Form ETA 218 ETA 218 Benefit Rights and Experience

UI REPORTS HANDBOOK NO. 401

ETA 218 Benefit Rights and Experience

CONTENTS

A. Facsimile of Form I-5-2

B. Purpose I-5-3

C. Due Date and Transmittal I-5-3

D. General Reporting Instructions I-5-3

1. Activities to be Reported I-5-4

2. Treatment of Special Types of Claimants I-5-4

3. Reporting Maximum WBA and Maximum Duration I-5-4

4. Coverage of Report I-5-5

5. Checking the Report I-5-5

E. Definitions I-5-5

1. Monetary Determinations I-5-5

2. Final Payments I-5-5

F. Item by Item Instructions I-5-5

1. Section A. Monetary Determinations I-5-5

2. Section B. Potential and Actual Duration I-5-7

3. Comments I-5-9

G. Special Program Reporting I-5-10

A. Facsimile of Form

ETA 218 - BENEFIT RIGHTS AND EXPERIENCE

OMB Approval No 1205-0177 Expires: 7/31/2007

REPORT FOR PERIOD ENDING: REGION: STATE:

SECTION A. MONETARY DETERMINATIONS

	DETERMINATIONS			NUMBER OF CLAIMANTS ESTABLISHING BENEFIT YEARS
LINE NO.	Total (1)	Insufficient Wage Credits (2)	Sufficient Wage Credits (3)	Total (4)	Maximum Weekly Benefit (5)	Maximum Benefit & Duration (6)
100

SECTION B: POTENTIAL DURATION FOR DETERMINATIONS ESTABLISHING BENEFIT YEARS AND ACTUAL DURATION FOR CLAIMANTS WHO RECEIVED FINAL PAYMENTS

LINE NO.	ITEM	NUMBER BY WEEKS OF DURATION
		Total (7)	Less 10 Weeks (8)	10-14 Weeks (9)	15-19 Weeks (10)	20-21 Weeks (11)	22-23 Weeks (12)	24-25 Weeks (13)
101	Potential
102	Actual
LINE NO.	ITEM	NUMBER BY WEEKS OF DURATION					Number at Maximum Duration (19)	Average Weeks Duration (20)
		26-27 WEEKS (14)	28-29 WEEKS (15)	30-31 WEEKS (16)	32-33 WEEKS (17)	34WKS & OVER (18)
103	Potential
104	Actual

These reporting requirements are approved by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, OMB Approval No. 1205‑0177, expiration date 7/31/2004. Persons are not required to respond to this collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Respondents obligation to reply to these reporting requirements are Mandatory (SSA 303(a)(6)). Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1/2 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to the U.S. Department of Labor, Unemployment Insurance Service, Room S‑4231, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20210.

B. Purpose.

Data reported on the ETA 218 provides a means of evaluating State benefit formulas, as administered under the State unemployment insurance program. The number of monetary determinations on new claims is used as a base to which other items reported in section A of the report may be related. The number of new claims determined to have insufficient wage credits and the number with sufficient wage credits provide information on the effect of the monetary qualifying requirements in the State law. The number of new claims determined to have established benefit years is used on an annual basis to estimate the number of eligible claimants in each State.

The number of eligible claimants with potential maximum duration, the average potential duration for all eligible claimants, and their distribution by number of full weeks of potential duration show the extent of protection, in terms of weeks of benefits, available to potential beneficiaries. These figures permit computation of the maximum potential current liability of the fund, and they reflect on a reasonable, current basis the effect of changes and potential changes in benefit provisions of State laws. The number of claimants who exhaust benefits with maximum duration, the average actual duration of all claimants who exhaust benefits, and their distribution by number of full weeks of benefits drawn show the actual amount of protection provided by the program for claimants still unemployed on receipt of their final payment in a benefit year.

The number of eligible claimants who were entitled to the maximum weekly benefit amount (WBA) measures roughly the extent to which claimants are not receiving benefits in the same percent of past wages that is applicable to lower paid claimants. It indicates whether the existing maximum is curtailing the percentage of wage loss compensated for a high portion of claimants. The number of eligible claimants who were entitled to both the maximum benefit amount and the maximum duration indicates what proportion of claimants were eligible for the maximum annual benefit under the benefit formula in the State law.

