What happens if my employer didn't pay into unemployment? Texas TWC question

That's the thing, my stubs were pretty bare bones. Just gross pay and then federal income tax taken out. Nothing labeled unemployment anywhere.

Deductions on your stub don't tell you anything about this actually. Unemployment taxes in Texas are paid entirely by the employer, nothing comes out of your check for it. So a bare stub doesn't mean your boss wasn't paying, it just means he was handling his side of things separately, or not at all.

Oh that changes things. I had no idea it worked that way. So I genuinely can't tell from my own pay records whether he was paying or not?

Right, you wouldn't see it on your stub ever. The only way to know is what TWC finds when they look into it.

That's actually reassuring to hear. I was assuming I'd just get automatically denied and that would be it.

This is basically right. Your eligibility as a worker isn't directly tied to whether your specific boss paid his taxes on time. Those are two separate things in TWC's eyes.

Exactly. The employer faces the consequences for not paying, not the person who worked for them and got laid off through no fault of their own.

Days of busy signals sounds like my current situation. I've called probably fifteen times and can't get a human. I'll check that out.

Did the agent say anything about what happens if the employer wages aren't on file at all? That's what I'm worried about for my own claim.

She said TWC can pull wage records from other sources beyond just what the employer files, so there are usually ways to verify even if the employer was behind on reporting.

No I was definitely on the books, I have W-2s from him for the past two years. It's more that I don't know if he was actually remitting his share of unemployment taxes to the state. Everything else seemed legit on paper.

If you have W-2s you're in way better shape than I thought. TWC uses wage records to determine your benefit amount and those W-2s are documentation that the wages existed. The tax question is more of a collections issue between TWC and your employer.

W-2s help a lot. That means your wages were reported to the IRS at minimum and TWC can cross-reference from there.

How do I know if my wages are showing up in their system? Is there somewhere I can check that in UBS?

You can log into UBS at apps.twc.texas.gov/UBS/security/logon.do and check your claim status and some wage information there. If there's a problem with your wage record they usually flag it during the application process.

Yeah the system usually catches wage discrepancies early and they'll send you a notice if something needs to be verified. You don't have to guess about it.

That's a fair correction. It's not that you get denied outright, but you might have to do some legwork to prove your wages if the employer was completely negligent about reporting.

This is what I was afraid of. I do have bank statements showing my direct deposits for two years though. And those W-2s. Would that be enough to get my wages counted?

W-2s and consistent bank deposits showing the same amounts are pretty solid. Keep all of that together. If TWC comes back and says they can't verify your wages, you'd submit those as documentation.

Pay stubs too if you have any. Even a couple from different months helps establish the pattern of what you were earning.

How long did her claim end up taking? I'm already worried about covering next month.

Hers took about six weeks from application to first payment. Which I know is stressful but it did work out. She kept doing her payment requests the whole time even with no decision yet.

That part is important. Keep requesting payment on schedule even if your claim is still being reviewed. If you stop requesting you can lose those weeks and TWC won't pay them retroactively if you missed the window.

Yeah TWC can assess back taxes plus interest and penalties against the employer. It's a whole separate process from your claim but they do go after employers who weren't paying what they owe.

TWC takes employer tax compliance pretty seriously. The rates employers pay are based partly on how many claims get filed against them, so if someone was avoiding it entirely they can face significant back assessments.

Interesting. Kind of satisfying to know there are actual consequences on that end.

I actually filed the same day I got laid off so I think I'm okay on that front. Already submitted my first payment request too.

Good. Keep doing those payment requests every two weeks no matter what. Even if there's no decision on your claim yet, you do the requests on schedule or you can miss out on those weeks entirely.

Filing right away is the single best thing anyone can do honestly. I've seen people wait two or three weeks because they were hoping to get rehired and then regret it.

So even with two and a half years there, he would have owed taxes on at least part of my wages each year?

Exactly. So if he was completely avoiding it TWC would have records showing no payments from him, which is itself evidence that something was wrong. That paper trail works in your favor when you're documenting everything.

This is a good point. An employer who's been in business for years with employees and has zero unemployment tax payments on file is going to get scrutinized. That scrutiny isn't your burden to carry.

