Call to Action on New Unemployment Insurance Rates in South Carolina

Last month employers found out the amount of money they will be paying in unemployment taxes in 2011. The new rates are based on usage of the system, and employers whose employment practices have resulted in unemployment benefit payments to former employees generally saw a large increase in their unemployment insurance rates for 2011.

In addition to increasing the weighting of taxes to employers with a history of former employees using the system, the law also changed in these two significant ways:

• The amount of wages on which the tax is based increased from $the first 7,000 of each of your employee's wages to the first $10,000 of each of your employee's wages
• The period of time in which the agency calculates your business's history was increased from five years to seven years
  

The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce laws that govern the rate assignment of an employer into their individual tax class do not have an appeal process. The taxable wage and benefit charge experience (historical data) of an employer record which may include the data of an acquired, merger, consolidated, joint, and/or related employer account are printed only for the purpose of informing you of the data used in the rate calculation.

You may submit a written request within 30 days from the date of the notice for a review of the information should there be any differences noted between the notice and the employer record. You must provide documentation with the request. Your request should be sent to:

Attn:ExperienceRateSection
POBox995
Columbia,SC29202
rateinfo@dew.sc.gov
803-737-2862 (FAX)

If you have experienced a dramatic increase in your unemployment insurance rates, consider filing an appeal. While the appeal may not have an immediate impact on your rates, it will demonstrate to the state agency that administers the unemployment insurance program the negative effect these rate increases have had on the home building industry.