C. Due Date and Transmittal

The ETA 218 report for each calendar quarter is due in the National Office on the 25th day of the first month following the quarter to which it relates. This report is to be transmitted electronically.

D. General Reporting Instructions

Reporting instructions for specific items are given in the following sections only to the extent considered necessary to supplement descriptions on the form itself.

1. Activities to be Reported. The count of monetary determinations (section A, items 1 and 4, and section B, line 101) should include monetary determinations (as defined in E below) which were made during the reported period. All other items should include only those activities occurring during the reported quarter.

The claimant's status, that is whether or not the claimant was monetarily eligible and what level of benefits the claimant was eligible for, should be reported as the most recent information available at the time the report is run. For example, a claimant may have a monetary determination (reported on the ETA 218) at the beginning of the quarter which found him/her ineligible. One or more monetary redeterminations (which are not reportable on the ETA 218) may be accomplished after that time which ultimately changes the status to eligible. When the State computer program is run to determine the status of individuals who had an original monetary determination accomplished during the report quarter, the most recent status on record will be the one reported. However, once the status of a monetary determination has been reported, subsequent changes due to further redeterminations (e.g., wage correction or alternative base period redeterminations) on the same new initial claim will not be reported on any ETA 218.

Note: A new claim filed in a subsequent quarter (e.g., subsequent to the filing of an initial claim determined to be monetarily ineligible) can be counted as a new monetary determination since the claim will have a new, that is different, benefit year.

2. Treatment of Special Types of Claimants.

a. The paying State should submit data relating to claims processed under the wage-combining plan.

b. The liable State should submit data relating to interstate claims.

3. Reporting Maximum WBA and Maximum Duration. When State law changes the maximum weekly benefit amount or duration during the reported period, entries for line 100, items 5 and 6, and lines 103 and 104, item 19, should represent the total at the maximum under the old law and under the new law. Also, if the law provides for more than one maximum, each applicable to a specified set of circumstances under which the claimant files, the entries should represent the total of individuals at all designated maximums, and the comments should explain the change. For example, the maximum in a State may vary according to 1) the number and type of claimant's dependents, 2) the claimant's previous history of employment and receipt of benefits, 3) the industry in which the claimant earned his/her wage credits, and 4) the type of claim, i.e., interstate or intrastate.

4. Coverage of Report. The ETA 218 report covers activities under the State UI program. This instruction applies to all items on the report. It should be interpreted in the following manner for the following specific items:

a. Item 1. All monetary determinations resulting from new claims for (State UI only or joint State UI/Federal). A monetary determination should be reported even though, in processing a new claim for UI benefits, no UI wage credits were found. Exclude monetary determinations with only Federal wages.

b. Line 100, columns 2-6, lines 101 and 102, items 7-13; and lines 103 and 104, items 14-20. Classification of monetary determinations or claimants for reporting in these items should all be on the basis of UI wage credits alone or UI wage credits in combination with Federal wage credits.

5. Checking the Report. Entries should be made for all items. If no activity corresponding to the items occurred during the report period, a zero should be entered. A report containing missing data can not be sent to the National Office but can be stored on the State's system. Edit checks can be found in Handbook 402, Unemployment Insurance Required Reports User’s Manual, Appendix C.

E. Definitions.

1. Monetary Determinations. Determinations as to whether a claimant, who has filed a new initial claim, has sufficient base period wages and/or employment to establish a benefit year under the State unemployment compensation program.

2. Final Payments. A final payment is the last regular benefits a claimant receives in a benefit year because the claimant has no further entitlement to payment, i.e., has exhausted entitlement by drawing the maximum amount of benefits. The last payment to a claimant whose regular program benefits are reduced through disqualifications, but who draws all the reduced benefits during the benefit year, should be considered a final payment. No claimant should be considered as having received a final payment if, because of the ending of his/her benefit year, he/she can not draw the full amount of benefits to which he/she is eligible.

