N.H. Rev. Stat. § 282-A:14

Current through Chapter 381 of the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 282-A:14 - Total and Partial Unemployment

I.

(a) An individual shall be deemed "totally unemployed" in any week with respect to which no wages are payable to him and during which he performs no services. An individual who is not entitled to vacation pay from his employer shall be deemed to be in "total unemployment" during the entire period of any general closing of his employer's place of business for vacation purposes, notwithstanding his prior assent, direct or indirect, to the establishment of such vacation period by his employer.

(b) An individual who is seeking only part-time work shall be deemed to be partially unemployed only in any week during which the individual was employed fewer than 20 hours.

II. An individual shall be deemed to be "partially unemployed" in any week of less than full-time work if the wages computed to the nearest dollar payable to him with respect to such week fail to equal his weekly benefit amount.

III.

(a) For the purposes of paragraphs I and II, the term "wages" shall include compensation for temporary partial disability under the workers' compensation law of any state or under a similar law of the United States, payments in lieu of notice, a sickness or separation allowance, payment of accrued leave or sums of whatever type or nature, except those specifically excluded elsewhere in this subparagraph, payments upon discharge from military service from either the state or federal government, or both, and earnings from self-employment. "Wages" shall not mean and shall not include payments from a supplemental unemployment plan as defined in RSA 282-A:3-a or any portion of a lump sum payment for workers' compensation made pursuant to RSA 281-A:37. Wages or earnings or both shall be deemed to have been received for such week or weeks as the commissioner may find can be reasonably said to apply. The application of longevity, stay, retention, attendance, and similar payments commencing with a period of one or more weeks of partial or total unemployment shall be presumed reasonable if such payment was received 90 or fewer days prior to the commencement of such period. An individual's maximum weekly benefit amount shall be reduced by all wages and earnings in excess of 30 percent, rounded to the nearest dollar, of the individual's weekly benefit amount. Wages shall not include any payment made to an individual by reason of the individual's permanent separation from employment, for reasons other than retirement, under a prior existing plan maintained by employer contributions vested in the individual before the date of separation.

(b) The employing unit shall be liable to make restitution to the unemployment compensation fund in full for any and all unemployment benefits paid to an employee for a period covered by or reasonably deemed to be included in any arbitration award, back pay award, settlement agreement, or jury verdict.

RSA 282-A:14

1937, 178:1. 1939, 138:1-7. 1941, 103:1-11. RL 218:1. 1943, 56:1. 1945, 16:1; 58:1; 138:1-7. 1947, 59:1-6. 1949, 185:1-4; 262:1. 1950, 5, part 18. 1951, 34:1; 36:1; 105; 140:1, 2. 1953, 209:1. RSA 282:1(M). 1955, 141:1-6. 1957, 118:1; 313:1-3. 1961, 88:1-6. 1963, 194:1, 2. 1967, 400:2, 3. 1969, 460:1, 3. 1971, 156:1, 2, 4-16. 1973, 118:1; 589:7. 1975, 90:1; 393:1. 1979, 348:3, 10. 1981, 408:3; 416:2. 1983, 457:1. 1985, 340:2. 1987, 243:1. 1989, 267:1. 1995, 249:1. 2005, 239:10. 2006, 130:2. 2008, 297:4, eff. Aug. 26, 2008.