Do employers have to offer unemployment insurance?

Answer 1

It depends on laws in your state,some states Like Massichusets require employers to pay unemployment insurance for one or more full time employees.and in some states employers only have to have unemployment insurance if they have over a certain number of full time employees..

Answer 2

No. Only employers pay unemployment taxes to the state who, in turn, pays the benefits to qualified unemployed workers.

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Unemployment Payments and the Law

Each state pays its unemployed workers from the pool of unemployment taxes it collected from employers, based on their number of employees and their turnover history. The formulae is different for each state. According to the Related Links below the state collects payroll taxes from employers, based on their turnover rate. This became a law under the Federal Social Security Act and is administered by the individual states. The only time employers pay employees directly is when the employer has an agreement to do so by the state that collects the taxes from them, in order to opt out of paying the tax. The employer does not receive a bill for payments made, but the state does adjust his tax rate based on his turn over experience. The taxes collected pays for both operational costs as well as benefit payments.

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Who pays unemployment benefits?

As usual, they do things a little different down Texas Way.

Here, your former employer pays 100% of any unemployment compensation you receive. Your unemployment disbursement will come from the states account. But, in Texas, the employer or the employers Payroll processor "Does" get billed, (actually the department calls it an assessment) for every payment made during a benefit term. This is in addition to employer contributions for current active payroll. the assessment ends generally one month after the associated benefits expire and the assessments met.

Turn over is not a factor here because each employer is responsible for his own. So Basically the employer reimburses any funds disbursed by the state through assessment.

The state collects the unemployment funds from the employers through an unemployment tax, usually based on the business' rate of labor turnover. The state, in turn, pays the benefits to the out of work person if s/he qualifies with the state's regulations.

So, in that sense, it appears that the state pays you the benefit check, But then they bill the employer for the amount of those disbursements. So in actuality, the employer is still paying it. In Fact,, Unemployment commission employees here will not even call it "Unemployment Insurance" because it is in effect not insurance in the way it is handled here, They use the term "Unemployment Compensation" instead, or at least when talking to the employer.

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The employer pays into a state fund (SUI) and a federal fund (FUTA). Below is a link explaining how it works in Arizona. It generally works the same way in other states.

Answer 3

The states collect a payroll tax from employers who are not classified as exempt. As each state sets its own criteria, the classifications may vary, i.e. seasonal, agricultural, commission paid, employs independent contractors, etc. wherein those industries (in most cases) aren't required to pay the tax and the ex-employee can't collect. That is why some employers commit fraud by misclassifying the employees to avoid the liability. The IRS and 39 states are prosecuting those violators.