F. Item by Item Instructions.

1. Section A. Monetary Determinations

a. Item 1, Total Determinations. Enter the total number of original monetary determinations (not redeterminations) issued during the report period. This count should be roughly equal to the number of new initial claims during the same period for which appealable monetary determinations were issued. Exclude determinations on reopened claims (if the base period has not changed since the original determination), duplicate claims, claims returned to the local office for completion before they have been processed, claims disallowed before referral to the wage-record files, etc. Reconsiderations of wage credits and redeterminations on the basis of any available wage credits in the same benefit year should not be reported as monetary determinations. Thus, redeterminations resulting from a State’s alternative base period(s) should not be reported. However, the status of the claim as a result of any redetermination made during the report period will be reported in items 2 through 20.

b. Item 2, Determinations with Insufficient Wage Credits. Enter the number of monetary determinations accomplished during the quarter (item 1) for which, when the report is run, either no wage credits could be located or insufficient wage credits (or employment) were available to satisfy the eligibility requirements of the State law. Exclude determinations where insufficiency is due to credits having been canceled because of disqualification.

c. Item 3, Determinations with Sufficient Wage Credits. Enter the number of monetary determinations accomplished during the quarter (item 1) for which, when the report is run, sufficient base-period wage credits (and employment) were located to make the claimant eligible regardless of all other eligibility requirements. This entry should reflect the results at the time of the report run of all determinations and redeterminations for which qualifying wage credits (and employment) were found, even though the claimant may be disqualified due to other circumstances.

d. Item 4, Total Claimants Establishing Benefit Years. Enter the number of claimants for whom benefit years were established. The entry in item 4 will differ from that in item 3 for States in which the establishment of a benefit year is dependent on requirements in addition to the monetary determination of eligibility. For such States, the count should include all determinations establishing benefit years made during the quarter, even though, because of a lag in processing or delay due to additional requirements, the monetary determinations were in some instances reported in a previous quarter. Thus, a comparison between items 3 and 4 for any one quarter may not be valid, but cumulatively the difference between the two items will represent the number of determinations for individuals who meet the minimum wage and employment qualifications but who did not establish benefit years because the additional requirements were not met. For all other States, the entry in item 4 will be identical with the entry in column 3.

e. Item 5, Claimants Establishing Benefit Years Entitled to Maximum Weekly Benefit Amount. Enter the number of claimants in item 4 whose regular weekly benefit amount (WBA) for a period of total unemployment is the maximum under the State law. This item should be based on the regular WBA rather than the actual amount of a particular weekly payment, since, in some cases, the regular WBA may be reduced because of part-total or partial unemployment.

In States which pay increased benefits because of dependents, this item should be reported on the basis of the augmented amount. For States which pay benefits according to a schedule of WBAs based on wages earned, and which supplement these with dependents' allowances, the number of such claimants entitled to the maximum augmented WBA will be identical to the number entitled to the maximum basic WBA. For States which pay benefits according to a schedule of WBAs based on the number and type of dependents, as well as on the amount of wages earned, (e.g., Ohio) the number of claimants will be the sum of those entitled to the maximum in each class, as determined by the number and type of dependents.

f. Item 6, Claimants Establishing Benefit Years Entitled to Maximum Weekly Benefit Amount and Maximum Duration. Enter the number of claimants from item 5 who are entitled to benefits for the maximum number of weeks provided under State law. In a State which pays increased benefits because of dependents, a claimant should be considered as entitled to maximum duration if he/she is eligible for the maximum number of weeks of benefits available to him/her on the basis of the number and type of his/her dependents.

2. Section B. Potential and Actual Duration.

a. Lines 101 and 103, Potential Duration for Determinations Establishing Benefit Years. Potential duration is the number of full weeks of benefits for which a claimant is eligible within a benefit year. Potential duration should be based solely on monetary determinations, without adjustment for periods of disqualification or wage credits canceled for specific disqualifying acts such as voluntary quitting, misconduct, etc.

Weeks of potential duration should be computed by dividing the total amount payable, from State trust funds during the benefit year, by the regular WBA for total unemployment. States in which the law provides that the WBA shall change during the benefit year should use the weekly benefit amount shown on the original determination to compute the potential duration.

