Kansas Statutes § 44-710a Employer contributions; classification of employers; establishment and assignment of annual rates; successor classifications; debt relief for negative rated remployers; publication of contribution amount tables and effective contribution schedules; voluntary contributions; annual certification of Kansas account balance; report to legislative coordinating council; employment security interest assessment fund abolished.

44-710a. Employer contributions; classification of employers; establishment and assignment of annual rates; successor classifications; debt relief for negative rated remployers; publication of contribution amount tables and effective contribution schedules; voluntary contributions; annual certification of Kansas account balance; report to legislative coordinating council; employment security interest assessment fund abolished. (a) Classification of employers by the secretary. The term "employer" as used in this section refers to contributing employers. The secretary shall classify employers in accordance with their actual experience in the payment of contributions on their own behalf and with respect to benefits charged against their accounts with a view of fixing such contribution rates as will reflect such experience. If, as of the date such classification of employers is made, the secretary finds that any employing unit has failed to file any report required in connection therewith, or has filed a report which the secretary finds incorrect or insufficient, the secretary shall make an estimate of the information required from such employing unit on the basis of the best evidence reasonably available to the secretary at the time, and notify the employing unit thereof by mail addressed to its last known address. Unless such employing unit shall file the report or a corrected or sufficient report as the case may be, within 15 days after the mailing of such notice, the secretary shall compute such employing unit's rate of contributions on the basis of such estimates, and the rate as so determined shall be subject to increase but not to reduction on the basis of subsequently ascertained information. The secretary shall determine the contribution rate of each employer in accordance with the requirements of this section. (1) New employers. (A) No employer will be eligible for a rate computation until there have been 24 consecutive calendar months immediately preceding the computation date throughout which benefits could have been charged against such employer's account. (B) (i) (a) Each employer who is not eligible for a rate contribution shall pay contributions equal to 1.75% of wages paid during each calendar year with regard to employment, except such employers engaged in the construction industry shall pay a rate equal to 5.55%. (b) (1) An employer who was not doing business in Kansas prior to July 1, 2014, shall be eligible for either the new employer rate under subsection (a)(1)(B)(i)(a) or the rate associated with the reserve ratio such employer experienced in the state which such employer was formerly located, but in no event less than 1% if such: (A) Employer has been in operation in the other state or states for at least the three years immediately preceding the date such employer becomes a liable employer in Kansas; (B) employer provides the authenticated account history from information accumulated from operations of such employer in the other state or all the other states necessary to compute a current Kansas rate; and (C) employer's business operations established in Kansas are of the same nature, as defined by the North American industrial classification system, as conducted by such employer in the other state or states. (2) The election authorized in subsection (a)(1)(B)(i)(b) of this section must be made in writing within 30 days after notice of Kansas liability. A rate in accordance with subsection (a)(1)(B)(i)(a) will be assigned unless a timely election has been made. (3) If the election is made timely, the employer's account will receive the rate elected for the remainder of that rate year. The rate assigned for the next and subsequent years will be determined by the condition of the account on the computation date. (ii) For purposes of this subsection (a), employers shall be classified by industrial activity in accordance with standard procedures as set forth in rules and regulations adopted by the secretary. Employers engaged in more than one type of industrial activity shall be classified by principal activity. All rates assigned will remain in effect for a complete calendar year. If the sale or acquisition of a new establishment would require reclassification of the employer to a different industry sector, the employer would be promptly notified, and the contribution rate applicable to the new industry sector would become effective the following January 1. (C) "Computation date" means June 30 of each calendar year with respect to rates of contribution applicable to the calendar year beginning with the following January 1. In arriving at contribution rates for each calendar year, contributions paid on or before July 31 following the