COVID-19 BUSINESS SERIES:

SESSION 1:

CRITICAL RESOURCES FOR BUSINESS

Jason GiuliettiPresident

Greater San Marcos Partnership

Critical Resources for Business: GSMP

“The Greater San Marcos Partnership is a public-private partnership focused on facilitating the increase of job-producing investment in Hays and Caldwell Counties.”

Critical Resources for Business: Future Sessions

July 22 - Session 2:Short & Long-Term Business Resiliency

July 29 - Session 3:Regional Support Systems in Hays and Caldwell Counties

August 5 - Session 4:Creative Capacity-Building

Info & Register at https://greatersanmarcostx.com/events

Critical Resources for Business: Q&A Interaction

• Select the Q&A dialog box to pose a question and see questions as answered

• Clarification questions may be submitted and answered during the presentations

• Questions with most frequency will be given priority

• Presenter’s contact information will be provided at the end of the event

Kelly SpillaneSmall Business AdvocateOffice of the Governor

Greg Abbott

Critical Resources for Business: Presenters

Joe HarperExecutive Director

Small Business Development CenterTexas State University

Diane TackettChief Operations

OfficerWorkforce Solutions Rural Capital Area

Tommy SimmonsLegal Counsel

Texas Workforce Commission

Q&A

Critical Resources for Business: Presenter Contact Info

Kelly SpillaneSmall Business Advocate

Office of the Governor Greg AbbottKelly.spillane@gov.Texas.gov

Joe HarperExecutive Director

Small Business Development CenterTexas State University

Joe.harper@txstate.edu

Diane TackettChief Operations Officer

Workforce Solutions Rural Capital AreaDiane.tackett@ruralcapital.net

Tommy SimmonsLegal Counsel

Texas Workforce CommissionTommy.simmons@twc.state.tx.us

Barbara ThomasonDirector Workforce, Business

Retention & ExpansionGreater San Marcos Partnership

BarbaraT@GreaterSanMarcosTX.com

You may view a recording of this Webinar on You Tube at:https://www.youtube.com/user/greatersanmarcostx

• Governor’s executive orders & waivers https://gov.texas.gov/coronavirus-executive-orders

• Latest information on safety protocols an checklists https://open.texas.gov/

• For best practice safety guidelines, go to:https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/coronavirus/

• OSHA Guidelines for returning to work https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA4045.pdf

Governor ’s Strategical ly & SafelyRe-opening the Economy

• Governor’s Small Business Assistance TeamCoronavirus Resources smallbusiness@gov.texas.gov

• Governor’s Permitting & Licensing OfficeCoronavirus FAQs

• Texas Film Commission Resources• Texas Music Office Resources

OTHER RESOURCES:• Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation• Comptroller’s Office• US Chamber of Commerce (Disaster preparedness guides)

• IRS – Coronavirus Response Info

Governor ’s Off ice – Resources

Community Development Financial Institutions – CDFIs§ PeopleFund§ LiftFund§ BCL of Texas

CDFIs are:• An alternative to SBA loans• Private, non-profit financial institutions • 100% dedicated to delivering responsible, affordable lending • Established to serve those that may not be well served by conventional

lenders, as well as disadvantaged people and communities

• Main Street Lending Program (via main street banks - FAQs)

FundingAlternat ives to SBA Loans:

Become your own social media marketeer:

§ Google – Grow with Google§ Facebook – Facebook Blueprint Facebook Grants§ eBAY – How to Sell Retail Revival Program§ Amazon – Seller University§ Twitter – Basics – Twitter for Business

FREESocial Media Market ing

Training & Help

SCORE § Confidential, free mentoring§ Large panel of experienced executives§ Supportive, friendly, helpful – on your side§ Workshops & networking eventsU.S. Small Business Administration§ 6 District Offices in Texas§ Over 40 Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs)§ Allied with universities across Texas§ Often run by experienced business people

NATIONAL - FREE ADVICE

July 15, 2020

Business Resources for Recovery

CONTENT

Services to Job Seekers and Parents• Rapid Response

• Jobs Now!

