Virginia Administrative Code › Title 16 - LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT › Agency 5 - VIRGINIA EMPLOYMENT COMMISSION › Chapter 10 - DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 16VAC5-10-10 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall
				  have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise:
"Act" means the Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act as set
				  out in Title 60.2 (§ 60.2-100 et seq.) of the Code of Virginia.
"Additional claim" means a claim for unemployment
				  compensation benefits filed within an existing benefit year by a claimant who
				  has had an intervening period of employment since filing a prior claim.
"Adjudication center" means a service location designated by
				  the commission as an official station for agency staff who are primarily
				  involved in adjudication of disputed benefit and tax liability issues. An
				  adjudication center may be co-located with or incorporated into other agency
				  service locations.
"Agency" means any officer, board, commission, or other
				  authority charged with the administration of the unemployment compensation law
				  of a participating jurisdiction.
"Agent state" means any state in which an individual files a
				  claim for benefits from another state.
"Area of high unemployment" means that geographic area of
				  Virginia, including all cities and counties where the average unemployment rate
				  as determined by the commission has been 10% or more during the more recent
				  completed calendar quarters.
"Benefits" means the compensation payable to an individual,
				  with respect to his unemployment, under the unemployment insurance law of any
				  state or under any federal program in which such compensation is payable in
				  accordance with applicable state law.
"Cash value of remuneration" means the value of rent,
				  housing, lodging, board, or any other payment in kind, in addition to or in
				  lieu of money wages, as agreed upon by the employing unit and the worker at the
				  time of entering into the contract of hire or thereafter. If there is no such
				  agreement, the value thereof shall be an amount equal to a fair estimate of
				  what the worker would, according to his custom and station, pay for similar
				  goods, services, or accommodations in the same community at premises other than
				  those provided by the employing unit.
"Combined-wage claimant" means a claimant who has covered
				  wages under the unemployment compensation law of Virginia and one other state
				  and who has filed a claim under the Interstate Arrangement for Combining
				  Employment and Wages.
"Commission" means the Virginia Employment Commission as
				  defined in § 60.2-108 of the Code of Virginia.
"Continued claim" or "weekly claim" means a request for the
				  payment of unemployment compensation benefits that is made after the filing of
				  an initial claim.
"Days" means consecutive calendar days unless the use of the
				  term in this chapter specifies otherwise.
"Ex parte communication" means any communication with the
				  presiding appeals examiner or special examiner, regardless of the medium, not
				  in the agency's record regarding substantive, procedural, or other matters that
				  could be reasonably expected to influence the outcome of the case or case
				  decision pending before the agency and for which reasonable notice to all
				  parties is not given at the time of the communication. "Parties" shall include
				  claimants and any employers or employing units that have a direct interest in
				  the outcome of the pending case.
"Initial claim" means any new claim for unemployment
				  compensation benefits.
"In-person hearing" means a hearing where the parties,
				  witnesses, and representatives personally appear before the appeals examiner or
				  special examiner.
"Interested jurisdiction" means any participating
				  jurisdiction to which an election submitted under
				  16VAC5-50-10
				  et seq. is sent for its approval and "interested agency" means the agency of
				  such jurisdiction.
"Interstate Benefit Payment Plan" means an approved plan
				  under which benefits shall be payable to unemployed individuals absent from the
				  state in which benefit credits have been accumulated.
"Interstate claimant" means an individual who claims benefits
				  under the unemployment insurance law of one liable state through the facilities
				  of an agent state. The term "interstate claimant" shall not include any
				  individual who customarily commutes from a residence in an agent state to work
				  in a liable state unless the commission finds that this exclusion would create
				  undue hardship on such claimants in specified areas.
"Jurisdiction" means the Commonwealth of Virginia, including
				  land or premises located therein, owned, held, or possessed by the United
				  States, the states of the United States of America, the District of Columbia,
				  the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
"Liable employer" means the employing unit for whom a
				  claimant last worked during 30 days, whether or not such days were consecutive,
				  or for 240 hours prior to filing an initial, additional, or reopened claim for
				  benefits.
"Liable state" means any state against which an individual
				  files, through another state, a claim for benefits.
