For purposes of the Employment Security Law, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) Agricultural labor means services performed:
(a) On a farm, in the employ of any employer, in connection with cultivating the soil or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training, and management of livestock, bees, poultry, fur-bearing animals, and wildlife;
(b) In the employ of the owner, tenant, or other operator of a farm, in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement, or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment or in salvaging timber or clearing land of brush and other debris left by a windstorm, if the major part of such service is performed on a farm;
(c) In connection with the production or harvesting of any commodity in connection with the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs, or waterways, not owned or operated for profit, used exclusively for supplying and storing water for farming purposes;
(d)(i) In the employ of the operator of a farm in handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing, or delivering to storage or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, in its unmanufactured state, any agricultural or horticultural commodity, but only if such operator produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed, or (ii) in the employ of a group of operators of farms, or a cooperative organization of which such operators are members, in the performance of service described in subdivision (1)(d)(i) of this section, but only if such operators produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed. Subdivisions (1)(d)(i) and (ii) of this section shall not be deemed to be applicable with respect to service performed in connection with commercial canning or commercial freezing or in connection with any agricultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption; or
(e) On a farm operated for profit if such service is not in the course of the employer's trade or business;
(2) Base period means the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual's benefit year, except that if the individual is not monetarily eligible for unemployment benefits as determined pursuant to section 48-627.01 based upon wages paid during the first four of the five most recently completed calendar quarters, the department shall make a redetermination of monetary eligibility based upon an alternative base period which consists of the last four completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the claimant's benefit year;
(3) Benefits means the money payments payable to an individual with respect to his or her unemployment;
(4) Benefit year, with respect to any individual, means the one-year period beginning with the first day of the first week with respect to which the individual first files a valid claim for benefits, and thereafter the one-year period beginning with the first day of the first week with respect to which the individual next files a valid claim for benefits after the termination of his or her last preceding benefit year. Any claim for benefits made in accordance with section 48-629 shall be deemed to be a valid claim for the purpose of this subdivision if the individual has been paid the wages for insured work required under section 48-627.01 . For the purposes of this subdivision a week with respect to which an individual files a valid claim shall be deemed to be in, within, or during that benefit year which includes the greater part of such week;
(5) Calendar quarter means the period of three consecutive calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31, or the equivalent thereof as the Commissioner of Labor may by rule and regulation prescribe;
(6) Client means any individual, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, or other legally recognized entity that contracts with a professional employer organization to obtain professional employer services relating to worksite employees through a professional employer agreement;
(7) Combined tax means the employer liability consisting of contributions and the state unemployment insurance tax;
(8) Combined tax rate means the rate which is applied to wages to determine the combined taxes due;
(9) Commissioner means the Commissioner of Labor;
(10) Commodity means an agricultural commodity as defined in section 15(g) of the federal Agricultural Marketing Act, as amended, 12 U.S.C. 1141j;
(11) Contribution rate means the percentage of the combined tax rate used to determine the contribution portion of the combined tax;
(12) Contributions means that portion of the combined tax based upon the contribution rate portion of the combined tax rate which is deposited in the state Unemployment Compensation Fund as required by sections 48-648 and 48-649 to 48-649.04 ;
(13) Crew leader means an individual who furnishes individuals to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person, pays, either on his or her own behalf or on behalf of such other person, the individuals so furnished by him or her for the service in agricultural labor performed by them, and has not entered into a written agreement with such other person under which such individual is designated as an employee of such other person;
(14) Department means the Department of Labor;
(15) Employers engaged in the construction industry means all employers primarily engaged in business activities classified as sector 23 business activities under the North American Industry Classification System;
(16) Employment office means a free public employment office or branch thereof, operated by this state or maintained as a part of a state-controlled system of public employment offices, including public employment offices operated by an agency of a foreign government;
