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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 352. Benefits
(a) Days for which benefits payable; determination of amount
(1)(A) Payment of Unemployment Benefits. -
(i) Generally. - Except as otherwise provided in this
subparagraph, benefits shall be payable to any qualified employee
for each day of unemployment in excess of 4 during any
registration period within a period of continuing unemployment.
(ii) Waiting period for first registration period. - Benefits
shall be payable to any qualified employee for each day of
unemployment in excess of 7 during that employee's first
registration period in a period of continuing unemployment if
such period of continuing unemployment is the employee's initial
period of continuing unemployment commencing in the benefit year.
(iii) Strikes. -
(I) Initial 14-day waiting period. - If the Board finds that
a qualified employee has a period of continuing unemployment
that includes days of unemployment due to a stoppage of work
because of a strike in the establishment, premises, or
enterprise at which such employee was last employed, no
benefits shall be payable for such employee's first 14 days of
unemployment due to such stoppage of work.
(II) Subsequent days of unemployment. - For subsequent days
of unemployment due to the same stoppage of work, benefits
shall be payable as provided in clause (i) of this
subparagraph.
(III) Subsequent periods of continuing unemployment. - If
such period of continuing unemployment ends by reason of clause
(v) but the stoppage of work continues, the waiting period
established in clause (ii) shall apply to the employee's first
registration period in a new period of continuing unemployment
based upon the same stoppage of work.
(iv) Definition of period of continuing unemployment. - Except
as limited by clause (v), for the purposes of this subparagraph,
the term "period of continuing unemployment" means -
(I) a single registration period that includes more than 4
days of unemployment;
(II) a series of consecutive registration periods, each of
which includes more than 4 days of unemployment; or
(III) a series of successive registration periods, each of
which includes more than 4 days of unemployment, if each
succeeding registration period begins within 15 days after the
last day of the immediately preceding registration period.
(v) Special rule regarding end of period. - For purposes of
applying clause (ii), a period of continuing unemployment ends
when an employee exhausts rights to unemployment benefits under
subsection (c) of this section.
(vi) Limit on amount of benefits. - No benefits shall be
payable to an otherwise eligible employee for any day of
unemployment in a registration period where the total amount of
the remuneration (as defined in section 351(j) of this title)
payable or accruing to him for days within such registration
period exceeds the amount of the base year monthly compensation
base. For purposes of the preceding sentence, an employee's
remuneration shall be deemed to include the gross amount of any
remuneration that would have become payable to that employee but
did not become payable because that employee was not ready or
willing to perform suitable work available to that employee on
any day within such registration period.
(B) Payment of Sickness Benefits. -
(i) Generally. - Except as otherwise provided in this
subparagraph, benefits shall be payable to any qualified employee
for each day of sickness after the 4th consecutive day of
sickness in a period of continuing sickness but excluding 4 days
of sickness in any registration period in such period of
continuing sickness.
(ii) Waiting period for first registration period. - Benefits
shall be payable to any qualified employee for each day of
sickness in excess of 7 during that employee's first registration
period in a period of continuing sickness if such period of
continuing sickness is the employee's initial period of
continuing sickness commencing in the benefit year. For the
purposes of this clause, the first registration period in a
period of continuing sickness is that registration period that
first begins with 4 consecutive days of sickness and includes
more than 4 days of sickness.
(iii) Definition of period of continuing sickness. - For the
purposes of this subparagraph, a period of continuing sickness
means -
(I) a period of consecutive days of sickness, whether from 1
or more causes; or
(II) a period of successive days of sickness due to a single
cause without interruption of more than 90 consecutive days
which are not days of sickness.
(iv) Special rule regarding end of period. - For purposes of
applying clause (ii), a period of continuing sickness ends when
an employee exhausts rights to sickness benefits under subsection
(c) of this section.