• Job Search and Job Preparation Assistance

• Upskilling Toolkits / Career Lattices

• Child Care Assistance

• Resources for Parents

• Workplace Safety; Wages, Hours and Leave information

Workforce Solutions Services

Employer Resources• Finding Employees / Jobs Now!• Tax Incentives• Labor Market Information / Rural Capital Headlight• Employee Skills Training• Webinars• Upskilling Toolkits / Career Lattices• Layoff Assistance• Workplace Safety; Wages, hours and Leave information

https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/

CONTENT

Jobs Now!Post and review immediate job openings by county. https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/jobs-now

Workforce Solutions COVID Recovery Services

Career LatticesVisibly highlight the dynamics of strategic career mobility https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/jobs-nowand the importance of a skilled workforce.

Rural Capital HeadlightView economic, workforce, demographic information, and https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/employers/labor-market-information

COVID Impact information for each county. https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/board/covid-19-workforce-impact-report

Workforce WednesdaysWeekly virtual career and hiring events to connect employers

and job seekers in our nine-county area. https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/seekers/job-search/workforce-wednesdays-

virtual-career-expo

Rapid Response Immediate, on-site services to assist workers facing job losses. This is

an early intervention assistance designed to transition workers to their

next employment as soon as possible.

https://www.twc.texas.gov/businesses/rapid-response

Rapid Response and Layoff Aversion

Layoff AversionLearn more about Shared Work programs, managing mass claims, or

avoiding layoffs through incumbent worker training.

https://www.twc.texas.gov/businesses/preventing-managing-layoffs

https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/employers/layoff-assistance

Skills Development Fund COVID 19 Special Training Initiative Grant funds are available to respond to the training needs of business

partners adversely affected by COVID=19, and employers who are

retooling business processes to respond to the need for COVID-19

related necessities.

https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/employers/employee-skills-training/skills-development-grant

https://www.twc.texas.gov/businesses/skills-development-fund-employers

Skills Development Fund and Skills for Small Business Opportunities

Skills for Small Business

Grant funds are available to businesses with fewer than 100

employees and emphasizes training for new workers although it

may also upgrade the skills of incumbent workers.

https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/employers/employee-skills-training/skills-for-small-businesses

https://www.twc.texas.gov/businesses/skills-small-business-employers

High Demand Job Training

Grant funds are available to support collaborations between

Boards and EDC’s to provide high-demand occupational job training

in local workforce areas.

https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/employers/employee-skills-training/high-demand-job-training

https://www.twc.texas.gov/high-demand-job-training-program

HDJT and TIP Grants

Texas Industry Partnership

Grant funds are available to support collaborations between boards and

industry partners through matching contributions of cash or

expenditures for occupational job training in six designated industry

clusters.

https://workforcesolutionsrca.com/employers/employee-skills-training/texas-industry-partnership

https://www.twc.texas.gov/texas-industry-partnership-program

QUESTIONS

Contact

Diane TackettChief Operations Officer

512-244-7966 x 5028

diane.tackett@ruralcapital.net

1:21 PM

TWC – Special Update for the Pandemic

William T. (Tommy) SimmonsLegal Counsel to Commissioner Aaron S. Demerson

Commissioner Representing EmployersTexas Workforce Commission

tommy.simmons@twc.state.tx.usBook: www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/tocmain2.html

Web app: texasworkforce.org/tbcapp1-800-832-9394; 1-512-463-2967

1:21 PM

Unprecedented Unemployment in Texas

• Four years’ worth of UI claims in a three-month period (early March to mid-June)• Up to 2.7 million calls per day• Telephone, online, and fax systems overwhelmed during many days from March

through June, 2020• Call centers to handle phone claims and claim investigations doubled from four to

eight• Over two thousand additional staff hired, reassigned, or otherwise obtained to

help process claims• Weekly UI benefit payments exceeded $450 million during the height of the crisis,

far exceeding the previous record of $93 million seen in July, 2009, during the height of the Great Recession

1:21 PM

Shared Work Plans• A shared work plan can enable a company to have partial reductions in work

hours and keep the employees close to the company.• Employees whose hours are reduced by a standard amount between 10 – 40%

can receive a corresponding percentage of their unemployment benefits if certain conditions are met. Their income each week would be higher than it would be with total UI benefits.

• Link: https://twc.texas.gov/businesses/shared-work.• Shared work plan benefits paid as a result of the Covid-19 disaster are not

charged back to an employer’s account.• Work search waivers are automatic for claimants who file under a shared work

plan.