(17) Farm means stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing animal, and truck farms, plantations, ranches, nurseries, ranges, greenhouses, or other similar structures used primarily for the raising of agricultural or horticultural commodities, and orchards;
(18) Fund means the Unemployment Compensation Fund established by section 48-617 to which all contributions and payments in lieu of contributions required and from which all benefits provided shall be paid;
(19) Hearing officer means a person employed by the Department of Labor who conducts hearings, contested cases, or other proceedings pursuant to the Employment Security Law;
(20) Hospital means an institution which has been licensed, certified, or approved by the Department of Health and Human Services as a hospital;
(21) Insured work means employment for employers;
(22) Leave of absence means any absence from work: (a) Mutually and voluntarily agreed to by the employer and the employee; (b) mutually and voluntarily agreed to between the employer and the employee's bargaining agent; or (c) to which the employee is entitled as a matter of state or federal law;
(23) Paid vacation leave means a period of time while employed or following separation from employment in which the individual renders no services to the employer but is entitled to receive vacation pay equal to or exceeding his or her base weekly wage;
(24) Payments in lieu of contributions means the money payments to the Unemployment Compensation Fund required by sections 48-649.04 , 48-652 , 48-660.01 , and 48-661 ;
(25) Professional employer agreement means a written professional employer services contract whereby:
(a) A professional employer organization agrees to provide payroll services, employee benefit administration, or personnel services for a majority of the employees providing services to the client at a client worksite;
(b) The agreement is intended to be ongoing rather than temporary in nature; and
(c) Employer responsibilities for worksite employees, including those of hiring, firing, and disciplining, are shared between the professional employer organization and the client by contract. The term professional employer agreement shall not include a contract between a parent corporation, company, or other entity and a wholly owned subsidiary;
(26) Professional employer organization means any individual, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, or other legally recognized entity that enters into a professional employer agreement with a client or clients for a majority of a client's workforce at a client worksite. The term professional employer organization does not include an insurer as defined in section 44-103 or a temporary help firm;
(27) Standard rate means the rate assigned to category twenty for that year under section 48-649.03 . The standard rate shall be not less than five and four-tenths percent of the employer's annual taxable payroll;
(28) State includes, in addition to the states of the United States of America, any dependency of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia;
(29) State unemployment insurance tax means that portion of the combined tax which is based upon the state unemployment insurance tax rate portion of the combined tax rate and which is deposited in the Workforce Development Program Cash Fund as required by sections 48-648 and 48-649 to 48-649.04 ;
(30) State unemployment insurance tax rate means the percentage of the combined tax rate used to determine the state unemployment insurance tax portion of the combined tax;
(31) Temporary employee means an employee of a temporary help firm assigned to work for the clients of such temporary help firm;
(32) Temporary help firm means a firm that hires its own employees and assigns them to clients to support or supplement the client's workforce in work situations such as employee absences, temporary skill shortages, seasonal workloads, and special assignments and projects;
(33) Unemployed means an individual during any week in which the individual performs no service and with respect to which no wages are payable to the individual or any week of less than full-time work if the wages payable with respect to such week are less than the individual's weekly benefit amount, but does not include any individual on a leave of absence or on paid vacation leave. When an agreement between the employer and a bargaining unit representative does not allocate vacation pay allowance or pay in lieu of vacation to a specified period of time during a period of temporary layoff or plant shutdown, the payment by the employer or his or her designated representative will be deemed to be wages as defined in this section in the week or weeks the vacation is actually taken;
(34) Unemployment Trust Fund means the trust fund in the Treasury of the United States of America established under section 904 of the federal Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 1104, as such section existed on January 1, 2015, which receives credit from the state Unemployment Compensation Fund;
(35) Wages, except with respect to services performed in employment as provided in subdivisions (4)(c) and (d) of section 48-604 , means all remuneration for personal services, including commissions and bonuses, remuneration for personal services paid under a contract of hire, and the cash value of all remunerations in any medium other than cash. The reasonable cash value of remuneration in any medium other than cash shall be estimated and determined in accordance with rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the commissioner. Wages includes tips which are received while performing services which constitute employment and which are included in a written statement furnished to the employer pursuant to section 6053(a) of the Internal Revenue Code as defined in section 49-801.01 .