computation date for employment occurring on or prior to the computation date shall be considered for each contributing employer who has been subject to this act for a sufficient period of time to have such employer's rate computed under this subsection (a). (2) Eligible employers. (A) A reserve ratio shall be computed for each eligible employer by the following method: Total benefits charged to the employer's account for all past years shall be deducted from all contributions paid by such employer for all such years. The balance, positive or negative, shall be divided by the employer's average annual payroll, and the result shall constitute the employer reserve ratio. (B) (i) Negative account balance employers, as defined in subsection (d), shall pay contributions at the rate referenced in subsection (a)(4)(C). (ii) (a) Beginning on July 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, active negative rated employers shall be eligible for a calculated negative debt write-off and forgiveness amount as determined pursuant to this subclause. If on any computation date an employer's account registers a negative reserve ratio less than or equal to -7.150%, a portion of benefit charges shall be conditionally forgiven and removed from the employer's account in order to bring the employer's account to a reserve ratio of -7.150%, and the employer shall be assigned to rate group N11, as set forth in subsection (a)(4)(C)(ii) for the next three calendar years. (b) Negative rated employers affected by the conditional write-off provision pursuant to subclause (a) shall have the option to avoid a negative debt write-off and assignment to rate group N11 for the next three calendar years by submitting a voluntary contribution pursuant to subsection (c) equal to or greater than the amount necessary to establish their account reserve ratio to an amount equal to or greater than -7.149% for the next calendar year. (C) Eligible employers, other than negative account balance employers, who do not meet the average annual payroll requirements as stated in K.S.A. 44-703(a)(2), and amendments thereto, will be issued the maximum rate indicated by the maximum rate group of standard rate schedule—standard schedule G in subsection (a)(4)(C)(ii) until such employer establishes a new period of 24 consecutive calendar months immediately preceding the computation date throughout which benefits could have been charged against such employer's account by resuming the payment of wages. Contribution rates effective for each calendar year thereafter shall be determined as prescribed below. (3) Entering and expanding employer. (A) The secretary, as a method of providing for a reduced rate of contributions to an employer shall verify the qualifications in this statute that bear a direct relation to unemployment risk for that employer. (B) If, as of the computation date, an eligible, positive balance employer's reserve ratio is significantly affected due to an increase in the employer's taxable payroll of at least 100% and such increase is attributable to a growth in employment, and not to a change in the taxable wage base from the previous year, the secretary shall assign a reduced rate of contributions for a period of three years. (i) Such reduced rate of contributions shall be the new employer rate described in subsection (a)(1)(B)(i)(a), or a rate based on the employer's demonstrated risk as reflected in the employer's reserve fund ratio history. (ii) To be eligible for such reduced rate, the employer must maintain a positive account balance throughout the reduced-rate period and must have an increase in account balance for each year. (4) (A) Contribution schedules. For each rate year, the contribution schedule in effect shall be determined by the applicable fund control table and rate schedule table of subsection (a)(4)(C). (B) Published calculated maximum annual tax amounts per employee. The secretary shall publish corresponding contribution amount tables showing the calculated maximum annual cost to contributing rated employers per employee for each rate group. Such contribution amount tables shall be published on a publicly accessible website maintained by the secretary. (C) Effective rates. (i) Employer contribution rates to be effective for each calendar year shall be determined by the applicable rate schedule in clause (ii) and the fund control table for the rate year as specified contained in this clause. The average high cost multiple of the trust fund as of the computation date shall determine the contribution schedule in effect for the next rate year. For purposes of subsection (a)(4)(C)(i), the average high cost multiple is the reserve fund ratio divided by the average high benefit cost rate. The average high benefit cost rate shall be determined by averaging the three highest benefit cost rates over the last 20 years from the preceding fiscal year which ended June 30. The high benefit cost rate is defined by dividing total benefits paid in the fiscal year by total payrolls for covered employers in the fiscal year. The reserve fund ratio shall be determined by dividing total assets in the employment security fund provided