

Effect of Labor Disputes on Benefit Eligibility
When an individual's partial or total unemployment is due to (1) an active labor dispute at the business where the individual works or last worked; or (2) an active labor dispute at another business owned by the same employing unit, which causes the materials or services necessary for operation of the individual's workplace to become unavailable, that person is disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits for the duration of the labor dispute.

An individual, unemployed because the materials or services which the employer supplies to a striking business are no longer needed, may be eligible for benefits under the labor dispute provisions.

UI Claims Information continues on next page.

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