(2) The daily benefit rate with respect to any such employee for
such day of unemployment or sickness shall be in an amount equal to
60 per centum of the daily rate of compensation for the employee's
last employment in which he engaged for an employer in the base
year, but not less than $12.70: Provided, however, That for
registration periods beginning after June 30, 1975, but before July
1, 1976, such amount shall not exceed $24 per day of such
unemployment or sickness, that for registration periods beginning
after June 30, 1976, but before July 1, 1988, such amount shall not
exceed $25 per day of such unemployment or sickness, that for
registration periods beginning after June 30, 1988, but before July
1, 1989, such amount shall not exceed $30 per day of unemployment
or sickness, and that for registration periods beginning after June
30, 1989, such amount shall not exceed the maximum daily benefit
rate provided in paragraph (3) of this subsection. The daily rate
of compensation referred to in this paragraph shall be determined
by the Board on the basis of information furnished to the Board by
the employee, his employer, or both.
(3) The maximum daily benefit rate computed by the Board under
section 362(r)(2) of this title shall be the product of the monthly
compensation base, as computed under section 351(i)(2) of this
title for the base year immediately preceding the beginning of the
benefit year, multiplied by 5 percent. If the maximum daily benefit
rate so computed is not a multiple of $1, it shall be rounded down
to the nearest multiple of $1.
(4) In computing benefits to be paid, days of unemployment shall
not be combined with days of sickness in the same registration
period.
(b) Time of payments
The benefits provided for in this section shall be paid to an
employee at such reasonable intervals as the Board may prescribe.
(c) Maximum number of days for benefits
(1) Normal benefits
(A) Generally
The maximum number of days of unemployment within a benefit
year for which benefits may be paid to an employee shall be
130, and the maximum number of days of sickness within a
benefit year for which benefits may be paid to an employee
shall be 130.
(B) Limitation
The total amount of benefits that may be paid to an employee
for days of unemployment within a benefit year shall in no case
exceed the employee's compensation in the base year; and the
total amount of benefits that may be paid to an employee for
days of sickness within a benefit year shall in no case exceed
the employee's compensation in the base year, except that
notwithstanding section 351(i) of this title, in determining
the employee's compensation in the base year for the purpose of
this sentence, any money remuneration paid to the employee for
services rendered as an employee shall be taken into account
that is not in excess of an amount that bears the same ratio to
$775 as the monthly compensation base for that year as computed
under section 351(i) of this title bears to $600.
(2) Extended benefits
(A) Generally
With respect to an employee who has 10 or more years of
service as defined in section 231(f) of this title, who did not
voluntarily retire and (in a case involving exhaustion of
rights to normal benefits for days of unemployment) did not
voluntarily leave work without good cause, and who had current
rights to normal benefits for days of unemployment or days of
sickness in a benefit year but has exhausted such rights, the
benefit year in which such rights are exhausted shall be deemed
not to be ended until the last day of the extended benefit
period determined under this paragraph, and extended
unemployment benefits or extended sickness benefits (depending
on the type of normal benefit rights exhausted) may be paid for
not more than 65 days of unemployment or 65 days of sickness
within such extended benefit period.
(B) Beginning date
An employee's extended benefit period shall begin on the
employee's first day of unemployment or first day of sickness,
as the case may be, following the day on which the employee
exhausts the employee's then current rights to normal benefits
for days of unemployment or days of sickness and shall continue
for 7 consecutive 14-day periods, each of which shall
constitute a registration period, but no such extended benefit
period shall extend beyond the beginning of the first
registration period in a benefit year in which the employee is
again qualified for benefits in accordance with section 353 of
this title on the basis of compensation earned after the first
of such consecutive 14-day periods has begun.
(C) Termination when employee reaches age of 65
Notwithstanding any other provision of this paragraph, an
extended benefit period for sickness benefits shall terminate
on the day next preceding the date on which the employee
attains age 65, except that it may continue for the purpose of
paying benefits for days of unemployment.
(3) Accelerated benefits
(A) General rule
With respect to an employee who has 10 or more years of
service as defined in section 231(f) of this title, who did not
voluntarily retire, and (in a case involving unemployment
benefits) did not voluntarily leave work without good cause,
who has 14 or more consecutive days of unemployment, or 14 or
more consecutive days of sickness, and who is not a qualified
employee with respect to the general benefit year current when
such unemployment or sickness commences but is or becomes a
qualified employee for the next succeeding general benefit
year, such succeeding general benefit year shall, in that
employee's case, begin on the first day of the month in which
such unemployment or sickness commences.
