§ 31-230 — Benefit year, base period and alternative base period.

Connecticut § 31-230

• Jurisdiction: Connecticut
• Title 31: Labor
• Ch. 567: Unemployment Compensation

Text

(a) An individual's benefit year shall commence with the beginning of the week with respect to which the individual has filed a valid initiating claim and shall continue through the Saturday of the fifty-first week following the week in which it commenced, provided no benefit year shall end until after the end of the third complete calendar quarter, plus the remainder of any uncompleted calendar week that began in such quarter, following the calendar quarter in which it commenced, and provided further, the benefit year of an individual who has filed a combined wage claim, as described in subsection (b) of section 31-255, shall be the benefit year prescribed by the law of the paying state. In no event shall a benefit year be established before the termination of an existing benefit year previously established under the provisions of this chapter. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the base period of a benefit year shall be the first four of the five most recently completed calendar quarters prior to such benefit year, provided such quarters were not previously used to establish a prior valid benefit year and provided further, the base period with respect to a combined wage claim, as described in subsection (b) of section 31-255, shall be the base period of the paying state, except that for any individual who is eligible to receive or is receiving workers' compensation or who is properly absent from work under the terms of the employer's sick leave or disability leave policy, the base period shall be the four consecutive quarters immediately preceding the most recently worked quarter prior to such benefit year, provided such quarters were not previously used to establish a prior valid benefit year and provided further, the last most recently worked calendar quarter is no more than twelve calendar quarters prior to the date such individual makes an initiating claim. As used in this section, an initiating claim shall be deemed valid if the individual is unemployed and meets the requirements of subdivisions (1) and (3) of subsection (a) of section 31-235. The base period of an individual's benefit year shall include wages paid by any nonprofit organization electing reimbursement in lieu of contributions, or by the state and by any town, city or other political or governmental subdivision of or in this state or of any municipality to such person with respect to whom such employer is subject to the provisions of this chapter. With respect to weeks of unemployment beginning on or after January 1, 1978, wages for insured work shall include wages paid for previously uncovered services. For purposes of this section, the term “previously uncovered services” means services that (1) were not employment, as defined in section 31-222, and were not services covered pursuant to section 31-223, at any time during the one-year period ending December 31, 1975; and (2) (A) are agricultural labor, as defined in subparagraph (H) of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 31-222, or domestic service, as defined in subparagraph (J) of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 31-222, or (B) are services performed by an employee of this state or a political subdivision of this state, as provided in subparagraph (C) of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 31-222, or by an employee of a nonprofit educational institution that is not an institution of higher education, as provided in subparagraph (E)(iii) of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 31-222, except to the extent that assistance under Title II of the Emergency Jobs and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974 was paid on the basis of such services. (b) The base period of a benefit year for any individual who is ineligible to receive benefits using the base period set forth in subsection (a) of this section shall be the four most recently completed calendar quarters prior to the individual's benefit year, provided such quarters were not previously used to establish a prior valid benefit year, except that for any such individual who is eligible to receive or is receiving workers' compensation or who is properly absent from work under the terms of an employer's sick leave or disability leave policy, the base period shall be the four consecutive quarters immediately preceding the most recently worked quarter prior to such benefit year, provided such quarters were not previously used to establish a prior valid benefit year and provided further, the last most recently worked calendar quarter is not more than twelve calendar quarters prior to the date such individual makes the initiating claim. If the wage information for an individual's most recently worked calendar quarter is unavailable to the administrator from regular quarterly reports of systematically accessible wage information, the administrator shall promptly contact the individual's employer to obtain such wage information.

Legislative History

(1949 Rev., S. 7503; 1949, 1953, S. 3068d; 1969, P.A. 700, S. 4; 1971, P.A. 835, S. 12; P.A. 73-78; P.A. 75-334; 75-525, S. 7, 13; P.A. 77-115; 77-426, S. 5, 19; P.A. 79-40; 79-376, S. 30; P.A. 83-421; May 9 Sp. Sess. 02-7, S. 69; P.A. 05-34, S. 1; P.A. 07-193, S. 1; P.A. 19-117, S. 149; P.A. 21-141, S. 7.) History: 1969 act made minor wording changes for clarity; 1971 act added reference to “governmental” subdivisions and included wages paid by nonprofit organizations electing reimbursement in lieu of contributions; P.A. 73-78 clarified continuation of benefit year as “through the Saturday of the fifty-first week following the week in which it commenced” and prohibited establishment of new benefit year before termination of existing benefit year; P.A. 75-334 added exception re benefit year base period for those eligible to receive or receiving workmen's compensation; P.A. 75-525 required that benefit year and benefit period of claimant's filing combined claim be that prescribed by paying state; P.A. 77-115 required that last most recently worked quarter be no more than twelve, rather than four, quarters before claim made in provision re those receiving or eligible to receive workmen's compensation; P.A. 77-426 added provisions re weeks of unemployment beginning on and after January 1, 1978; P.A. 79-40 excluded use of quarters used previously to establish prior benefit year in establishing base period for subsequent benefit year; P.A. 79-376 substituted “workers'” for “workmen's” compensation; P.A. 83-421 provided that, for any individual who is properly on sick or disability leave from his employment, the base period will be the first four of the five most recently worked quarters prior to the benefit year; (Revisor's note: In 1991 the reference to “this subsection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to read “this section”); May 9 Sp. Sess. P.A. 02-7 designated existing provisions as Subsec. (a) and made technical changes therein, added new Subsec. (b) to establish a temporary, alternative method for calculating the base period of a benefit year for individuals ineligible to receive benefits using the original base period set forth in Subsec. (a), and added new Subsec. (c) to require the administrator to adopt regulations implementing the alternative base period authorized by Subsec. (b), effective August 15, 2002; P.A. 05-34 amended Subsec. (b) to extend period during which alternative base period may be calculated to December 31, 2007, and deleted former Subsec. (c) re adoption of regulations; P.A. 07-193 amended Subsec. (b) by eliminating sunset date and making alternative base period permanent; P.A. 19-117 added references to consecutive quarters in Subsecs. (a) and (b), effective June 26, 2019; P.A. 21-141 amended base period of benefit year for individual who is eligible to receive or is receiving workers' compensation or is properly absent from work under employer's sick leave or disability leave policy and made conforming changes, effective July 7, 2021. Section is constitutional; does not impair vested rights. 137 C. 129. Workers' compensation benefits do not qualify as “wages” within meaning of Sec. 31-222(b)(1) and therefore could not be used to determine the base period of a benefit year under section. 239 C. 233. Cited. 17 CA 441. Cited. 44 CS 285.