Employer Elections to Cover Multistate Workers

PURPOSE: This rule prescribes the procedures and definitions necessary to process elections of coverage and reporting of multistate workers. This rule implements section 288.340, RSMo. This rule was previously known as regulation no. 20. (1) This rule shall govern this division in its administrative cooperation with other states subscribing to the Interstate Reciprocal Arrangement, referred to as the Arrangement. (2) Definitions. As used in this rule, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise— (A) Agency means any officer, board, commission or other authority charged with the administration of the unemployment compensation law of a participating jurisdiction; (B) Interested jurisdiction means any participating jurisdiction to which an election submitted under his/her regulation is sent for its approval; and interested agency means the agency of that jurisdiction; (C) Jurisdiction means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Dominion of Canada or, with respect to the coverage of any Federal Unemployment Compensation Law, the federal government; (D) Participating jurisdiction means a jurisdiction whose administrative agency has subscribed to the arrangement and whose adherence to the arrangement has not terminated; and (E) Services customarily performed by an individual in more than one (1) jurisdiction means services performed in more than one (1) jurisdiction during a reasonable assurance that they will continue to be performed in more than one (1) jurisdiction or if those services are required or expected to be performed in more than one (1) jurisdiction under the election. (3) Submission and Approval of Coverage Elections. (A) Any employer may file an election on Form MODES-2019 to cover under the law of a single participating jurisdiction all of the services performed for him/her by an individual who customarily works for him/her in more than one (1) participating jurisdiction. Such an election may be filed, with respect to an individual, with any participating jurisdiction in which any part of the individual’s services are performed; the individual has his/her residence; or the employing unit maintains a place of business to which the individual’s services bear a reasonable relation. (B) The agency of the elected jurisdiction (thus selected and determined) shall initially approve or disapprove the election. If the agency approves the election, it shall forward a copy to the agency of each other participating jurisdiction specified, under whose unemployment compensation or employment security law the individual(s) in question, in the absence of an election, might be covered. Each interested agency shall approve or disapprove the election, as promptly as practicable; and shall notify the agency of the elected jurisdiction accordingly. In case its law so requires, any such interested agency, before taking action, may require from the electing employing unit satisfactory evidence that the affected employees have been notified of and have acquiesced in the election. (C) If the agency of the elected jurisdiction, or the agency of any interested jurisdiction, disapproves the election, the disapproving agency shall notify the elected jurisdiction and the electing employing unit of its action and of its reasons. (D) Such an election shall take effect as to the elected jurisdiction only if approved by its agency and by one (1) or more interested agencies. An election approved shall take effect, as to any interested agency, only if it is approved by the agency. (E) In case any election is approved only in part, or is disapproved by some of the agencies, the electing employing unit may withdraw its election within ten (10) days after being notified of the action. (4) Effective Period of Elections. (A) Commencement. An election duly approved under this rule shall become effective at the beginning of the calendar quarter in which the election was submitted, unless the election, as approved, specifies the beginning of a different calendar quarter. If the electing unit requests an earlier effective date than the beginning of the calendar quarter in which the election is submitted, the earlier date may be approved solely as to those interested jurisdictions in which the employer had no liability to pay contributions for the earlier period in question. (B) Termination. The application of an election to any individual under this rule shall terminate, if the agency of the elected jurisdiction finds that the nature of the services customarily performed by the individual for the electing unit has changed, so they are no longer customarily performed in more than one (1) participating jurisdiction. The termination shall be effective as of the close of the calendar quarter in which notice of the finding is mailed to all parties affected. Except as provided, each election approved shall remain in effect through the close of the calendar year in which it is submitted and after that until the close of the calendar quarter in which the electing unit gives written notice of its termination to all affected agencies. Whenever an election under this rule ceases to apply to any individual, the electing unit shall notify the affected individual accordingly. (5) Reports and Notices by the Electing Unit. (A) The electing unit shall promptly notify each individual affected by its approved election on the Form MODES-2020 supplied by the elected jurisdiction and shall furnish the elected agency a copy of the notice. (B) Whenever an individual covered by an election under this rule is separated from his/her employment, the electing unit shall again notify him/her as to the jurisdiction under whose unemployment compensation law his/her services have been covered. If at the time of termination the individual is not located in the elected jurisdiction, the electing unit shall notify him/her as to the procedure for filing interstate benefit claims. (C) The electing unit shall report immediately to the elected jurisdiction any change which occurs in the conditions of employment pertinent to its election, such as cases where an individual’s services for the employer cease to be customarily performed in more than one (1) participating jurisdiction or where a change in the work assigned to an individual requires him/her to perform services in a new participating jurisdiction. (6) Delegation of Authority to Approve Elections. The director delegates to the chief of contributions authority to approve or disapprove coverage elections in accordance with this rule. AUTHORITY: section 288.220, RSMo 1986.* Original rule filed Sept. 30, 1946, effective Oct. 10, 1946. Amended: Filed June 20, 1951, effective July 1, 1951. Amended: Filed Nov. 9, 1954, effective Nov. 19, 1954. Amended: Filed Oct. 1, 1965, effective Oct. 13, 1965. Amended: Filed Nov. 21, 1975, effective Dec. 1, 1975. Amended: Filed July 17, 1985, effective Nov. 11, 1985. *Original authority: 288.220, RSMo 1951, amended 1955, 1961, 1963, 1967, 1971.