Thomas & Thorngren

A good argument can be made that the letter of resignation has become a more important document now than ever before.  From the standpoint of protecting the employer from unwarranted unemployment claims, it has become increasingly helpful to document the specific reason for separation.  Not all voluntary quits are treated the same under state unemployment [...]

One way to generate more UI tax revenue is to increase the state unemployment taxable wage base.  West Virginia and Tennessee have both recently enacted legislation which retroactively increases their wage bases, which is uncommon.  Because of the need to shore up the state unemployment trust funds, we anticipate that several more states will increase [...]

This morning I looked at a Service Bulletin we penned in October of last year, barely eight months ago, in which we stated:  “Michigan is the only state with an outstanding federal loan (to its state unemployment trust fund) as of today, which is currently over $283 million.  However, the timing of the loan was [...]

We are passing along to you a letter from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to a House of Representatives subcommittee, expressing concern about measures in the Recovery Act that will increase unemployment taxes for employers. As we mentioned in an earlier Service Bulletin, the Recovery Act includes incentives to states for liberalizing UI benefits.  The [...]

At a time when businesses are searching for every opportunity to save money, the WOTC program deserves renewed focus.  The program is more rewarding now than ever, because two new targeted groups were added in February.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 added new categories for “unemployed veterans” and “disconnected youth.”  In general, [...]

On March 11th Governor Granholm signed H.B. 4239 into law.  This bill suspends the solvency tax which is assessed to Michigan employers with negative reserve account balances.  The solvency tax normally triggers on when the Michigan UI Trust Fund has an outstanding federal loan (as is the case this year).  The solvency tax proceeds are used [...]

The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (HR1) was signed into law on February 17, 2009.  This legislation includes compelling incentives for states to modify their UI laws to remove certain quit disqualifications and relax the requirements relating to availability for work and search for work.  We hope the increased benefit payouts will have [...]

One tool for stimulating the economy rapidly is to increase the amount of unemployment benefits paid each week, because such benefits tend to be used immediately for the purchase of goods and services.  Recognizing this, Congress has included about $43 billion in unemployment-related provisions in HR 598.  This bill, named the American Recovery and Reinvestment [...]

In November we notified you that Tennessee unemployment tax rates would be increasing on January 1, 2009 because a higher tax rate table would take effect.  At that time officials at the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development anticipated that Premium Table 2 would take effect  (the second-highest tax rate table). We have just [...]