With respect to services performed in employment in agricultural labor as is provided in subdivision (4)(c) of section 48-604 , wages means cash remuneration and the cash value of commodities not intended for personal consumption by the worker and his or her immediate family for such services. With respect to services performed in employment in domestic service as is provided in subdivision (4)(d) of section 48-604 , wages means cash remuneration for such services.
The term wages does not include:
(a) The amount of any payment, including any amount paid by an employer for insurance or annuities or into a fund to provide for such payment, made to, or on behalf of, an individual in employment or any of his or her dependents under a plan or system established by an employer which makes provision for such individuals generally or for a class or classes of such individuals, including any amount paid by an employer for insurance or annuities or into a fund to provide for any such payment, on account of (i) sickness or accident disability, except, in the case of payments made to an employee or any of his or her dependents, this subdivision (i) shall exclude from wages only payments which are received under a workers' compensation law, (ii) medical and hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability, or (iii) death;
(b) The payment by an employer, without deduction from the remuneration of the employee, of the tax imposed upon an employee under section 3101 of the Internal Revenue Code as defined in section 49-801.01 ;
(c) Any payment on account of sickness or accident disability, or medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability, made by an employer to, or on behalf of, an individual after the expiration of six calendar months following the last calendar month in which such individual worked for such employer;
(d) Any payment made to, or on behalf of, an individual or his or her beneficiary (i) from or to a trust described in section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code as defined in section 49-801.01 which is exempt from tax under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code as defined in section 49-801.01 at the time of such payment unless such payment is made to an employee of the trust as remuneration for services rendered as such employee and not as a beneficiary of the trust or (ii) under or to an annuity plan which, at the time of such payment, meets the requirements of section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code as defined in section 49-801.01 ;
(e) Any payment made to, or on behalf of, an employee or his or her beneficiary (i) under a simplified employee pension as defined by the commissioner, (ii) under or to an annuity contract as defined by the commissioner, other than a payment for the purchase of such contract which is made by reason of a salary reduction agreement, whether evidenced by a written instrument or otherwise, (iii) under or to an exempt governmental deferred compensation plan as defined by the commissioner, (iv) to supplement pension benefits under a plan or trust, as defined by the commissioner, to take into account some portion or all of the increase in the cost of living since retirement, but only if such supplemental payments are under a plan which is treated as a welfare plan, or (v) under a cafeteria benefits plan;
(f) Remuneration paid in any medium other than cash to an individual for service not in the course of the employer's trade or business;
(g) Benefits paid under a supplemental unemployment benefit plan which satisfies the eight points set forth in Internal Revenue Service Revenue Ruling 56-249 as the ruling existed on January 1, 2015, and is in compliance with the standards set forth in Internal Revenue Service Revenue Rulings 58-128 and 60-330 as the rulings existed on January 1, 2015; and
(h) Remuneration for service performed in the employ of any state in the exercise of his or her duties as a member of the Army National Guard or Air National Guard or in the employ of the United States of America as a member of any military reserve unit;
(36) Week means such period of seven consecutive days as the commissioner may by rule and regulation prescribe;
(37) Week of unemployment with respect to any individual means any week during which he or she performs less than full-time work and the wages payable to him or her with respect to such week are less than his or her weekly benefit amount;
(38) Wholly owned subsidiary means a corporation, company, or other entity which has eighty percent or more of its outstanding voting stock or membership owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the parent entity; and
(39) Worksite employee has the same meaning as the term covered employee in section 48-2702 .
