North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 04 - COMMERCE › Chapter 24 - EMPLOYMENT SECURITY › Subchapter A - GENERAL › Section .0100 - GENERAL › Section 24A .0105 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a) In addition to
				  the terms defined in G.S. 96, the following definitions apply whenever these
				  terms are used in this Chapter:
(1)
				  "Additional claim" means the reopening of a valid initial claim for
				  unemployment insurance benefits after a claimant, as defined in Item (16) of
				  this Rule, ceased filing a weekly certification as defined in
				  G.S.
				  96-14.9, for one or more weeks due to
				  intervening employment. The first week of eligibility filed after a claim has
				  been reopened shall constitute a waiting period week if all eligibility
				  requirements set forth in
				  G.S.
				  96-14.9 are met.
(2) "Agent state" means any state from which,
				  or through which a claimant files a claim for benefits from another
				  state.
(3) "Adjudicator" means an
				  employee of DES appointed to conduct an informal investigation and render a
				  determination as required by
				  G.S.
				  96-15(b).
(4) "Appeal" means a submission by a party
				  with statutory appeal rights requesting the Appeals Section of DES or the Board
				  of Review to review a determination or decision that is adverse to that
				  party.
(5) "Appeals Referee" or
				  "Hearing Officer" means an attorney appointed to hear or decide an appeal from
				  a determination by an adjudicator and issues involving the rights, status, and
				  liabilities of an employer pursuant to the provisions of
				  G.S.
				  96-4(q) or
				  96-15(c).
(6) "Appeals Section" means the section
				  within DES where Appeals Referees conduct quasi-judicial administrative
				  evidentiary hearings and make decisions in contested cases for unemployment
				  insurance benefits. The Appeals Section also consists of support staff that
				  assists Appeals Referees.
(7)
				  "Application for a position" means supplying the information required by an
				  employer to place an individual in a particular position or opening. Such
				  information may include proof of the qualifications or license required by the
				  position or opening, employment history, and personal information, such as full
				  name, Social Security Number or other identification number, telephone number,
				  and current address. An application for a position may be accomplished in
				  whatever manner acceptable to an employer, including the completion of a
				  designated form, the provision of a written resume, or verbally.
(8) "Authorized Representative" means an
				  individual authorized by an employer or employing unit to act on the employer
				  or employing unit's behalf before DES.
(9) "Base period" means as defined in
				  G.S.
				  96-1(b)(3). Calendar
				  quarters are January through March, April through June, July through September,
				  and October through December.
(10)
				  "Benefit week" means a period of seven consecutive calendar days, ending at
				  11:59 pm on Saturday.
(11) "Benefit
				  wage credits" meanswages used to determine a claimant's monetary eligibility
				  for benefits. Benefit wage credits consist of the wages a claimant received or
				  should have received during the claimant's base period of employment and to
				  include those wages that were awarded and paid to the claimant after the base
				  period pursuant to a court order; a National Labor Relations Board
				  determination; another adjudicative agency; or by private agreement, consent,
				  or arbitration for loss of pay because of discharge. DES shall credit the
				  awarded wages to the quarter in which the wages should have been
				  paid.
(12) "Board of Review" means
				  as defined in
				  G.S.
				  96-15.3 and is the body that conducts "higher
				  authority review" of appeals arising from the decisions of the Division, tax
				  liability hearings, and labor disputes. The Board of Review is also referred to
				  as the "Board" or "BOR."
(13)
				  "Calendar Period" means the 52 week period beginning with the first day of a
				  week in which an individual first files a valid claim for benefits and
				  registers for work. The week begins on the first Sunday preceding the initial
				  claim filed and ends the following year at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday.
(14) "Charging cycle" means each calendar
				  quarter following the prior reporting cycle, during which the employer's
				  account is assessed and charged for erroneous unemployment insurance benefit
				  payments resulting from untimely or inadequate responses, as defined in
				  04 NCAC
				  24D .0301, from the employer to particular
				  Requests for Separation Information during that charging cycle if the employer
				  met or exceeded the adequacy threshold in the prior reporting cycle.
(15) "Chief Appeals Referee" includes the
				  Chief Appeals Referee's designee, unless otherwise stated.
(16) "Claimant" means an individual who files
				  an unemployment insurance benefits claim for payments as provided in
				  G.S.
				  96-14.1.
