40 Tex. Admin. Code § 815.1 - Definitions
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the statute or context in which the word or phrase is used clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Act--The Texas Unemployment Compensation
Act, Texas Labor Code Annotated, Title 4, Subtitle A, as amended.
(2) Additional claim--A notice of new
unemployment filed at the beginning of a second or subsequent series of claims
within a benefit year or within a period of eligibility when a break of one
week or more has occurred in the claim series with intervening employment. The
employer named on an additional claim will have 14 days from the date notice of
the claim is mailed to reply to the notice. The additional claim reopens a
claim series and is not a payable claim since it is not a claim for seven days
of compensable unemployment.
(3)
Adequate notification--A notification of adverse facts, including any
subsequent notification, affecting a claim for benefits, as provided in the
Act, Chapter 208.
(A) Notification to the
Commission is adequate as long as the employer or its agent gives a reason,
supported by facts, directly related to the allegation raised regarding the
claimant's right to benefits.
(B)
The employer or its agent may demonstrate good cause for failing to provide
adequate notice. Good cause is established solely by showing that the employer
or its agent was prevented from providing adequate notification due to
compelling circumstances beyond the control of the employer or its
agent.
(C) Examples of adequate
notification of adverse facts include, but are not limited to, the following:
(i) The claimant was discharged for
misconduct connected with his work because he was fighting on the job in
violation of written company policy.
(ii) The claimant abandoned her job when she
failed to contact her supervisor in violation of written company policy and
previous warnings.
(D) A
notification is not adequate if it provides only a general conclusion without
substantiating facts. A general statement that a worker has been discharged for
misconduct connected with the work is inadequate. The allegation may be
supported by a summary of the events, which may include facts documenting the
specific reason for the worker's discharge, such as, but not limited to:
(i) policies or procedures;
(ii) warnings;
(iii) performance reviews;
(iv) attendance records;
(v) complaints; and
(vi) witness statements.
(4) Agency--The unit of state
government that is presided over by the Commission and under the direction of
the executive director, which operates the integrated workforce development
system and administers the unemployment compensation insurance program in this
state as established under Texas Labor Code, Chapter 301. It may also be
referred to as the Texas Workforce Commission.
(5) Appeal--A submission by a party
requesting the Agency or the Commission to review a determination or decision
that is adverse to that party. The determination or decision must be appealable
and pertain to entitlement to unemployment benefits; chargeback as provided in
the Act, Chapter 204, Chapter 208, and Chapter 212; fraud as provided in the
Act, Chapter 214; tax coverage or contributions or reimbursements. This
definition does not grant rights to a party.
(6) Base period with respect to an
individual--The first four consecutive completed calendar quarters within the
last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of
the individual's benefit year, or any other alternate base period as allowed by
the Act.
(7) Benefit period--The
period of seven consecutive calendar days, ending at midnight on Saturday, with
respect to which entitlement to benefits is claimed, measured, computed, or
determined.
(8) Benefit wage
credits--Wages used to determine an individual's monetary eligibility for
benefits. Benefit wage credits consist of those wages an individual received
for employment from an employer during the individual's base period as well as
any wages ordered to be paid to an individual by a final Commission order,
pursuant to its authority under Texas Labor Code, Chapter 61. Benefit wage
credits awarded by a final Commission order that were due to be paid to the
individual by an employer during the individual's base period shall be credited
to the quarter in which the wages were originally due to be paid.
(9) Board--Local Workforce Development Board
created pursuant to Texas Government Code §
2308.253 and
certified by the Governor pursuant to Texas Government Code §
2308.261. This
includes a Board when functioning as the Local Workforce Investment Board as
described in the Workforce Investment Act §117 (29 U.S.C.A. §
2832), including those functions required of
a Youth Council, as provided for under the Workforce Investment Act
§117(i) (also referred to as an LWDB).
(10) Commission--The three-member body of
governance composed of Governor-appointed members in which there is one
representative of labor, one representative of employers, and one
representative of the public as established in Texas Labor Code §
301.002, which includes
the three-member governing body acting under the Act, Chapter 212, Subchapter
D, and in Agency hearings involving unemployment insurance issues regarding tax
coverage, contributions or reimbursements.
(11) Day--A calendar day.
(12) Landman--An individual who is qualified
to do field work in the purchasing of right-of-way and leases of mineral
interests, record searches, and related real property title determinations, and
who is primarily engaged in performing the field work.
(13) Person--May include a corporation,
organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust,
estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity.
(14) Places accessible--Locations in which an
employer shall provide required notices to an employee as provided in the Act,
Chapter 208. This includes:
(A) Notices
providing general information about filing a claim for unemployment benefits
shall be displayed in a manner reasonably calculated to be encountered by all
employees; and
(B) Upon separation
from employment, an employer shall provide an employee individual notice of
general information about filing a claim for unemployment benefits as set out
in the printed notice referenced in §208.001(b) of the Act. As the notice
is provided directly to the individual, the employer has significant
flexibility in how this information may be made known. Such information may be
provided:
(i) in a paper format, including by
mail or with separation paperwork;
(ii) by email;
(iii) by text; or
(iv) by other means reasonably calculated to
ensure the individual receives the required notification.
(15) Reopened claim--The first
claim filed following a break in claim series during a benefit year which was
caused by other than intervening employment, i.e., illness, disqualification,
unavailability, or failure to report for any reason other than job attachment.
The reopened claim reopens a claim series and is not a payable claim since it
is not a claim for seven days of compensable unemployment.
(16) Week--A period of seven consecutive
calendar days ending at midnight on Saturday.
Notes
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