2023 Iowa Code › Title III - PUBLIC SERVICES AND REGULATION › Chapter 96 - EMPLOYMENT SECURITY — UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION › Section 96.4 - Required findings.

96.4 Required findings.
An unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week only if the department finds that:
1. The individual has registered for work at and thereafter has continued to report at an employment office in accordance with such regulations as the department may prescribe. The provisions of this subsection shall be waived if the individual is deemed temporarily unemployed as defined in section 96.1A, subsection 37, paragraph “c”.
2. The individual has made a claim for benefits in accordance with the provisions of section 96.6, subsection 1.
3. a. The individual is able to work, is available for work, and is earnestly and actively seeking work. This subsection is waived if the individual is deemed partially unemployed, while employed at the individual’s regular job, as defined in section 96.1A, subsection 37, paragraph “b”, subparagraph (1), or temporarily unemployed as defined in section 96.1A, subsection 37, paragraph “c”. The work search requirements of this subsection and the disqualification requirement for failure to apply for, or to accept suitable work of section 96.5, subsection 3, are waived if the individual is not disqualified for benefits under section 96.5, subsection 1, paragraph “h”.
b. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, the department may establish by rule a process to waive or alter the work search requirements of this subsection for a claim for benefits if an individual has a reasonable expectation that the individual will be returning to employment and is attached to a regular job or industry or a member in good standing of a union therein eligible for referral for employment. To be considered attached to a regular job or industry, an individual must be on a short-term temporary layoff. If work is not available at the conclusion of the layoff period due to short-term circumstances beyond the employer’s control, the employer may request an extension of the waiver or alteration for up to two weeks from the department. For purposes of this paragraph, “short-term temporary layoff” means a layoff period of sixteen weeks or less due to seasonal weather conditions that impact the ability to perform work related to highway construction, repair, or maintenance with a specific return-to-work date verified by the employer.
4. a. The individual has been paid wages for insured work during the individual’s base period in an amount at least one and one-quarter times the wages paid to the individual during that quarter of the individual’s base period in which the individual’s wages were highest; provided that the individual has been paid wages for insured work totaling at least three and five-tenths percent of the statewide average annual wage for insured work, computed for the preceding calendar year if the individual’s benefit year begins on or after the first full week in July and computed for the second preceding calendar year if the individual’s benefit year begins before the first full week in July, in that calendar quarter in the individual’s base period in which the individual’s wages were highest, and the individual has been paid wages for insured work totaling at least one-half of the amount of wages required under this paragraph in the calendar quarter of the base period in which the individual’s wages were highest, in a calendar quarter in the individual’s base period other than the calendar quarter in which the individual’s wages were highest. The calendar quarter wage requirements shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of ten dollars.
b. For an individual who does not have sufficient wages in the base period, as defined in section 96.1A, to otherwise qualify for benefits pursuant to this subsection, the individual’s base period shall be the last four completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the individual’s benefit year if such period qualifies the individual for benefits under this subsection.
(1) Wages that fall within the alternative base period established under this paragraph “b” are not available for qualifying benefits in any subsequent benefit year.
(2) Employers shall be charged in the manner provided in this chapter for benefits paid based upon quarters used in the alternative base period.
c. If the individual has drawn benefits in any benefit year, the individual must during or subsequent to that year, work in and be paid wages for insured work totaling at least eight times the individual’s weekly benefit amount, as a condition to receive benefits in the next benefit year.
5. Benefits based on service in employment in a nonprofit organization or government entity, defined in section 96.1A, subsection 16, are payable in the same amount, on the same terms and subject to the same conditions as compensation payable on the same basis of other service subject to this chapter, except that:
a. Benefits based on service in an instructional, research, or principal administrative capacity in an educational institution including service in or provided to or on behalf of an educational institution while in the employ of an educational service agency, a government entity, or a nonprofit organization shall not be paid to an individual for any week of unemployment which begins during the period between two successive academic years or during a similar period between two regular terms, whether or not successive, or during a period of paid sabbatical leave provided for in the individual’s contract, if the individual has a contract or reasonable assurance that the individual will perform services in any such capacity for any educational institution for both such academic years or both such terms.
b. Benefits based on service in any other capacity for an educational institution including service in or provided to or on behalf of an educational institution while in the employ of an educational service agency, a government entity, or a nonprofit organization, shall not be paid to an individual for any week of unemployment which begins during the period between two successive academic years or terms, if the individual performs the services in the first of such academic years or terms and has reasonable assurance that the individual will perform services for the second of such academic years or terms. If benefits are denied to an individual for any week as a result of this paragraph and the individual is not offered an opportunity to perform the services for an educational institution for the second of such academic years or terms, the individual is entitled to retroactive payments of benefits for each week for which the individual filed a timely claim for benefits and for which benefits were denied solely by reason of this paragraph.
c. With respect to services for an educational institution in any capacity under paragraph “a” or “b”, benefits shall not be paid to an individual for any week of unemployment which begins during an established and customary vacation period or holiday recess if the individual performs the services in the period immediately before such vacation period or holiday recess, and the individual has reasonable assurance that the individual will perform the services in the period immediately following such vacation period or holiday recess.
d. For purposes of this subsection, “educational service agency” means a governmental agency or government entity which is established and operated exclusively for the purpose of providing educational services to one or more educational institutions.
6. a. An otherwise eligible individual shall not be denied benefits for any week because the individual is in training with the approval of the director, nor shall the individual be denied benefits with respect to any week in which the individual is in training with the approval of the director by reason of the application of the provision in subsection 3 of this section relating to availability for work, and an active search for work or the provision of section 96.5, subsection 3, relating to failure to apply for or a refusal to accept suitable work. However, an employer’s account shall not be charged with benefits so paid.
b. (1) An otherwise eligible individual shall not be denied benefits for a week because the individual is in training approved under 19 U.S.C. §2296(a), as amended by section 2506 of the federal Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, because the individual leaves work which is not suitable employment to enter the approved training, or because of the application of subsection 3 of this section or section 96.5, subsection 3, or a federal unemployment insurance law administered by the department relating to availability for work, active search for work, or refusal to accept work.
(2) For purposes of this paragraph, “suitable employment” means work of a substantially equal or higher skill level than an individual’s past adversely affected employment, as defined in 19 U.S.C. §2319(l), if weekly wages for the work are not less than eighty percent of the individual’s average weekly wage.
7. The individual participates in reemployment services as directed by the department pursuant to a profiling system, established by the department, which identifies individuals who are likely to exhaust benefits and be in need of reemployment services.
[C39, §1551.10; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §96.4; 82 Acts, ch 1030, §2]
83 Acts, ch 190, §5 – 8, 26, 27; 84 Acts, ch 1255, §1, 2; 87 Acts, ch 222, §3; 91 Acts, ch 45, §1, 2; 94 Acts, ch 1066, §6; 96 Acts, ch 1186, §23; 2008 Acts, ch 1032, §176, 197; 2009 Acts, ch 22, §3, 9; 2017 Acts, ch 72, §1, 2; 2020 Acts, ch 1062, §84 – 86; 2021 Acts, ch 171, §26 – 28
Referred to in §96.3, 96.6, 96.20, 96.23
2021 amendment to subsection 3 applies to any new claim of unemployment benefits beginning on or after June 13, 2021; 2021 Acts, ch 171, §27, 28