1:21 PM

Mass Claims

• An employer can help a large set of laid-off employees file UI claims using the mass claim process

• Expedited processing of UI benefits for most participants• Some delays might occur, such as if a particular claimant has an unusual situation

with a prior claim or an SSN issue, but most problems are ironed out quickly• See https://twc.texas.gov/businesses/mass-claims-unemployment-benefits for all

of the forms and steps

1:21 PM

Total / Partial Unemployment

• Totally unemployed: wages between $0.00 and 25% of the weekly benefit amount (WBA)

• Partially unemployed: wages between 25% - 125% of the WBA• Not on paid leave of any kind

1:21 PM

Correct Last Employing Unit

• The claimant must name the correct last place of work or employment on the initial claim

• That employing unit receives the Notice of Application for Unemployment Benefits and has a say in whether TWC determines that the most recent work separation was qualifying or disqualifying

1:21 PM

Monetary Eligibility• Claimant must have earned at least 37 times the weekly

benefit amount during the base period• “base period” is the first four of the last five completed

calendar quarters prior to the date of the initial claim:

• the weekly benefit amount is the high quarter wage amount divided by 25

• minimum WBA = $69; maximum WBA = $521

1:21 PM

Regular Unemployment Insurance• WBA – high quarter wage amount divided by 25• MBA – 26 times the WBA, or 27% of the total base period wages,

whichever is less

1:21 PM

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)

• Section 2102 of the CARES Act: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)

• Up to 39 weeks of benefits available for independent contractors, sole proprietors, and others who do not otherwise qualify for UI

• PUA program ends on December 31, 2020• Qualifies for the $600 per week extra payment under the Federal

Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program (Section 2104 of the CARES Act) through the benefit week ending July 25, 2020

1:21 PM

Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC)

• Section 2104 of the CARES Act• Emergency increase in UI benefits for Federal Pandemic Unemployment

Compensation (FPUC)• $600 added to the weekly benefit amount due for any valid weekly claim

through July 31, 2020 – includes UI, PUA, and PEUC benefits (§ 2104(i)(2)(C and D))

1:21 PM

Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)

• Section 2107 of the CARES Act• PEUC extends UI benefits for those who have exhausted their

regular UI benefits – 13 weeks of PEUC available – the weekly benefit amount for PEUC equals the regular WBA plus the FPUC amount (§ 2107(b)(3))

• Eligibility requirements include the work search (“are able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work”), but flexibility is allowed for states in which pandemic conditions limit a jobseeker’s mobility (quarantine / shelter in place / etc.) (§ 2107(a)(7)(B))

• The PEUC program ends on December 31, 2020

1:21 PM

Extended Benefits

• Texas has “triggered on” to state extended benefits• 13 weeks available for those who have exhausted their regular UI and their PEUC

benefits• 7 additional weeks are now available at the end of the UI, PEUC, and EB periods

due to Texas falling into the “High Unemployment Period” category

1:21 PM

Chargeback Protection• All Covid-19 / pandemic-related UI cases qualify a private taxed

employer for chargeback protection• Under the CARES Act, the federal UI benefits under FPUC and PEUC

are paid out of federal funds and are not charged or billed to any employer

1:21 PM

Reimbursement Liability Protection

• Under the CARES Act, reimbursing employers are entitled to a 50% “rebate” or refund of reimbursements they pay on all UI claims during 2020, not just the ones resulting from the pandemic

• Procedure: TWC bills the employer, the employer pays 100%, TWC reports that to the U.S. Department of Labor, DOL sends TWC a payment out of federal CARES Act funds for 50% of the reimbursements paid, and TWC then refunds / credits that amount to the reimbursing employer

• Billing payment deadlines extended through the end of the year due to the CARES Act

1:21 PM

Work Refusals• Send an e-mail to twc.fraud@twc.state.tx.us (allows attachments).• Online: https://apps.twc.state.tx.us/EBS_REF/ewrd/employeeWorkRefusalDoc.• Report should include the claimant’s full name, last four digits of the SSN, the

initial claim date, the name of the company along with its TWC account number, and information about the work refusal, such as the job description, the hours, pay, and benefits, the work location, and basically whether it would have been a return to the same job that the claimant had before.

