Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 108 - Unemployment insurance and reserves.
108.07 - Liability of employers.

108.07 Liability of employers.
(1) Except as otherwise provided in subs. (4), (5) and (5m) and s. 108.04 (13), the department shall charge benefits payable to a claimant who has been paid or is treated as having been paid base period wages with respect to work performed for one employer only to the account of that employer.
(2) Except as provided in subs. (3) to (5), if a claimant has been paid or is treated as having been paid base period wages with respect to work performed for more than one employer, the department shall charge the account of each employer for all benefits paid to the claimant for weeks ending within the employee's benefit year in the same proportion that the base period wages paid or treated as having been paid to the claimant with respect to work performed for that employer bear to the total base period wages paid or treated as having been paid to the claimant.
(3) Except as provided in sub. (7), if a claimant earns wages during his or her benefit year for work performed for an employer from which the claimant has base period wages, if a claimant receives sick pay, holiday pay, vacation pay or termination pay that is treated as wages under s. 108.05, if any amount that the claimant would have earned from that employer is treated as wages under s. 108.05 (3) (a) or if any combination of wages and such pay or amount is received or treated as received during the claimant's benefit year from such an employer, the department shall charge benefits otherwise chargeable to the account of that employer to the fund's balancing account for each week in which the claimant earns, receives or is treated as receiving such remuneration equal to at least 6.4 percent of the wages paid by that employer to the claimant during the same quarter of the prior calendar year as the quarter which includes that week.
(3m) If a claimant has base period wages with an employer constituting less than 5 percent of the claimant's total base period wages, the department shall not charge the benefits to the account of that employer. If benefits are otherwise chargeable to the account of any employer whose share of a claimant's total base period wages is less than 5 percent, the department shall charge the benefits to the remaining employers with which the claimant has base period wages. The department shall distribute such charges in the same proportion that the claimant's base period wages from such employers bear to the claimant's total base period wages from all such employers. This subsection does not apply to claims for benefits based in whole or in part on employment as federal civilian employees or former military personnel under 5 USC ch. 85, or work covered by the unemployment insurance laws of 2 or more jurisdictions under s. 108.14 (8n).
(3r) Except as otherwise provided in sub. (7), if a claimant has been paid or is treated as having been paid base period wages with respect to work performed for an employer that is subject to the contribution requirements of ss. 108.17 and 108.18 and whose account has been charged for benefits paid to that claimant for an immediately preceding benefit year, the department shall not charge the benefits payable in the subsequent benefit year to the account of that employer if the claimant has not had employment with that employer since the start of the immediately preceding benefit year. The department shall charge benefits otherwise chargeable to the account of that employer to the fund's balancing account.
(4) If benefits based on any employment are chargeable to the fund's balancing account, the department shall not charge the account of the employer who engaged the employee in that employment for those benefits.
(5)
(am) Except as provided in sub. (7), whenever benefits which would otherwise be chargeable to the fund's balancing account are paid based on wages paid by an employer that is not subject to the contribution requirements of ss. 108.17 and 108.18, and the benefits are so chargeable under sub. (3) or s. 108.04 (1) (f) or (5) or 108.14 (8n) (e), or under s. 108.16 (6m) (e) for benefits specified in s. 108.16 (3) (b), the department shall charge the benefits as follows:
1. If no employer from which the claimant has base period wages is subject to the contribution requirements of ss. 108.17 and 108.18, the benefits shall be charged to the administrative account and paid from the appropriation under s. 20.445 (1) (gd).
2. If one employer from which the claimant has base period wages is not subject to the contribution requirements of ss. 108.17 and 108.18, and one or more employers from which the claimant has base period wages is subject to the contribution requirements of ss. 108.17 and 108.18, the benefits shall be charged to the fund's balancing account.
3. If 2 or more employers from which the claimant has base period wages are not subject to the contribution requirements of ss. 108.17 and 108.18, and one or more employers from which the claimant has base period wages are subject to the contribution requirements of ss. 108.17 and 108.18, that percentage of the employee's benefits which would otherwise be chargeable to the fund's balancing account under sub. (3) or s. 108.04 (1) (f) or (5), or under s. 108.16 (6m) (e) for benefits specified in s. 108.16 (3) (b), shall be charged to the administrative account and paid from the appropriation under s. 20.445 (1) (gd).
(bm)
1. Subject to subd. 1m., the department shall, when processing initial claims for regular benefits, determine whether a claim or plan is related to the public health emergency declared on March 12, 2020, by executive order 72. If a claim is so related, the regular benefits for that claim shall, except as provided in subd. 2., be paid as provided in subd. 3.
1m. For purposes of this paragraph, the department shall presume that an initial claim for benefit years beginning on or after March 15, 2020, through March 13, 2021, relates to the public health emergency declared on March 12, 2020, by Executive Order 72 unless the claimant's most recent separation from employment is due to a labor dispute, voluntary termination of work, discharge for misconduct, or discharge for substantial fault. An employer is not required to submit a request for charging relief under this paragraph for initial claims described in this subdivision.
2.
a. Subdivision 1. applies only with respect to benefits payable for weeks beginning after March 12, 2020, and beginning before March 14, 2021.
b. Subdivision 1. does not apply if the employer fails to timely and adequately provide any information required by the department under s. 108.04 (2) (d).
c. Subdivision 1. does not apply with respect to any benefits paid or reimbursed by the federal government, or any portion thereof, including the portion of any benefits reimbursed by the federal government for reimbursable employers, as defined in s. 108.155 (1) (b).
d. In the case of a claim for regular benefits that is a combined wage claim, as defined in s. 108.04 (13) (g) 1. a., subd. 1. applies only with respect to this state's share of benefits.
e. Subdivision 1. does not apply with respect to work-share benefits under s. 108.062 (6).
f. Subdivision 1. does not apply to benefits chargeable as provided in sub. (7).
3. Charges for benefits to which subd. 1. applies shall, notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, be paid or reimbursed as follows:
a. For employers subject to the contribution requirements of ss. 108.17 and 108.18, the benefits shall be charged to the fund's balancing account.
b. For reimbursable employers, as defined in s. 108.155 (1) (b), the benefits shall be paid in the manner provided under par. (am) 1.
(5m) Whenever benefits are paid to a claimant based in part on employment by a seasonal employer by which the claimant was employed for a period of less than 90 days during the season of the seasonal employer, as determined under s. 108.066 (4), and that season includes any portion of the claimant's base period, and the claimant has been paid or is treated as having been paid base period wages or other remuneration of $500 or more during his or her base period for services performed for at least one employer other than the seasonal employer which is subject to the unemployment insurance law of any state or the federal government, the department shall charge to the fund's balancing account the benefits which would otherwise be chargeable to the account of the seasonal employer.
(6) The department may initially charge benefits otherwise chargeable to the administrative account under this section to the fund's balancing account, and periodically reimburse the charges to the balancing account from the administrative account.
(7) Whenever benefits are chargeable under sub. (1) or (2) based on federal employment, the department shall charge the benefits to the federal government.
History: 1971 c. 53; 1975 c. 343; 1979 c. 110 s. 60 (11); 1983 a. 17; 1987 a. 38, 255; 1989 a. 77; 1991 a. 89; 1993 a. 373; 1995 a. 118; 1997 a. 39; 2013 a. 36; 2019 a. 185; 2021 a. 4.

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