Integrity Law to help boost Unemployment Insurance

South Carolina recently passed legislation that will improve the integrity of the state’s unemployment insurance system.  The legislation (H.3751, Act 70), which imposes federally mandated integrity requirements, provides the following: a 25% penalty applied to a claimant’s fraudulent over payment, if an employer establishes a pattern of non-response and over payments result due to the non responses, then the employer’s account may be charged, and a revision to the definition of “new hire”.  The SC Department of Employment and Workforce plans to release further information and educational materials for all employers on this new legislation. “These measures will ultimately help restore the unemployment insurance trust fund and keep future unemployment taxes low for the state’s businesses,” said Gov. Nikki Haley. The new law applies to over payments determined by the Department after October 21, 2013. The Department of Employment and Workforce is committed to a multi-pronged marketing campaign to explain the new requirements to  all businesses in the state. Only businesses that demonstrate a pattern of responding in an inadequate or untimely manner will be at risk of increasing their unemployment tax rates.