"Mass separation" means a separation (permanently, for an
				  expected duration of at least seven days, or for any indefinite period) at or
				  about the same time and for the same reasons (i) of at least 20% of the total
				  number of workers employed in an establishment; (ii) of at least 50% of the
				  total number of workers employed in any division or department of any
				  establishment; or (iii) notwithstanding any of the foregoing, a separation at
				  or about the same time and for the same reason of 25 or more workers employed
				  in a single establishment.
"New claim" means a claim for unemployment compensation
				  benefits filed in a manner prescribed by the commission, by an individual who
				  does not have an existing benefit year established.
"Notification lists" means lists used by the commission to
				  notify interested parties of regulatory actions pursuant to this chapter. Such
				  lists may include electronic mailing lists maintained through a state website
				  or regular mailing lists maintained by the commission.
"Partially unemployed individual" means an individual who
				  during a particular week (i) had earnings, but less than his weekly benefit
				  amounts, (ii) was employed by a regular employer, and (iii) worked, but less
				  than his normal customary hours for such regular employer because of lack of
				  work.
"Participating jurisdiction" means a jurisdiction whose
				  administrative agency has subscribed to the Interstate Arrangement for
				  Combining Employment and Wages and whose adherence thereto has not
				  terminated.
"Part-total unemployment" means the unemployment of any
				  individual in any week of less than full-time work in which he earns some
				  remuneration (but less than his weekly benefit amount) and during which he is
				  not attached to a regular employer; or, in any week in which he has wages such
				  as holiday or vacation pay that are less than his weekly benefit amount, but
				  where no actual work has been performed regardless of his attachment to a
				  regular employer.
"Paying state" means
(i) the state in which a combined-wage claimant files a
				  combined-wage claim, if the claimant qualifies for unemployment benefits in
				  that state on the basis of combined employment and wages, and combining will
				  increase either the weekly benefit amount or the maximum benefit amount; or
(ii) if the state in which a combined-wage claimant files a
				  combined-wage claim is not the paying state under the criterion set forth in
				  clause (i) of this definition, or if the combined-wage claim is filed in Canada
				  or the U.S. Virgin Islands, then the paying state shall be that state where the
				  combined-wage claimant was last employed in covered employment among the states
				  in which the claimant qualifies for unemployment benefits on the basis of
				  combined employment and wages.
"Reopened claim" means the first claim for unemployment
				  compensation benefits filed within an existing benefit year after a break in
				  the claim series caused by any reason other than intervening employment.
"Services customarily performed by an individual in more than
				  one jurisdiction" means services performed in more than one jurisdiction during
				  a reasonable period, if the nature of the services gives reasonable assurance
				  that they will continue to be performed in more than one jurisdiction or if
				  such services are required or expected to be performed in more than one
				  jurisdiction under the election.
"Severance and dismissal pay" means, for the purpose of
				  taxation and benefits, all payments made by an employer at or subsequent to an
				  employee's separation, except that payments that are exclusively for services
				  performed prior to separation shall not be treated as severance or dismissal
				  pay. Such payments may be allocated by the employer for any period following
				  separation so long as such allocation is at a weekly rate at least equal to the
				  average weekly wage received by such employee during the last calendar quarter
				  preceding the separation, and will in such cases be deemed to have been paid in
				  those weeks covered by the allocation. If no allocation is made by the
				  employer, such payments will be deemed allocated to the last day of
				  work.
"Split hearing" means an in-person hearing where one or more
				  parties, representatives, or witnesses are allowed to participate
				  telephonically.
"State" means the Commonwealth of Virginia, including land or
				  premises located therein, owned, held, or possessed by the United States, the
				  states of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, the
				  Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
"Telephone hearing" means a hearing where all parties,
				  witnesses, and representatives participate before the appeals or special
				  examiner by way of a telephone conference call.
"Total unemployment" means the unemployment of an individual
				  for any week in which he performs no work and has no wages payable to him,
				  regardless of whether or not he is attached to an employing unit's
				  payroll.
"Transferring state" means a state in which a combined-wage
				  claimant had covered employment and wages in the base period of a paying state,
				  and that transfers such employment and wages to the paying state for its use in
				  determining the benefit rights of such claimant under its law.
"Workforce center" means an office of the commission, which
				  may include one-stop centers, job information, referral services, and
				  unemployment insurance services.
Statutory Authority: § 60.2-111 of the Code of
					 Virginia.