The relief-from-charge provisions in the Law apply to all contributory employers (that is, employers who pay quarterly UC taxes into the UC Fund). However, relief from charges is available to a reimbursable employer only if the employer pays a yearly “solvency fee” in accordance with section 213 of the Pennsylvania UC Law. If the employer pays the solvency fee for a given calendar year, the employer is eligible to request relief from benefit charges associated with applications for benefits that take effect in that year. A reimbursable employer must decide each year whether it will pay the fee for the upcoming year, and it can decline to pay for a given year without prejudicing its right to pay for a later year.

You should file for relief from charges ONLY if the claimant’s financial eligibility code, as shown in the “Elig Code” block on the front of Form UC-44FR indicates that the claimant is eligible (Code 1) or conditionally eligible (Code 7). If you receive a subsequent Notice of Financial Determination corresponding to the same application for benefits (AB date) you do not have to request relief again.

Although a claimant may be financially eligible for benefits, he or she may be disqualified from receiving benefits for another reason, such as voluntarily leaving work or being discharged for willful misconduct. However, under the Law, the claimant may remove or “purge” such disqualification by subsequently earning six times his or her weekly benefit rate. If a claimant who has purged a disqualification becomes unemployed again, you could be charged for the claimant’s benefits if you neglected to request relief from charges in response to the Notice of Financial Determination. Therefore, even if it appears that the claimant will be denied benefits, you should nonetheless request relief from charges in order to avoid future charges.

There are three ways to request relief from charges:

Employers will need to file a protest through their dashboard in the UC system for benefits. 

Complete the applicable sections on the reverse of Form UC-44FR, providing ALL requested information, including:

• The claimant’s name and social security number
  
• Employer’s name and UC account number
• The last day the claimant worked
  
• Detailed separation information or information about the claimant’s part-time employment, with supporting documentation
• Name and contact information of the person completing the form

You may also request relief from charges by letter. Your correspondence must include all the above information in order to be processed as a request for relief.

You may e-mail or fax a request for relief from charges to the department. If you use Form UC-44FR and send it by fax, both sides of the form must be faxed. Whether you use the form or a letter, include the claimant’s name and social security number and the employer’s name and UC account number on all faxed pages.

A request for relief from charges must be filed by the “LAST DATE FOR TIMELY REQUEST” indicated on Form UC-44FR to be timely. If a request is faxed to the department, the filing date is the date of receipt indicated by the department’s fax machine.

Requests for relief can be e-mailed or faxed to:

RA-LI-Fax7177246952@pa.gov

OR

UIEMPCHARGE@PA.GOV

or send a Fax to 717-724-6952.

No. Retain a copy for your records.

A request for relief from charges can be filed after the “LAST DATE FOR TIMELY REQUEST.” However, if relief is granted, it will be effective only for weeks ending 15 or more days after the date the request is filed. Benefits for earlier weeks will remain charged to the employer’s UC account.

An employer is not eligible for relief from charges for benefits paid following a layoff for lack of work. However, if the claimant is reemployed, becomes separated again during the benefit year, and the reason for the subsequent separation is a basis for relief, the employer may qualify for relief from charges for benefits paid after the subsequent separation. In order to be timely, the request must be filed within 15 days after the department issues the earliest notice that the claimant has filed for benefits.

You will not receive a new Form UC-44FR each time a claimant is separated from your employment or another employer during the benefit year. If you have the Form UC-44FR that you received with the claimant’s Notice of Financial Determination, you may complete the form and return it to the department to request relief. If you no longer have Form UC-44FR, you may request relief from charges by mailing or faxing a letter to the address indicated above.

Yes. The duration of a claimant’s unemployment is not a factor affecting benefit charges.

Relief from charges does not carry over from claim to claim.

If the claimant worked part time for you prior to filing an Application for Benefits and continues to work for you during the benefit year without material change, you may qualify for relief from charges. Material change is defined as a substantial reduction in wages or in the number of hours or days ordinarily worked. However, if the part-time employer is the only employer in the base year, relief from charges cannot be approved.

In some cases, the type of separation that allows an employer to receive relief from charges would disqualify a claimant from receiving benefits, such as a separation for willful misconduct. The Law, however, provides that an individual can overcome a disqualifying separation by securing a new job and earning six times his or her UC weekly benefit rate. If the individual is separated from the new job after earning that amount and under circumstances that are not disqualifying, the individual may be eligible for benefits and the first employer may be eligible for relief from charges. In other cases, a claimant may be unemployed for a reason that both allows the claimant to receive benefits and qualifies the employer to receive relief from charges. For example, if a claimant voluntarily left employment for a necessitous and compelling reason, but that reason is not attributable to his or her employment, the claimant may be eligible for compensation and the employer may qualify for relief from charges.

UC benefits that are not charged to a particular contributory employer are used in the calculation of the state adjustment factor, which is one of the three factors in an employer’s experience-based contribution rate. Non-charged benefits also affect the additional contributions and surcharge that are paid by contributory employers when the UC Fund balance declines. All employers share the cost of non-charged benefits through the state adjustment factor, additional contributions and surcharge.

Benefits that are not charged to a particular reimbursable employer are funded through the solvency fee that reimbursable employers pay in order to be eligible for relief from charges.

If the separation that is the basis for your relief from charges request is also the separation that governs the claimant’s eligibility for benefits, the relief determination must await the outcome of the eligibility determination and must be consistent with the eligibility determination. The request for relief cannot be processed until the eligibility determination has been issued and has become final.

If the separation has no bearing on the claimant’s eligibility for benefits, a delay may occur if more information is needed to make a determination on the request for relief. Providing all relevant information at the time you submit your request for relief may prevent a delay.

If you have questions about processing relief from charges requests, e-mail your question to us at UIEMPCHARGE@pa.gov. Include your employer account number, the claimant’s full name and the last four digits of the claimant’s social security number. We will respond to your inquiry as quickly as possible.

When you are granted relief from charges, the department will remove charges that are included in the relief determination but were applied to your account before the relief determination was issued. No further charges will be applied to your account for benefits paid on this application for benefits, unless the relief terminates during the claimant’s benefit year. For example, if you are granted relief from charges because the claimant continues to work for you part time after being separated from another employer, but during the benefit year you reduce the claimant’s work hours, you no longer qualify for relief.

If you are granted relief from charges on the basis of a claimant’s separation from your employ, and you reemploy the claimant, you must notify the department within 15 days.

The UC Law provides employers the right to appeal relief from charge determinations. Instructions for filing an appeal are located on the reverse of the determination.