(17) "Clear and convincing evidence" means
				  evidence indicating that the thing to be proved is highly probable or
				  reasonably certain.
(18)
				  "Customarily," as the term is used in
				  G.S.
				  96-16, means during at least seventy-five
				  percent of the calendar years of an observation interval.
(19) "Customary" as used in
				  G.S.
				  96-15.01 means the usual and habitual number
				  of hours worked.
(20) "Day" means a
				  calendar day.
(21) "Delivery
				  service" means an authorized designated carrier pursuant to Rule 4(j) of the
				  North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure and
				  26 U.S.C.
				  7502(f)(2).
(22) "DES website" means the internet address
				  found at www.des.nc.gov.
(23) "Due
				  diligence" means the measure of carefulness, precaution, attentiveness, and
				  good judgment as to be expected from, and exercised by a reasonable and prudent
				  person under the particular circumstances.
(24) "Effective date of a claim" means either
				  the benefit year beginning on the Sunday preceding the payroll week ending date
				  if the claimant is payroll attached, or the benefit year beginning on the
				  Sunday of the calendar week within which a claimant filed a valid claim for
				  benefits and registered for work if the claimant is not payroll
				  attached.
(25) "Electronic
				  transmission" means. delivery to an electronic mail address at which an
				  individual or employer has consented to receive notices, documents, or other
				  communications; or posting on an electronic network or site accessible by
				  internet through use of a mobile application, computer, mobile device, tablet,
				  or any other electronic device, and sending separate notice of the posting, or
				  using any other delivery method to which the individual or employer has
				  consented. Communication sent by DES electronic transmission shall be complete
				  on transmission.
(26) "Equity and
				  good conscience" means fairness as applied to a given set of
				  circumstances.
(27) "Fault" means
				  an error or defect of judgment or of conduct; any deviation from prudence or
				  duty resulting from inattention, incapacity, perversity, bad faith, or
				  mismanagement.
(28) "Good cause"
				  means a legally sufficient reason.
(29) "In-person/telephone hearing" means an
				  administrative hearing before the Appeals Section, Board of Review, or other
				  designated Hearing Officer where at least one party or witness appears
				  in-person, and another party or witness appears by telephone.
(30) "Interstate benefit payment plan" means
				  the plan approved by the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Agencies
				  under which benefits may be paid to unemployed claimants absent from the state
				  (or states) where benefit wage credits accumulated. This Rule incorporates the
				  United States Department of Labor's Interstate Benefit Payment Plan, Interstate
				  Agreements, ET Handbook No. 392 app. B (2d ed. 1997) by reference and includes
				  subsequent amendments and editions of the referenced material in accordance
				  with G.S. 150B-21.6. Copies of the
				  incorporated material are located at 700 Wade Avenue, in Raleigh, North
				  Carolina, and may be obtained by request at no cost to the public as allowed
				  under 04
				  NCAC 24A .0201.
(31) "Interstate claimant" means a claimant
				  who claims benefits under the unemployment insurance law of one or more liable
				  states through the facilities of an agent state, or directly with the liable
				  state. The term "interstate claimant" shall not include any claimant who
				  customarily commutes from a residence in an agent state to work in a liable
				  state unless the Division finds that this exclusion would create an undue
				  hardship.
(32) "Labor dispute"
				  means a dispute between an employer and its employees about wages, hours,
				  working conditions, or issues concerning the association or representation of
				  persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange
				  terms or condition of employment, between those who could be concerned in the
				  controversy.
(33) "Last known
				  address" means the most recent address provided to DES by the claimant or
				  taxpayer located in its official record, except that DES shall update addresses
				  maintained in its official records by referring to data accumulated and
				  maintained in the United States Postal Service (USPS) National Change of
				  Address database that retains change of address information (NCOA Database). If
				  the claimant or taxpayer's name and last known address in DES's official
				  records match the claimant or taxpayer's name and previous mailing address
				  contained in the NCOA database, the new address in the NCOA database is the
				  taxpayer's last known address. This Rule incorporates the United States Postal
				  Service's National Change of Address Database by reference and includes
				  subsequent amendments and editions of the referenced material in accordance
				  with G.S. 150B-21.6. Copies of the
				  incorporated material are located at 700 Wade Avenue, in Raleigh, North
				  Carolina, and may be obtained by request at no cost to the public by contacting
				  DES as specified under
				  04 NCAC
				  24A .0201.
