Chapter 05. Payment of Benefits to Interstate Claimants
Regulation .01 Scope.LinkCopy Citation
This chapter shall regulate the Maryland Department of Labor in its administrative cooperation with other states adopting similar regulations for the payment of benefits to interstate claimants.
Regulation .02 Definitions.LinkCopy Citation
A.
In this chapter, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following terms have the meanings indicated.
B.
Terms Defined.
(1)
“Agent state” means any state in which an individual files a claim for benefits from another state.
(2)
“Basic Plan for Combining Wages” means an interstate agreement which establishes a system whereby unemployed workers who lack qualifying wages sufficient for benefits in any one state, may through combining wages from more than one state, become eligible for benefits.
(3)
“Benefits” means the compensation payable to an individual, with respect to his unemployment, under the unemployment insurance law of any state.
(4)
“Extended Plan for Combining Wages” means an interstate agreement which establishes a system whereby unemployed workers having sufficient base-period wages to qualify for less than maximum benefits in one or more states and insufficient base-period wages to qualify for benefits in one or more states, may increase the benefits to which they are entitled by combining wages in one of the states in which they have sufficient base-period wages with base-period wages in all states in which they have insufficient wages.
(5)
“Interstate Benefit Payment Plan” means the plan approved by the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Agencies under which benefits shall be payable to unemployed individuals absent from the state (or states) in which benefit credits have been accumulated.
(6)
“Interstate claimant” means an individual who claims benefits under the unemployment insurance law of one or more liable states through the facilities of an agent state. The term “interstate claimant” does not include any individual who customarily commutes from a residence in an agent state to work in a liable state unless the Maryland Department of Labor finds that this exclusion would create undue hardship on the claimants in specified areas.
(7)
“Liable state” means any state against which an individual files, through another state, a claim for benefits.
(8)
“State” includes District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, Samoa, and the Philippine Islands.
(9)
“Week of unemployment” includes any week of unemployment as defined in the law of the liable state from which benefits with respect to these weeks are claimed.
Regulation .03 Registration for Work.LinkCopy Citation
A.
Each interstate claimant shall be registered for work, through any public employment office in the agent state when and as required by the law, regulations, and procedures of the agent state. This registration shall be accepted as meeting the registration requirement of the liable state.
B.
Each agent state shall duly report to the liable state in question, whether each interstate claimant meets the registration requirements of the agent state.
Regulation .04 Benefit Rights of Interstate Claimants.LinkCopy Citation
A.
If a claimant files a claim against any state, and it is determined by that state that the claimant has available benefit credits in that state, then claims shall be filed only against the state as long as benefit credits are available in the state. After that, the claimant may file claims against any other state in which there are available benefit credits. For the purpose of this regulation, benefit credits shall be deemed to be unavailable whenever benefits have been exhausted, terminated, or postponed for an indefinite period or for the entire period in which benefits would otherwise be payable, or whenever benefits are affected by the application of a seasonal restriction.
B.
The benefit rights of interstate claimants established by these regulations shall apply only with respect to new claims (notices of unemployment) filed on or after July 5, 1953.
Regulation .05 Claims for Benefits.LinkCopy Citation
A.
Claims for benefits or waiting period shall be filed by interstate claimants on uniform interstate claim forms and in accordance with uniform procedures developed pursuant to the Interstate Benefit Payment Plan. Claims shall be filed in accordance with the type of week in use by the agent state. Any adjustments required to fit the type of week used by the liable state shall be made by the liable state on the basis of consecutive claims filed.
B.
Claims shall be filed in accordance with agent state regulations for interstate claims in local employment offices, or at an itinerant point, or by mail.
C.
With respect to claims for weeks of unemployment in which an individual was not working for his regular employer, the liable state, under circumstance which it considers good cause, shall accept a continued claim filed up to 1 week, or one reporting period, late. If a claimant files more than one reporting period late, an initial claim shall be used to begin a claim series and a continued claim for a past period may not be accepted.
D.
With respect to weeks of unemployment during which an individual is attached to his regular employer, the liable state shall accept any claim which is filed within the time limit applicable to the claims under the law of the agent state.
Regulation .06 Determination of Claims.LinkCopy Citation
A.
The agent state shall, in connection with each claim filed by an interstate claimant, ascertain and report to the liable state in question the facts relating to the claimant's availability for work and eligibility for benefits as are readily determinable in and by the agent state.
B.
The agent state's responsibility and authority in connection with the determination of interstate claims shall be limited to investigation and reporting of relevant facts. The agent state may not refuse to take an interstate claim.
Regulation .07 Appellate Procedure.LinkCopy Citation
A.
The agent state shall afford all reasonable cooperation in the taking of evidence and the holding of hearings in connection with appealed interstate claims.
B.
With respect to the time limits imposed by the law of a liable state upon the filing of an appeal in connection with a disputed benefit claim, an appeal made by an interstate claimant shall be deemed to have been made and communicated to the liable state on the date when it is received by any qualified officer of the agent state.
Regulation .08 Extension of Interstate Benefit Payments To Include Claims Taken in and for Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.LinkCopy Citation
These regulations shall apply in all its provisions to claims taken in and for Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Regulation .09 Combining Wage Credits.LinkCopy Citation
A.
Claimants desiring to do so will be permitted to elect to combine wages under the terms of any plan for combining wage credits, of which Maryland is a cooperating member.
B.
All claims filed under the basic plan for combining wages shall be filed in accordance with the laws of the paying state under the terms of any Interstate Arrangement for the Combining of Wages to which Maryland is a party.
C.
All claims for benefits filed under the Extended Plan for Combining Wages shall be filed as follows:
(1)
If claims are filed in other than the paying state, the Interstate Benefit Payment Procedure shall be followed.
(2)
If claims are filed in the paying state, they shall be filed in the same manner as by any other claimant who is claiming benefits under the unemployment insurance law of that paying state.
Chapter annotations
Authority: Labor and Employment Article, §8-305, Annotated Code of Maryland
History: Effective date: February 1, 1973
History: (Transferred from Department of Human Services to Department of Employment and Training, effective October 1, 1983; recodified from COMAR 07.04.05 to 24.02.05)
History: Chapter recodified from COMAR 24.02.05 to COMAR 09.32.05, May 1996