Unemployment Compensation (M.G.L.c. 151A)

(Adjudicatory Rules of Practice and Procedure)

• Employees who are unemployed, actively seeking work and capable of and available for work are eligible for unemployment compensation. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 24)
  
  
• This statute covers employment that is localized in the Commonwealth, that is (1) either the service is performed entirely within the Commonwealth or the service performed outside the Commonwealth is incidental to the individual's service within the Commonwealth; or (2) the service is not localized in any state, but some part of the service is performed in the Commonwealth and the individual's base of operations is in the Commonwealth or, if there is no base of operations, then the place from which such service is directed or controlled is within the Commonwealth. If the individual's base of operations is not in any state in which some part of the service is performed, then employment service is covered if the individual's residence is in the Commonwealth. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 3)
  
  
• Employees can be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits for:
  
  • a termination due to deliberate misconduct in willful disregard of the employer's interests;
    
  • a termination due to knowingly violating a reasonable and uniformly enforced policy or rule; or
    
  • a termination due to a conviction of a felony or misdemeanor; or
    
  • a voluntary resignation without good cause attributable to the employer. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 25(e))
    
    
• Employees will not be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits if they became separated from employment due to:
  
  • an involuntary resignation for an urgent, compelling and necessitous reason;
    
  • domestic violence; or
    
  • sexual, racial or other unreasonable harassment where the employer, its supervisory personnel or agents knew or should have known of such harassment. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 25(e))
    
    
• Benefits will also not be paid:
  
  • If the claimant's unemployment is due to a work stoppage which is part of a labor dispute.;
    
  • If the claimant fails to apply for or accept suitable employment;
• If the claimant is not available for work;
  
• If the claimant is receiving workers' compensation benefits; or
  
• For up to 10 weeks if a claimant has been suspended from work for violating established rules. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 25(b)-(d))

• A written agreement between an employer and an employee under which the employee would receive a payment in return for the employee's release of all claims against the employer does not disqualify the employee from obtaining unemployment benefits where the payment was not for services previously rendered inasmuch as the employee would receive nothing unless he signed the agreement. White v. Commissioner of the Department of Employment and Training, 40 Mass. App Ct. 249, 252-254 (1996)
  
  
• An individual in total unemployment and otherwise eligible for benefits will be paid for each week of unemployment an amount equal to fifty percent of his average weekly wage. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 29)
  
  
• An individual in partial unemployment and otherwise eligible for benefits shall be paid the difference between his aggregate remuneration with respect to each week of partial unemployment and the weekly benefit rate to which he would have been entitled if totally unemployed. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 29) ''Partial unemployment'' occurs when an individual in any week of less than full-time weekly schedule of work has earned an aggregate remuneration in an amount less than the weekly benefit rate to which he would be entitled if totally unemployed during said week. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 1(r)(1))
  
  
• An individual eligible for either partial or total benefits shall be paid for each week of unemployment in addition twenty-five dollars for each unemancipated child of such individual who is being wholly or mainly supported by such individual, and who is under the age of eighteen, or who is eighteen years of age or over and incapable of earning wages because of mental or physical incapacity, or who is under the age of twenty-four and is a full-time student at an educational institution, or who is in his custody pending the adjudication of a petition filed by such individual for the adoption of such child in a court of competent jurisdiction. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 29(c))
  
  
• The foregoing benefits are taxable. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 29E(a))
  
  
• Any interested party notified of an initial determination that he has been disqualified from receiving benefits may request a hearing within ten days after notice of the determination unless it is determined that the party had good cause for failing to request a hearing within such time. In no event shall good cause be considered if the party fails to request a hearing within thirty days after such notice. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 39)
  
  
• A claimant or interested party may, within thirty days after notice of the hearing decision, file an application for a review of such decision by the Board of Review. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 40)
  
  
• Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Board of Review may obtain judicial review of such decision by commencing within thirty days a civil action in the District Court within the judicial district in which he lives, is or was last employed, or has his usual place of business. (M.G.L.c. 151A, s. 42)
  
  

   

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