Source: Laws 1937, c. 108, § 2, p. 370; Laws 1939, c. 56, § 1, p. 229; Laws 1940, Spec. Sess., c. 2, § 1, p. 54; Laws 1941, c. 94, § 1, p. 373; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 48-702; Laws 1943, c. 111, §§ 1, 2, p. 390; R.S.1943, § 48-602; Laws 1947, c. 175, § 1, p. 563; Laws 1949, c. 163, § 2, p. 417; Laws 1951, c. 156, § 1, p. 626; Laws 1953, c. 167, § 2, p. 520; Laws 1961, c. 235, § 3, p. 695; Laws 1961, c. 238, § 1, p. 701; Laws 1971, LB 651, § 1; Laws 1972, LB 1392, § 1; Laws 1977, LB 509, § 1; Laws 1979, LB 581, § 1; Laws 1980, LB 800, § 1; Laws 1983, LB 248, § 1; Laws 1985, LB 339, § 2; Laws 1986, LB 950, § 1; Laws 1988, LB 1033, § 1; Laws 1992, LB 879, § 1; Laws 1993, LB 121, § 289; Laws 1994, LB 286, § 1; Laws 1994, LB 1337, § 2; Laws 1995, LB 77, § 1; Laws 1995, LB 574, § 51; Laws 1996, LB 1044, § 274; Laws 1999, LB 168, § 1; Laws 1999, LB 608, § 1; Laws 2001, LB 192, § 3; Laws 2002, LB 921, § 1; Laws 2005, LB 484, § 3; Laws 2005, LB 739, § 2; Laws 2007, LB265, § 4; Laws 2007, LB296, § 216; Laws 2010, LB579, § 20; Laws 2010, LB1020, § 2; Laws 2015, LB271, § 1; Laws 2017, LB172, § 5; Laws 2025, LB265, § 8. Operative Date: July 1, 2025
Annotations: Based upon the plain and ordinary meaning of the first definition contained in subsection (27) of this section, two elements must be satisfied to demonstrate unemployment: First, the individual must not perform any services for the relevant time period; and second, no wages may be payable with respect to that time period. Wadkins v. Lecuona, 274 Neb. 352, 740 N.W.2d 34 (2007). In determining whether wages are payable with respect to a time period, within the meaning of subsection (27) of this section, the test is not in what week the remuneration is received but in what week it is earned or to which it may reasonably be considered to apply. Generally speaking, wages are tied to the week of work and not to the week in which they are paid. Wadkins v. Lecuona, 274 Neb. 352, 740 N.W.2d 34 (2007). Vacation pay, within the meaning of subsection (18) of this section, is generally regarded, not as a gratuity or gift, but as additional wages for services performed. It is not in the nature of compensation for the calendar days it covers — it is more like a contracted-for bonus for a whole year's work. A "vacation" is also understood to be a respite from active duty, during which activity or work is suspended, purposed for rest, relaxation, and personal pursuits. Wadkins v. Lecuona, 274 Neb. 352, 740 N.W.2d 34 (2007). Under former law, wages may include noncash benefits under certain circumstances. In-kind benefits received in return for services provided may constitute wages for purposes of determining eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits. Lecuona v. McCord, 270 Neb. 213, 699 N.W.2d 403 (2005). As a requisite matter, for an entity to be denominated an employee leasing company under subsection (11) of this section, it must be in the business of leasing employees to another entity. American Employers Group Inc. v. Department of Labor, 260 Neb. 405, 617 N.W.2d 808 (2000). Under the former law, pursuant to subsection (24) of this section, employees who agree to take their earned vacation at a specific period of time for the employer's convenience under the expectation that their employment will continue after that period are not unemployed for the purpose of receiving unemployment insurance benefits. Vlasic Foods International v. Lecuona, 260 Neb. 397, 618 N.W.2d 403 (2000). One performing services under a contract but not receiving wages, as defined by subsection (16) of this section, performs services under a contract of hire unless one is an independent contractor, as defined by the common law. Omaha World-Herald v. Dernier, 253 Neb. 215, 570 N.W.2d 508 (1997). A professional symphony musician employed under a seasonal contract rather than an annual contract was entitled to unemployment benefits for the time he was unemployed during the symphony's "off season". Hanlon v. Boden, 209 Neb. 169, 306 N.W.2d 858 (1981).