By Michael Burns, courtesy of SBAM Approved Partner ASE
Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) will be sending out its annual Form 6367 mailing to employers that have fallen behind in their required claims reporting. This form is relatively new only having been used for the first time in 2016. If your organization receives a Form 6367 it means the UIA has found them to be delinquent in providing required information. Non-compliance under Section 20(a) is found when an employer does not respond in four or more instances in the calendar year.
How does the UIA determine this non-compliance?
First it collects and analyzes all the organization’s response data for the year and then it determines if the employer has met the definition of having a pattern of non-compliance. The From 6367 is sent to those organizations at the start of the year. The form provides employee claimant names and the determination for their UI claim that year. The claims listed are ones that the organization has not provided standard reporting for over the past year. At this stage the employer may protest and/or appeal the UIA determination that it failed to respond or engaged in such a pattern.
If the employer can show they complied with reporting for those employers, there will be no further action. However, if the employer fails to show they properly responded, the UIA’s non-compliance action is put into effect. The employer is then charged for all UI benefits paid on that specific claim. Because the organization did not properly respond to UI reporting, they have paid benefits to past employees that may not have been qualified for them.
What should the employer do?
First, it is recommended that even if an employer does not contest a UI claim, that claims notice should still be responded to. Regardless of the circumstances of the employee’s termination, the failure to respond can and is (sometimes erroneously) counted toward the organization’s overall reporting evaluation.
The Michigan State Chamber of Commerce recommends employers check any non-compliance determination carefully. They have found that many members’ UIA determinations are not accurate for and/or the UIA is automatically counting failures to respond in situations where no response may be required.
Employers that receive the UIA Form 6367 have 30 days from the mail date of the notification to protest the determination.