• Mention any health and safety precautions the company is taking to minimize any risks to workers (CDC / OSHA guidelines followed, PPE supplied, social distancing practices, and so on).

• Finally, include any documentation regarding the work refusal that might be available, such as text messages, e-mails, or witness statements from those who dealt directly with the claimant about the job offer.

1:21 PM

Eligibility Issues

• medically able to work• actively searching for full-time work• authorized to work in the U.S. (claimant has to be able to fulfill I-9

requirements)• file claim forms on time• engage in reemployment activities as directed

1:21 PM

Work Separations• Voluntary– Resignation– Walking off the job– Job abandonment– Retirement– Suspension w/o pay for

3 days or less

• Involuntary– Layoff / RIF– Temporary assignment /

PRN / on-call, as-needed– Discharge / termination– Mutual agreement– Resignation in lieu of

discharge– Unpaid suspension of four

days or more

1:21 PM

Other Issues - FFCRA• Private employers are covered if they have fewer than 500 employees• 2 weeks of paid sick leave at regular rate for employees quarantined

under government order or medical advice, and/or with Covid-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis

• 2 weeks of paid sick leave at 2/3 of regular rate for other Covid-19-related reasons

• Employees at least 30 days on the job can get up to 10 weeks of expanded FMLA leave pay at 2/3 of regular rate if they need to care for a child whose school or day care provider is closed or unavailable due to the pandemic.

• Costs recoverable via federal payroll tax credits – see irs.gov.

1:21 PM

Tax Rate Impacts• Texas has had some of the lowest UI tax rates in the country• Taxes can be imposed or increased to replenish the UI Trust Fund or

repay federal loans that were used to pay UI benefits in a deficit situation:– Replenishment tax – this is the “minimum tax” on all employers– Replenishment ratio – for employers w/ CBs within last 3 years– Deficit tax – only if there is a deficit in the UI Trust Fund– Interest tax – only if Texas must pay interest on a federal loan– Obligation assessment tax – only if Texas is repaying bonds

• TWC will be able to determine tax rate impacts by November, 2020

1:21 PM

Fraud

Claimants must report:• All work and earnings during claim weeks• Any work separations• Any job offer that was not accepted• Any eligibility condition that is not satisfied during a claim period• Failure to report such facts can lead to a fraud investigation

1:21 PM

Reductions in Hours or Pay• Hours – 20% or more reduction = good cause to quit and file an

unemployment claim• Pay – same 20% rule applies• Both – 20% rule applied to the bottom-line pay outcome• Cuts in benefits with monetary value can be combined with other

cuts to see whether the total decrease in compensation is 20% or more

• Partial unemployment benefits – if weekly pay goes below 125% of the weekly benefit amount, claimant can receive the difference in partial UI benefits

1:21 PM

Handle UI Claims Properly• Respond adequately and on time• Always ask for CB protection if it is available (Covid-19!)• Adequate response = factual basis for the work separation,

including relevant adverse facts• Return investigators’ phone calls• Furnish relevant information:– Firsthand witnesses are critically important– Documentation (policies, warnings, logs, etc.)

• Be specific as to the circumstances of the work separation• Appeal on time at all levels of the process

1:21 PM

What Does An Employer Need to Show?• Voluntary work separation– Show how a reasonable employee would not have quit for such

a reason• Involuntary work separation– Show that the discharge resulted from a specific act of

misconduct connected with the work that happened close in time to the discharge, and

– That the claimant either knew or should have known that discharge could occur for such a reason.

• Evidence needed: documentation of problems, and firsthand testimony from eyewitnesses

1:21 PM

Severance Pay• Severance pay is disqualifying just like wages in lieu of notice• Dates of coverage should be specified in the payment documentation

and in the unemployment claim response• Exceptions to disqualification:– Payment made to settle a claim or lawsuit that has been filed– Payment made to release a claim of liability under the Civil Rights

Act of 1991– Payment made pursuant to a written contract or collective

bargaining agreement that was negotiated prior to the work separation

• Disqualification merely delays the date on which UI benefits can start

1:21 PM

Thanks!

Thanks for your attendanceand

Good Luck!

Remember the toll-free hotline for employers:1-800-832-9394

tommy.simmons@twc.state.tx.ustwc.texas.gov/news/efte/tocmain2.html

Web app: twc.texas.gov/tbcapp