I haven't gotten that letter yet, should I already be doing work search activities? I filed about three weeks ago.

You should have gotten it by now if you filed three weeks ago. Check if it got lost in mail or spam, and if you can't find it you can call TWC or check UBS. Don't skip the work search while you're waiting to find out the number.

The letter usually comes pretty fast, within the first week or two. If you're three weeks in and haven't seen it definitely follow up. The work search requirement is real and not following it can affect your payments.

That's genuinely the most specific answer I've gotten. So the W-2 existing is basically proof the wages were reported somewhere even if not to TWC directly?

More or less. The IRS and TWC share certain wage data, and a W-2 on record means your wages are verifiable through multiple channels. It doesn't guarantee zero friction in your claim but it's a much better position than being fully off the books.

This tracks with what I've heard. The more official documentation that exists anywhere, the more tools TWC has to verify your wages independently of what your employer self-reported to them.

Did you have to submit anything proactively or did you wait for them to ask?

I waited until they asked via the determination notice. Then I uploaded everything to UBS and it moved pretty quickly after that. I'd have everything organized and ready to go so you're not scrambling when the request comes.

UBS is actually decent for uploading documents. Much easier than faxing or mailing which I had to do years ago.

TWC mails the former employer a notice when you file and gives them 14 days to respond. If your employer disputes your claim that creates a separate determination TWC has to resolve. Having your W-2s, bank records, any written communication about employment would all matter a lot in that scenario.

An employer disputing wages that show up on W-2s is in a tricky spot because they've already told the IRS a different story. It happens but it tends not to work well for employers who try it.

I hadn't even thought about him potentially disputing it. I do have text messages about scheduling and pay that go back two years at least. Keeping those just in case.

So if my highest quarter was around $14,000 gross I'd be looking at something like $560 a week?

That math would put you right around there, yeah. Close to the max. Which is actually meaningful information because it tells you it's worth fighting through any verification delays.

The closer you are to the max the more worth it every week of waiting becomes honestly.

The disconnect after hold music is infuriating. I've sat on hold for 45 minutes twice now and had it cut out. Good to know there's something that can help with that.

What was the wage issue on your claim if you don't mind sharing? Trying to understand what kinds of things actually require a phone call vs what you can handle online.

My base period quarter wages showed up lower than they should have been and I needed to ask how to get the correct amount reflected. The agent walked me through submitting a wage correction request.

TWC does audit employers independently of individual claims. If a business has employees and no unemployment tax payments showing, that's an audit trigger on its own. Your claim filing might accelerate that for your old boss but it wasn't going to stay hidden forever regardless.

Yep, TWC employer audits happen and they go back multiple years. The employer could be looking at a significant bill for back taxes plus interest on wages paid to everyone he employed, not just you.

Not much comfort in the short term while you're waiting on your own claim but yeah, there are real consequences coming for him whether you do anything extra or not.

I actually worked the most in the last quarter before I got laid off. That quarter wouldn't count toward my benefit calculation?

Not in the standard base period, no. The most recent completed quarter before you filed is the one that gets skipped. If your wages in the standard base period are low enough that you don't qualify, there's an alternate base period but that only applies in specific medical situations, not just because your best wages are recent.

This trips up a lot of people. If you had a recent raise or picked up a lot of hours right before getting laid off, that work might not make it into your benefit calculation at all.

Month-long delay for a determination sounds rough. Glad that got moving. What kind of documentation did they need?

Something about verifying wages from one of his base period employers, they needed a confirmation from HR at his old job. Once that was submitted through UBS it resolved pretty fast.

UBS for document uploads is a lot easier than I expected when I finally figured out where to find it in the menus.

Really glad this worked out. The two things being handled separately is exactly how it's supposed to work.

Great outcome and good illustration that the employer's compliance failure doesn't get passed down to the worker. TWC handled it correctly here.

Two and a half years working for someone and then finding out he wasn't even holding up his end of the tax obligation, that's a rough thing to find out on top of getting laid off. Glad you got what you were owed.

For anyone finding this thread with the same worry - the documentation (W-2s, bank statements, any employment records) is what makes the difference. Have it ready before you need it.