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Help wanted: When you quit, return company items

CARRIE MASON-DRAFFEN | carrie.mason-draffen@newsday.com

April 27, 2008

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DEAR CARRIE: Many employees who work for our university system receive uniforms, ID cards, keys and other school property. But some don't bother to return that property after they quit. I have proposed holding onto the workers' final check until they return the stuff, but the human resources department said we can't legally withhold the money. The property loss, however, is a major expense, and I think that withholding the pay will motivate deadbeats to do the right thing. Is HR right?

Fed up

DEAR FED UP: The HR department is right. You can't hold onto the check without violating a raft of state and federal labor laws.

On the state level you could wind up breaking such laws as frequency of payments for employees. On the national level you could violate such things as minimum wage laws. I understand your frustration. But in this case your solution is worse than the problem.

As an alternative, consider tying final vacation pay to employees' returning the property. You can't make the policy retroactive, but going forward you can put into effect a new written policy that says employees will not receive their last vacation check until they turn over school property.

"You can do that lawfully because it's not wages," said Commack attorney Allen Breslow, who suggests that you put the information in a handbook.

And once you do, make sure employees sign a note indicating they received a copy.

DEAR CARRIE: How exactly does unemployment insurance work? Do employers contribute a certain amount to a fund every week that goes to employees who are laid off. And do two

different employers ever wind up paying for the same laid-off

person?

Just curious

DEAR CURIOUS: The unemployment insurance program provides weekly benefits to people who lose their jobs through no fault of their own.

The program is run jointly by the federal government and the states. Employers finance the program through a tax on their payrolls, which goes into the Unemployment Insurance Fund, according to the New York State Labor Department. Benefits paid to claimants are charged to the fund.

That's a very general idea of how the program works.

The tax rate an employer has to pay depends on a several factors, including benefits paid to former employees. In general, employers have to file a quarterly return reporting the wages they paid for that period and submit unemployment insurance fund contributions - based on their assigned tax rate - on the first $8,500 paid to each employee in a calendar year.

Nonprofit and governmental employers may elect to pay benefits directly to laid-off employees. Employers who do this are billed for the actual amount of benefits paid to the former employee.

When an individual files a claim for unemployment benefits, a "base period" is established. The base period is usually the first four quarters of the last five calendar quarters before a claim was filed.

Individuals can collect up to 26 weekly full benefit payments. The amount of the weekly benefit rate that the claimant receives is one twenty-sixth of the earnings in the highest quarter of the base period and is capped at $405 a week.

The last employer to employ the individual before he or she filed the claim is the first charged for seven full benefit payments. The remaining 19 full benefit payments are charged proportionally to all the claimant's former employers.

Carrie Mason-Draffen welcomes workplace questions, though she cannot respond to every query. Some may be edited for length and clarity. Contact her with your questions at 631-843-2450, or e-mail her at carrie .draffen@newsday.com. Send a letter to Dear Help Wanted, Business Desk, Newsday, 235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville, NY 11747-4250. Your name and number won't be published.