Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 6, March 18, 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.
