Improved on-line UI access for employers

The Department of Workforce Development has announced as of 27 Sept. 2018 improved on-line access for employers to their unemployment accounts.

Department of Workforce Development Announces Upgraded Unemployment Insurance Employer Online Services

MADISON (9/27/18) – Today, the Department of Workforce Development announced enhancements that will make it easier for employers to interact and correspond with the Department’s Unemployment Insurance program.

The first improvement is a streamlined and an easy to use UI Employer Online Services and SIDES E-Response sign-on. The second improvement permits employers to view benefit determinations and to file benefit appeals electronically.

“Wisconsin was the first state in the nation to offer unemployment insurance benefits,” said Secretary Ray Allen. “Now, we are leading again as the first state to provide an electronic method for employers to appeal benefit cases through the SIDES Exchange.” Allen noted that unemployed workers already have the ability to appeal such cases electronically.

Unemployment Insurance (UI) SIDES E-Response is a web-based system that allows electronic transmission of information requests from UI agencies to employers and/or Third-Party Administrators (TPAs), as well as transmission of replies containing the requested information back to the UI agencies.

Prior to the enhancements, employers had to use different login credentials for each response sent through SIDES. Employers are now able to use their UI Employer Online Services credentials to respond to inquiries through SIDES. This enhancement makes the system more user-friendly, saving employers time and money.

Newly Upgraded UI Employer Online Services include:

• Single sign-on for UI Employer Online Services and SIDES E-Response – saves time, reduces complexity
• Employer appeals can be filed online – view and print benefit determinations, file appeals, amend appeal responses and send attachments

Additional employer benefits include:

• Safe and secure online services are available to employers for free
• Eliminates delays and save money on employer paper mailings
• Reduces improper payments and employer charging, keeping tax rates as low as possible

To sign-up, log-in, or learn more, visit https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/ui/sides

Essentially, these changes expand what is currently available to employer representatives via SIDES to allow all employers to have the same kind of access to their accounts. For small employers who do not have an agent handling their unemployment accounts, this added access is an obvious improvement.

The changes, however, will not be obvious without some exploring of the employer accounts by the employer. So, employers: log into your accounts at the link in the press release above and do some exploring.

Criminalization and strict liability for concealment: moving forward

The official Advisory Council/DWD bill, AB819, passed the Assembly yesterday and is now ready for the Senate to take up (as reported previously, both the Assembly and the Senate had committee hearings on their respective versions of the DWD-UI bill; so far, only one elected official — Sen. Chris Larson — has voted against these changes to unemployment law).

Meanwhile, the criminalization of unemployment mistakes — aka concealment which will soon be redefined as strict liability — via AB533 was also passed by the Assembly this week. This bill even gained a sponsor — Rep. Rohrkaste. It was also significantly amended to criminalize individuals acting on behalf of employers who:

knowingly makes a false statement or representation in connection with any report or as to any information duly required by the department under this chapter, or who knowingly refuses or fails to keep any records or to furnish any reports or information duly required by the department under this chapter and who, as a result of that false statement or representation or knowing refusal or failure, avoids liability to the department for contributions, reimbursements, assessments, or other amounts under this chapter . . .

In other words, employers and their agents who make “knowing” mistakes on their unemployment reports may face the same criminal penalties that claimants do for their mistakes on their weekly claims. Watch out employers.

NOTE (19 February 2016): Mike Ducheck from LRB points out a major mistake of mine: the substitute amendment was NOT passed but tabled. Instead, the Assembly passed an amendment that deleted several lines from the bill, including the requirement that a “person knowingly made false statements or representations” for these new criminal penalties to apply. In other words, there is no criminalization for employers’ mistaken unemployment reporting, only claimants’ mistaken unemployment reporting once the recommended changes to concealment in AB819 pass.

Note as well that these new criminal penalties will only apply for the “mistakes” that occur after this bill becomes law.