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The Georgia Department of Labor has issued emergency rules that expand the unemployment insurance (UI) benefit program to allow workers as they return to work to earn up to $300 in wages per week (up from $50 per week) without causing a reduction in their weekly UI benefit amount. It also allows workers to collect the additional $600 in federal pandemic unemployment compensation under the federal CARES Act. Any amount earned over $300 will be deducted from a claimant's weekly benefit amount.

In addition, the emergency rules temporarily expand the maximum number of weeks a worker may collect regular UI benefits in a benefit year to 26 weeks, up from 14 weeks. This temporarily replaces the previous maximum that could vary from 14 to 20 weeks under the method of determining the maximum based on seasonal adjusted unemployment rates.

More information released on employer-filed UI benefit claims

As we reported (see EY Tax Alert, 2020-0895), employers will not be charged with state UI benefits attributable to COVID-19, provided the employer, not the worker, files for partial UI benefit claims on workers' behalf. UI benefits attributable to claims filed by workers will be charged to the employer's account.

Note that employers must continue to file these UI claims each week, certifying that workers continue to be eligible for UI benefits and reporting any wages the employee has earned for the week. Employees must be expected to return to work when the COVID-19 emergency ends.

Not only will non-employer-filed COVID-19 UI benefits be charged to employer accounts, but also employers will be required to reimburse the Department for the full amount of the UI benefits paid to employees.

Employer-filed claims account for 75% of all UI claims filed

In a recently issued news release, the Department says that employer-filed claims have accounted for 75% of COVID-19 UI claims filed. The Department states that it has received and documented 92% of COVID-19 UI claims filed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the middle of March (week ending March 21, 2020), the Department has processed 1,369,421 regular initial UI claims, more than the past four years combined. Of these claims, 725,000 were valid with enough earned wages to set up a claim and 62% of Georgians have received their first payment. Traditionally, GDOL statistics show only 40-50% of initial claims are eligible to receive an initial payment based on established criteria.

The Department reports that as of April 28, 2020, the state's UI trust fund balance was $2,092,486,809, down 18% from the March 24, 2020 balance of $2,547,000,000. Through April 28, 2020, $119 million has been collected in UI tax revenue for the year.

See the Department's updated COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by Employers for more information.

See the Department's COVID-19 webpage for more information.

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