(B) Exception
In the case of a succeeding benefit year beginning in
accordance with subparagraph (A) by reason of sickness, such
sentence shall not operate to permit the payment of benefits in
the period provided for in such sentence for any day of
sickness beginning with the date on which the employee attains
age 65, and continuing through the day preceding the first day
of the next succeeding general benefit year.
(C) Determination of age
For the purposes of this subsection, the Board may rely on
evidence of age available in its records and files at the time
determinations of age are made.
(d) Overpayment of benefits; recovery; liability of officers
If the Board finds that at any time more than the correct amount
of benefits has been paid to any individual under this chapter or a
payment has been made to an individual not entitled thereto
(including payments made prior to July 1, 1940), recovery by
adjustments in subsequent payments to which such individual is
entitled under this chapter or any other Act administered by the
Board may, except as otherwise provided in this subsection, be made
under regulations prescribed by the Board. If such individual dies
before recovery is completed, recovery may be made by set-off or
adjustments, under regulations prescribed by the Board, in
subsequent payments due, under this chapter or any other Act
administered by the Board, to the estate, designee, next of kin,
legal representative, or surviving spouse of such individual, with
respect to the employment of such individual.
Adjustments under this subsection may be made either by
deductions from subsequent payments or, with respect to payments
which are to be made during a lifetime or lifetimes, by subtracting
the total amount of benefits paid in excess of the proper amount
from the actuarial value, as determined by the Board, of such
payments to be made during a lifetime or lifetimes and recertifying
such payments on the basis of the reduced actuarial value. In the
latter case, recovery shall be deemed to have been completed upon
such recertification.
There shall be no recovery in any case in which more than the
correct amount of benefits has been paid to an individual or
payment has been made to an individual not entitled thereto
(including payments made prior to July 1, 1940) who, in the
judgment of the Board, is without fault when, in the judgment of
the Board, recovery would be contrary to the purpose of this
chapter or would be against equity or good conscience.
No certifying or disbursing officer shall be held liable for any
amount certified or paid by him in good faith to any person where
the recovery of such amount is waived under the third paragraph of
this subsection or has been begun but cannot be completed under the
first paragraph of this subsection.
(e) Assignment, taxation, garnishment, attachment, etc., of
benefits
Notwithstanding any other law of the United States, or of any
State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, no benefits shall be
assignable or be subject to any tax or to garnishment, attachment,
or other legal process under any circumstances whatsoever, nor
shall the payment thereof be anticipated.
(f) Effect of payment of benefits for remunerable period; payment
of surplus remuneration to Board
If (i) benefits are paid to any employee with respect to
unemployment or sickness in any registration period, and it is
later determined that remuneration is payable to such employee with
respect to any period which includes days in such registration
period which had been determined to be days of unemployment or
sickness, and (ii) the person or company from which such
remuneration is payable has, before payment thereof, notice of the
payment of benefits upon the basis of days of unemployment or
sickness included in such period, the remuneration so payable shall
not be reduced by reason of such benefits but the remuneration so
payable, to the extent to which benefits were paid upon the basis
of days which had been determined to be days of unemployment or
sickness and which are included in the period for which such
remuneration is payable, shall be held to be a special fund in
trust for the Board. The amount of such special fund shall be paid
to the Board and in the collection thereof the Board shall have the
same authority, and the same penalties shall apply, as are provided
in section 358 of this title with respect to contributions. The
proceeds of such special fund shall be credited to the account.
Such benefits, to the extent that they are represented in such a
special fund which has been collected by the Board, shall be
disregarded for the purposes of subsection (c) of this section.
(g) Payment of accrued benefits upon death
Benefits accrued to an individual but not yet paid at death
shall, upon certification by the Board, be paid, without necessity
of filing further claims therefor, to the same individual or
individuals to whom any accrued annuities under section 231e(a)(1)
of this title are paid. In the event that no such accrued annuities
are paid, and if application for such accrued benefits is filed
prior to the expiration of two years after the death of the
individual to whom such benefits accrued, such accrued benefits
shall be paid, upon certification by the Board, to the individual
or individuals who would be entitled thereto under section
231e(a)(1) of this title if such accrued benefits were accrued
annuities. If there is no individual to whom all or any part of
such accrued benefits can be paid in accordance with the foregoing
provisions, such benefits or part thereof shall escheat to the
credit of the account.
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