for in K.S.A. 44-712(a), and amendments thereto, excluding all moneys credited to the account of this state pursuant to section 903 of the federal social security act, as amended, that have been appropriated by the legislature, whether or not withdrawn from the trust fund, and excluding contributions not yet paid on July 31, by total payrolls for contributing employers for the preceding fiscal year that ended on June 30. (ii) Eligible employers shall be classified by rate group according to the standard rate schedule - standard rate schedule G in this clause, for that rate year. For rate year 2025 and ensuing calendar years, the rate pursuant to standard rate schedule G, solvency schedules H through M or credit schedules A through F shall apply to contributing employers. (iii) Not less than 30 days prior to each calendar year, the secretary shall publish the effective contribution schedules for the previous four rate years and ensuing rate year on a publicly accessible website maintained by the secretary. (b) Successor classification. (1) (A) For the purposes of this subsection, whenever an employing unit, whether or not it is an "employing unit" within the meaning of K.S.A. 44-703(g), and amendments thereto, becomes an employer pursuant to K.S.A. 44-703(h)(4), and amendments thereto, or is an employer at the time of acquisition and meets the definition of a "successor employer" as defined by K.S.A. 44-703(dd), and amendments thereto, and thereafter transfers its trade or business, or any portion thereof, to another employer and, at the time of the transfer, there is substantially common ownership, management or control of the two employers, then the unemployment experience attributable to the transferred trade or business shall be transferred to the employer to whom such business is so transferred. These experience factors consist of all contributions paid, benefit experience and annual payrolls of the predecessor employer. The transfer of some or all of an employer's workforce to another employer shall be considered a transfer of trade or business when, as the result of such transfer, the transferring employer no longer performs trade or business with respect to the transferred workforce, and such trade or business is performed by the employer to whom the workforce is transferred. (B) If, following a transfer of experience under subparagraph (A), the secretary determines that a substantial purpose of the transfer or business was to obtain a reduced liability for contributions, then the experience rating accounts of the employers involved shall be combined into a single account and a single rate assigned to such account. (2) A successor employer as defined by K.S.A. 44-703(h)(4) or (dd), and amendments thereto, may receive the experience rating factors of the predecessor employer if an application is made to the secretary or the secretary's designee in writing within 120 days of the date of the transfer. (3) Whenever an employing unit, whether or not it is an "employing unit" within the meaning of K.S.A. 44-703(g), and amendments thereto, acquires or in any manner succeeds to a percentage of an employer's annual payroll which is less than 100% and intends to continue the acquired percentage as a going business, the employing unit may acquire the same percentage of the predecessor's experience factors if: (A) The predecessor employer and successor employing unit make an application in writing on the form prescribed by the secretary; (B) the application is submitted within 120 days of the date of the transfer; (C) the successor employing unit is or becomes an employer subject to this act immediately after the transfer; (D) the percentage of the experience rating factors transferred shall not be thereafter used in computing the contribution rate for the predecessor employer; and (E) the secretary finds that such transfer will not tend to defeat or obstruct the object and purposes of this act. (4) (A) The rate of both employers in a full or partial successorship under paragraph (1) shall be recalculated and made effective on the first day of the next calendar year following the date of transfer of trade or business. (B) If a successor employer is determined to be qualified under paragraph (2) or (3) to receive the experience rating factors of the predecessor employer, the rate assigned to the successor employer for the remainder of the contributions year shall be determined by the following: (i) If the acquiring employing unit was an employer subject to this act prior to the date of the transfer, the rate of contribution shall be the same as the contribution rate of the acquiring employer on the date of the transfer. (ii) If the acquiring employing unit was not an employer subject to this act prior to the date of the transfer, the successor employer shall have a newly computed rate for the remainder of the contribution year which shall be based on the transferred experience rating factors as they existed on the most recent computation date immediately preceding the date of acquisition. These experience rating factors consist of all contributions paid, benefit experience and annual payrolls. (5) Whenever