Does your previous employer pay your unemployment in Texas TWC?

Okay that explains the manager's attitude a little. If his rate goes up because of a former employee's claim, he'd feel it in his tax bill even if he's not writing a check directly to the claimant.

Useful context. I've been trying to figure out if there's even a point calling TWC or if it's all online now. Good to know you can still get a live person.

Wait so the employer doesn't just pay a flat rate every year? It goes up based on who files against them?

That makes the phone call make a lot more sense. He probably knew his rate was going to tick up and was fishing to see if I filed.

Exactly right. And the tax only applies to the first $9,000 of each employee's wages per year, so a small employer with high turnover can feel it pretty quickly when several former workers file at once.

Never knew any of this. I always assumed it came straight from general tax revenue like welfare or something.

He didn't tell me to drop anything, just kind of fished around asking questions. Still felt off though.

Employers do get a notice from TWC after you apply and they have a window to respond if they want to contest anything. But a layoff is a layoff. Unless they're claiming it was something other than a straightforward position cut, there's not much to contest.

Yeah the fishing call sounds like he was hoping you'd say something he could use. Don't engage with that.

That range is pretty wide. So an employer with basically no turnover could be paying way less than one that lays people off constantly?

Exactly. The more benefits charged to their account, the higher their future rate gets calculated. It's designed that way to give employers some incentive not to do mass layoffs carelessly, though obviously that only goes so far.

This is genuinely the first time I've understood why employers bother fighting claims. I always thought they were just being difficult.

Super common misconception. The whole thing is funded by employer-side taxes only. Your paycheck has nothing to do with it.

Yeah I felt dumb but honestly how would most people know? Nobody explains this stuff.

I thought the same thing for years. Seemed logical that you'd be contributing to something you later draw from.

Already on it, doing five a week since I'm in Harris County. The letter said five and I've been keeping a log just in case.

Perfect. Keep that log somewhere you won't lose it. TWC can ask for it at any time and you'll want to be able to produce it quickly if they do.

Harris County is five per week? That seems like a lot compared to smaller counties.

The tax mechanism is the same for everyone, it's not like big companies write checks directly for specific claims. Severance is a separate thing entirely and it's worth reporting to TWC when you apply because it can affect your benefits depending on how it's structured. TWC mails a decision on that specifically.

So severance has to be reported even if it's just a lump sum? I would not have known that.

Yes, report it when you apply or by calling the Tele-Center. The payment requests also ask about income from other sources, so you'd need to include it there too. What happens to your benefits depends on the type of severance and TWC sends you a written decision explaining it.

Fourteen days is the window, yeah. And TWC looks at what both sides say. For a straightforward layoff where the position was cut, there's usually not much the employer can say that changes the outcome.

Mine was definitely a layoff, the whole department got cut. I can't imagine what they'd even contest.

Department cut is about as clean as it gets. I'd stop worrying about the manager's call and just keep doing your payment requests.

It's factored into an annual recalculation, not a per-claim spike. The charges from benefits paid out get weighed against total wages paid, so a large employer with a big payroll feels one claim much less than a small employer with just a few workers on the books.

That makes sense. So my old boss running a ten-person warehouse would feel it more than like Amazon would if someone there filed.

Basically yes. The rate recalculation looks at the ratio of benefits charged versus taxable wages, so scale matters a lot.

They can appeal a determination within 14 calendar days of when it was mailed. That starts a process with an Appeal Tribunal, which is a telephone hearing with a Hearing Officer. If they miss that window they're generally out of options at that stage. Keep doing your payment requests on schedule the whole time regardless.

Fourteen days from when the determination was mailed, got it. And you keep filing payment requests no matter what?

Absolutely keep requesting. TWC only pays weeks you requested on time, so a pending appeal is not a reason to pause. Missing a request window is one of the most common ways people lose money they're owed.

What's the actual difference? I keep seeing adjudication mentioned and I'm not totally sure what it means in practice.

Adjudication is when TWC is reviewing some aspect of your claim to make sure you're eligible, it's internal TWC stuff. An appeal is when you or the employer formally challenges a determination. I was seeing the word adjudication on my account and panicking that my employer was blocking me, but they were just checking my job separation info.

Good distinction. And TWC can have your claim in adjudication for a totally mundane reason, it doesn't mean anything is wrong or that your employer is involved.

TWC mails separate determinations for each issue, so if something gets contested and reviewed you'd get a written decision. Check your UBS account and your mail. The determination letter will explain what it covers and give you a deadline if you want to appeal.

I'll check UBS more regularly then. I've kind of been going in every few days but maybe I should look daily.

TWC updates its systems nightly so checking once a day in UBS or on Tele-Serv is enough to catch anything new.

Worth repeating because honestly so many people believe the opposite including me until this thread.

My mom has told me my whole life that unemployment is something you earn through payroll deductions. She's going to be annoyed when I correct her.

Former workers of a closed business can still file and collect if they're otherwise eligible. The benefit charges still go to the former employer's account even if the business is closed. The state fund covers the actual payments.

Huh, didn't expect that. So the account stays open for charge purposes even after the business closes.

Essentially yes. The state fund is the actual source of your payments regardless, the employer account is more about how the tax rates get calculated going forward.

It happens. What the employer says in their response to TWC matters, and what you say matters too. TWC looks at both sides. For a genuine department-wide cut it would be hard to suddenly claim it was performance-related, especially if multiple people were let go at the same time.

TWC's list of what counts as misconduct includes things like violating company policy, neglecting the job, or failing to do the work when you're capable of it. A sudden 'performance' claim after a mass layoff announcement would have to be backed up with something pretty specific to change the outcome.

Good to know there's an actual standard. So they can't just say 'performance issues' and have it automatically stick.

That's exactly the kind of nuance I wouldn't have known to ask about. Net profit not gross for self-employment stuff, good to have that confirmed.

Yeah the agent was pretty clear on it. Each week runs Sunday through Saturday and you report what you earned in that window even if the payment hits your account later.

The timing thing is the part that trips people up. Report when you do the work, not when the money arrives.

That's the clearest summary I've seen of everything in this thread. The manager call makes total sense now. He's not paying me directly but he knows his rate is going to reflect the claim.

Exactly. And honestly if the layoff was legitimate there's nothing he can really do about it. The system is working the way it's supposed to.

If he calls again just be polite and don't give him information about your claim. You have no obligation to discuss it with him.

Did that in the first week, the TWC instructions mentioned it pretty clearly. But good call for anyone just starting out.

I actually forgot about that when I filed two years ago and had to scramble to fix it. Don't be like me.

UBS and WorkInTexas.com use the same login credentials, so if you're in one you're essentially already set up for the other. Just make sure the registration is complete on the WorkInTexas side.

That would have been useful for me a week ago honestly. The uncertainty after that call was the worst part.

The agent was pretty matter of fact about it. An employer can respond to notices and go through the proper process, but they can't unilaterally cancel an approved claim just by making noise.

There's something really calming about hearing that from an actual TWC agent rather than just people on a forum, no offense to this thread.

That $9,000 cap explains so much. A small employer paying five people is working with a pretty narrow tax base so each claim is a bigger proportional hit.

Makes me feel slightly less bad about filing against my old small employer. The system is designed this way, it's not like I invented it.

Right. And the system exists specifically so that laid off workers have a bridge. If employers didn't want the liability they had the option of not laying people off.