(34) "Legal representative" means a licensed
				  attorney or a person supervised by a licensed attorney.
(35) "Liable state" means any state against
				  which a claimant files a claim for benefits through another state.
(36) "NDNH" is an acronym, and means the
				  National Directory of New Hires. NDNH is a national database of wage and
				  employment information established by the Personal Responsibility and Work
				  Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, and operated by the federal Office of
				  Child Support Enforcement.
(37)
				  "Observation interval" means an interval of time including the four consecutive
				  calendar years preceding the calendar year in which an application for a
				  seasonal determination is made pursuant to
				  G.S.
				  96-16. In the case of a newly liable employer
				  or an employer whose operational activities have changed, the observation
				  interval may be less than four calendar years.
(38) "Official record" means information in
				  the records of a state or state unemployment compensation agency that pertains
				  to the administration of the unemployment insurance program. Official records
				  include claim information, wage information, confidential information, and
				  unemployment compensation information as defined in
				  20 C.F.R.
				  603.2, which is incorporated by reference,
				  and includes subsequent amendments and editions of the referenced material.
				  This material is available, free of charge, at
http://www.ecfr.gov
.Official records also
				  include information provided by a federal, state, or private entity, or a
				  claimant or employer for reliance upon, or use by the state in administering
				  its unemployment insurance program.
(39) "Party with appeal rights" means a party
				  who has the right to appeal an unfavorable determination or decision pursuant
				  to G.S.
				  96-4(q) and
				  G.S.
				  96-15.
(40) "Public employment office" means a local
				  office managed and operated by the Division of Workforce Solutions (DWS) of the
				  North Carolina Department of Commerce.
(41) "Regularly recurring" means a period or
				  periods of operational activity and shall be deemed regularly recurring if,
				  during at least seventy-five percent of the calendar years in the observation
				  interval, the beginning and ending dates of the period or periods do not vary
				  more than four weeks.
(42)
				  "Reopened claim" means the resumption of a valid initial claim following a
				  break in filing weekly certifications during a benefit year and the break was
				  caused by reasons other than intervening employment. The first week of
				  eligibility following the effective date of the reopened claim shall constitute
				  a waiting period week if all eligibility requirements set forth in
				  G.S.
				  96-14.9 are met.
(43) "Reporting cycle" means the 52 week
				  period beginning August 1st and ending July
				  31st the following year in which the employer's
				  account is examined and recorded for any inadequate responses to Requests for
				  Separation Information (NCUI 500AB).
(44) "SCUBI" is an acronym, and means the
				  Southeast Consortium Unemployment Benefits Initiative referenced in
				  G.S.
				  96-40(b)(1). SCUBI is a
				  multi-state consortia consisting of North Carolina, South Carolina, and
				  Georgia.
(45) "SIDES" is an
				  acronym, and means the State Information Data Exchange System. SIDES is a
				  secure, nationally standardized, web based system that allows electronic
				  transmission of information requests from DES to employers or third party
				  administrators, as well as electronic transmission of replies containing the
				  requested information back to DES.
(46) "State" means any of the 50 states in
				  the United States and includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the
				  U.S. Virgin Islands.
(47) "Valid
				  email address" means a unique identifier for an email account that is used to
				  send and receive messages over the internet, and is composed of three parts:
				  the user name, the
"
at symbol
"
(@), and the domain.
				  To be valid, an email address shall be one to which DES can send emails, and
				  shall be provided to DES for use by the claimant, employer, legal
				  representative, or other authorized representative of the claimant or employer.
				  The most recent email address provided to DES shall be maintained in DES's
				  records, as the claimant's or employer's official email address.
(48) "Wages paid" means both wages actually
				  received by a worker, and wages "constructively paid. "Wages are constructively
				  paid when they are credited to the account of, or set apart for a worker
				  without any substantial restriction as to the time or manner of payment or
				  condition upon which payment is to be made, and shall be made available so that
				  the worker may draw upon them at any time, and payment brought within the
				  worker's control and disposition, although not reduced to possession.
(49) "Wages payable" means wages earned but
				  not paid.
(50) "Weekly period"
				  means a seven day period beginning at 12:00 a.m. Sunday and ending on the
				  following Saturday at 11:59 p.m.
(51) "Week of unemployment" includes any week
				  of unemployment as defined in the law of the liable state from which benefits
				  for the week are claimed.