an employing unit is not an employer at the time it acquires the trade or business of an employer, the unemployment experience factors of the acquired business shall not be transferred to such employing unit if the secretary finds that such employing unit acquired the business solely or primarily for the purpose of obtaining a lower rate of contributions. Instead, such employing unit shall be assigned the applicable industry rate for a "new employer" as described in subsection (a)(1). In determining whether the business was acquired solely or primarily for the purpose of obtaining a lower rate of contributions, the secretary shall use objective factors which may include the cost of acquiring the business, whether the employer continued the business enterprise of the acquired business, how long such business enterprise was continued, or whether a substantial number of new employees were hired for performance of duties unrelated to the business activity conducted prior to acquisition. (6) Whenever an employer's account has been terminated as provided in K.S.A. 44-711(d) and (e), and amendments thereto, and the employer continues with employment to liquidate the business operations, that employer shall continue to be an "employer" subject to the employment security law as provided in K.S.A. 44-703(h)(8), and amendments thereto. The rate of contribution from the date of transfer to the end of the then current calendar year shall be the same as the contribution rate prior to the date of the transfer. At the completion of the then current calendar year, the rate of contribution shall be that of a "new employer" as described in subsection (a)(1). (7) No rate computation will be permitted an employing unit succeeding to the experience of another employing unit pursuant to this section for any period subsequent to such succession except in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the secretary. Any such regulations shall be consistent with federal requirements for additional credit allowance in section 3303 of the federal internal revenue code of 1986, and consistent with the provisions of this act. (c) Voluntary contributions. Notwithstanding any other provision of the employment security law, any employer may make voluntary payments for the purpose of reducing or maintaining a reduced rate in addition to the contributions required under this section. Such voluntary payments may be made only during the 90-day period immediately following the date of mailing of experience rating notices for a calendar year. All such voluntary contribution payments shall be paid prior to the expiration of 120 days after the beginning of the year for which such rates are effective. The amount of voluntary contributions shall be credited to the employer's account as of the next preceding computation date and the employer's rate shall be computed accordingly. Under no circumstances shall voluntary payments be refunded in whole or in part. (d) As used in this section, "negative account balance employer" means an eligible employer whose total benefits charged to such employer's account for all past years have exceeded all contributions paid by such employer for all such years. (e) The secretary of labor shall annually prepare and submit a certification as to the solvency and adequacy of the amount credited to the state of Kansas' account in the federal employment security trust fund to the governor and the legislative coordinating council. The certification shall be submitted on or before December 1 of each calendar year and shall be for the 12-month period ending on June 30 of that calendar year. In arriving at the certification contributions paid on or before July 31 following the 12-month period ending date of June 30 shall be considered. (f) On July 1, 2024, the director of accounts and reports shall transfer all moneys in the employment security interest assessment fund to the employment security trust fund. On July 1, 2024, all liabilities of the employment security interest assessment fund are hereby transferred to and imposed on the state general fund, and the employment security interest assessment fund is hereby abolished. History: L. 1945, ch. 220, § 6; L. 1947, ch. 291, § 4; L. 1949, ch. 288, § 6; L. 1955, ch. 251, § 4; L. 1957, ch. 296, § 1; L. 1959, ch. 223, § 5; L. 1963, ch. 277, § 1; L. 1971, ch. 180, § 5; L. 1972, ch. 192, § 3; L. 1973, ch. 205, § 7; L. 1974, ch. 205, § 2; L. 1975, ch. 261, § 2; L. 1976, ch. 370, § 63; L. 1978, ch. 192, § 1; L. 1978, ch. 193, § 1; L. 1979, ch. 160, § 1; L. 1982, ch. 215, § 3; L. 1983, ch. 169, § 5; L. 1983, ch. 170, § 3; L. 1984, ch. 183, § 3; L. 1984, ch. 184, § 6; L. 1987, ch. 191, § 6; L. 1989, ch. 150, § 4; L. 1990, ch. 186, § 5; L. 1993, ch. 251, § 6; L. 1995, ch. 71, § 1; L. 1995, ch. 239, § 1; L. 1996, ch. 21, § 1; L. 1997, ch. 43, § 1; L. 1998, ch. 33, § 1; L. 1999, ch. 167, § 3; L. 2001, ch. 139, § 4; L. 2004, ch. 105, § 5; L. 2004, ch. 179, § 60; L. 2005, ch. 138, § 2; L. 2007, ch. 16, § 3; L. 2011, ch. 85, § 6; L. 2013, ch. 106, § 8; L. 2014, ch. 27, § 1; L. 2015, ch. 57, § 2; L. 2021, ch. 92, § 17; L. 2022, ch. 70, § 8; L. 2024, ch. 83, § 7; July 1.