States which provide for the payment of increased benefits because of dependents should use figures which include benefits payable as a result of dependents to compute potential duration.

b. Lines 102 and 104, Actual Duration for Claimants Who Received Final Payments. Actual duration is derived by dividing the total amount of benefits received from State trust funds by the WBA for total unemployment. If the WBA for total unemployment is changed during the benefit year, the amount of the last payment made at the full benefit rate should be used rather than the amount shown on the original determination.

States which provide for the payment of increased benefits because of dependents should use the figures which include benefits paid as the result of dependents to compute potential duration.

The last payment to a claimant whose benefits are reduced through disqualifications but who draws all of the reduced benefits to which he/she is entitled during the benefit year should be included as a final payment. No claimant should be considered as receiving a final payment because the ending of a benefit year prohibits the claimant from drawing the full amount of benefits based on his/her monetary determination.

c. Items 7-18, Number of Weeks of Duration

(1) The number of monetary determinations through which claimants established benefit years should be entered in line 101, item 7. The entry should be distributed in columns 8-18, lines 101 and 103, by the number of full weeks of potential duration. This distribution, for a State with uniform duration, will be represented by a single entry in the appropriate interval column.

(2) The number of claimants who receive final payments should be entered in line 102, item 7. This entry should be distributed in items 8-18, lines 102 and 104, by the number of full weeks of actual duration during the benefit year. This will include claimants who, because of disqualifying reductions in benefits, had actual durations less than State's uniform duration.

(3) In computing weeks of duration, a result with a decimal figure should be rounded to the next highest number of weeks.

d. Item 19, Number with Maximum Duration. The entries in each of lines 103 and 104 should represent that part of the entries in item 7, lines 101 and 102, respectively, which represent claimants either entitled to or receiving benefits for the maximum number of weeks provided under the State law.

In a State which pays increased benefits because of dependents, a claimant should be considered as either entitled to or receiving the maximum duration if he/she is eligible for or receives the maximum number of weeks of benefits available to him/her on the basis of the number and type of his/her dependents.

e. Item 20, Average Weeks of Duration. The average weeks of duration to be reported in each of lines 103 and 104, should be computed by dividing the entries in column 7, lines 101 and 102, respectively, into the cumulative total of full weeks of duration represented by the distributions shown for each of these entries. The average should be computed from unrounded figures and then rounded to one decimal place.

3. Comments. Lines are provided on the screen for comments. Comments may be made for any of the following areas:

a. Administrative factors affecting data reported on tabulations. Describe any administrative factors such as changes in operating procedures, issuance of rules and regulations, and staff turnover which may affect the data reported in such a way that they will lack comparability with data submitted on prior reports or on current reports submitted by other State employment security agencies in accordance with the above sections.

b. Legal factors affecting data reported on tabulations. Describe any legal factors such as amendments to the State unemployment insurance law, official interpretations of the law, or court decisions which may affect the data reported in such a way that they will lack comparability with data submitted on prior reports or on current reports submitted by other State employment security agencies in accordance with the above sections.

c. Economic factors affecting data reported on tabulations. Describe any economic factors such as seasonal employment, instances of mass partial employment, prolonged unemployment on an establishment, industry, or area basis, etc., which may affect the data reported in such a way that the conditions will be reflected in any of the tabulations prepared.

G. Special Program Reporting.

States in which an extended benefit (EB) period is in effect under the EB provisions of the State law should report monetary determination activities relating to initial claims under the Federal/State Extended Benefit program. A separate electronic screen entry is used. These reports should be submitted as long as monetary determination activity occurs under the EB program. Due dates and instructions are the same as for the regular report. The following items are to be reported:

1. Line 100, Item 1, Total Determinations. Enter the total number of monetary determinations under the EB program.

2. Line 100, Item 2, Determinations with Insufficient Wage Credits. Enter that part of item 1 which represents determinations for which insufficient base period wage credits and/or employment were available to satisfy the EB eligibility requirements of the State law.

3. Line 100, Item 3, Determinations with Sufficient Wage Credits. Enter that part of item 1 which represents determinations for which sufficient base period wage credits and/or employment were available to make the claimant eligible for EB.

I-5-13

5/2002