Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) An employee of an educational institution
shall be ineligible for benefits for any week that begins during the period between
academic years or terms and during vacation periods and holiday recesses, if the
employee has reasonable assurance of returning to work in any such capacity, during
the succeeding academic year or term or after the vacation period or holiday
recesses.
1. In order for there to be a "reasonable
assurance" all of the following requirements must be met:
i. The educational institution has made an offer
of employment in the following academic year or term that is either written, oral,
or implied;
ii. The offer of employment
in the following academic year or term was made by an individual with actual
authority to offer employment;
iii. The
employment offered in the following academic year or term shall be in the same
capacity;
iv. The economic conditions of
the employment offered may not be considerably less in the following academic year
or term than in the current academic year or term. For the purpose of this
subparagraph, "considerably less" means that the claimant will earn less than 90
percent of the amount the claimant earned in the then-current academic year or
term;
v. The offer of employment in the
following academic year or term is not contingent upon a factor or factors that are
within the educational institution's control, including, but not limited to, course
programming, decisions on how to allocate available funding, final course offerings,
program changes, and facility availability; and
vi. Based on a totality of the circumstances, it
is highly probable that there is a job available for the claimant in the following
academic year or term. Contingencies that are not necessarily within the educational
institution's control, such as funding, enrollment, and seniority may be taken into
consideration, but the existence of any one contingency should not determine whether
it is highly probable that there is a job available for the claimant in the
following academic year or term.
2. Determinations by the Department whether a
claimant has a "reasonable assurance" shall be made on a case-by-case
basis.
(b) Where reasonable
assurance is subsequently given to the individual between school years or terms, any
ineligibility under this section begins the first calendar week following the date
the individual received reasonable assurance of recall. If such assurance is given
on a Sunday, that Sunday would be the first day of ineligibility.
(c) Where reasonable assurance of recall exists,
claims involving both school and non-school wage credits shall be processed as
follows:
1. Initially a monetary determination
shall be made using all covered base year employment wages.
2. If a claimant is determined to be ineligible
for benefits and if he or she has sufficient non-school employment and earnings to
establish a valid claim, an adjusted monetary determination shall be made solely on
the non-school base year employment. Benefits would be payable under this adjusted
monetary determination.
3. Benefits
claimed and paid for prior to or subsequent to any denial periods shall be paid to
eligible claimants at the initial monetary rate determined in (c)1 above.
(d) If a claimant employed in a
non-professional capacity is denied benefits, solely because he or she had
reasonable assurance of returning to work, the claimant may receive benefits
retroactively if the educational institution subsequently does not offer him or her
an opportunity to return to work and the following requirements are met:
1. The claimant complied with continued claims
reporting requirements provided in N.J.A.C. 12:17-4; and
2. The claimant is otherwise eligible for
benefits.
(e) An individual
who is employed under a 12-month contract and offered a 10-month contract in the
next academic year of term shall not be ineligible under these provisions.
(f) Each educational institution shall provide the
following to the Department, in a form, including electronic form, prescribed by the
Commissioner, no less than 10 business days prior to the end of the academic year or
term:
1. A list of all employees who the
educational institution has concluded do not have a reasonable assurance of
employment in the following academic year or term, along with information prescribed
by the Commissioner regarding each such employee, which information shall include,
but not be limited to, name and Social Security number; and
2. For each employee that the educational
institution maintains does have a reasonable assurance of employment in the
following academic year or term, a statement explaining the manner in which the
employee was given a reasonable assurance of employment; that is, whether it was in
writing, oral, or implied, and what information about the offer, including
contingencies, was communicated to the individual.
(g) The statement required pursuant to (f)2 above
may be used by the Department in its analysis at (a)1 and 2 above, but it does not
conclusively demonstrate that the claimant has a reasonable assurance of employment
in the following academic year or term.
(h) Failure of an educational institution to
provide the statement required pursuant to (f)2 above, not less than 10 business
days prior to the end of the academic year or term shall result in a rebuttable
presumption that the claimant does not have a reasonable assurance of employment in
the following academic year or term.
(i)
The rebuttable presumption at (h) above shall give rise to an inference that the
claimant does not have a reasonable assurance of employment in the following
academic year or term, but shall not conclusively demonstrate that the claimant does
not have a reasonable assurance of employment in the following academic year or
term.
