COVID-19 Information for employers

Due to ongoing challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minnesota Legislature recently passed a special law to “carry over” 2020 UI experience rates into 2021. Your 2021 UI “experience rate” or “new employer rate” will be calculated the same as it was in 2020. The Legislature made this change to ensure that pandemic-related unemployment in 2020 did not affect 2021 tax rates.

This new law does not affect the financial relief previously authorized by Congress or the Minnesota Legislature.

• Through the CARES Act, Congress has agreed to partially reimburse states for a portion of UI benefit costs. Applying these reimbursements is technically very complicated. This work must be completed before we can relieve benefit charges under state law.
• In addition to federal financial relief, the Minnesota Legislature has directed us to relieve a portion of your UI benefit charges. We will make these adjustments to your account in the coming months, but it will involve another series of complex transactions. We appreciate your patience as we ensure that this critical work is done accurately. 
• You may occasionally see notices or other documents that state that your account will be charged for unemployment benefits paid, even when those benefits were paid due to COVID-19. Do not worry; we will remove those charges.
• Please do not submit an appeal or raise an issue exclusively to request relief of charges due to COVID-19. We will let you know if we need more information from you. 
• Continue to “raise an issue” about any matters that are not related to COVID-19.

• Congress authorized federal funding to reimburse states for certain unemployment costs during the pandemic. You will not be required to repay any unemployment benefit charges if the federal government has already covered the cost.
• Once we finish adjusting your account to reflect CARES Act reimbursements, we will determine if you qualify for any additional relief available under state law (Minnesota Statutes, Section 268.047).
• If we need more information from you, we will send you a questionnaire.
  
• We anticipate that many reimbursing employers will see a fairly large reduction in charges as a result of these processes, but some charges unrelated to the pandemic may remain.
• Quarterly bills will not be sent out until our review is complete. We will likely turn billing back on in mid-2021, but we will let you know before we do.
• Continue to “raise an issue” about any matters that are not related to COVID-19.

Yes. Employees who are unable to work due to COVID-19 can apply for unemployment benefits.

Employees are not required to use all available paid leave before filing for unemployment.

If you have temporarily laid off an employee, the employee can meet work search requirements by staying in regular contact with you about when work will resume.

It depends on the situation. We are suggesting that workers who find themselves in this situation apply for unemployment benefits to find out if they are eligible.

Under Governor Walz’s executive order, an employee may be eligible for benefits if they are on a leave of absence and:

1. A health authority or a health care professional has recommended or ordered them to stay home from work OR
2. They have been notified that their ordinary childcare is unavailable and they have been unable to find either A) alternative childcare or B) an accommodation from their employer

They may also be eligible for benefits if they took a voluntary layoff to avoid the layoff of another employee. View eligibility rules associated with voluntary layoffs.

Visit our web page for self-employed and independent contractors.

Your employee(s) need to report any hours worked and any pay they received on their weekly benefit payment request. 

We can pay a partial benefit payment for any week your employee works less than 32 hours and is paid less than their weekly benefit amount. The system will deduct 50 percent of their earnings from their benefit payment. The amount not paid for that week stays in their account. 

If your employee worked 32 hours or more, or you pay them an amount equal to or greater than their weekly benefit amount, they would not be eligible for an unemployment benefit payment that week. 

To learn more, visit Working while collecting benefit payments.