Title 41, Labor and Employment

(A) Except as provided in subsection (B), "base period" means the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual's benefit year. However, in the case of a combined wage claim filed by an individual in accord with an ar…

"Benefit year" means the one-year period beginning with the day as of which an insured worker first files a request for determination of his insured status, and afterward the one-year period beginning with the day by which he next files this request after the end of his last prec…

"Benefits" means the money payments payable to an individual as provided in Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title with respect to his unemployment.

"Claimant" means an individual who has filed a request for a determination of insured status, a request for initiation of a claim series in a benefit year, a notice of unemployment, a certification for waiting-week credit, or a claim for benefits.

"Department" means the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.

Without intending that this section shall supersede, alter or modify the specific provisions contained in Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title, but as a guide to the interpretation and application of Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title, the public policy of this State is declare…

"Contributions" means the money payment required by Chapter 31, Article 1 to be made into the State unemployment compensation fund by an employer.

"Employer" means: (1) Any employing unit which during any calendar year prior to January 1, 1972, in each of twenty different weeks, whether or not such weeks were consecutive, had in employment four or more individuals, irrespective of whether the same individuals were employed …

"Employing unit" means any individual or type of organization, including any partnership, association, trust, estate, joint-stock company, insurance company or corporation, whether domestic or foreign, or the receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee or successor thereof or the le…

"Employment" means: (1) Any service performed prior to January 1, 1978, which was employment as defined in this subsection prior to such date and, subject to the other provisions of this subsection, service performed after December 31, 1977, for wages under a contract of hire, wr…

(A) The term "employment" means service performed in the employ of a Native American tribe, as defined in Section 3306(u) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), if the service is excluded from "employment" as defined in FUTA solely by reason of Section 3306(C)(7), FUTA, and …

"Employment office" means a free public employment office operated by this State or other office maintained for the purpose of serving applicants or claimants or maintained as a part of a state-controlled system of public employment offices.

"Employment security administration fund" means the employment security administration fund established by Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title, from which administrative expenses under such chapters shall be paid.

The term "employment" as used in Chapters 27 through 41 of this title does not include: (1) labor engaged in the seafood industry, which is defined as persons employed in the commercial netting, catching, and gathering of seafood, and the processing of such seafood for the fresh …

(A)(1) Solely for purposes of this section, "corporate officer" shall mean a person appointed or otherwise serving as an officer for a corporation pursuant to Article 4, Chapter 8, Title 33, a person who owns twenty-five percent or more of the shares of a corporation, or a person…

"Fund" means the unemployment compensation fund established by Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title, to which all contributions required and from which all benefits provided under such chapters shall be paid.

"Hospital" means an institution which has been licensed or approved by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control as a hospital.

"Institution of higher education," for the purpose of this section, means an educational institution which: (1) Admits as regular students only individuals having a certificate of graduation from a high school, or the recognized equivalent of such a certificate; (2) Is legally au…

Nothing in Chapters 27 through 41 of this title must be construed to cause the department or the courts of this State in interpreting these chapters to be bound by interpretations as to liability or nonliability of employers by Federal administrative agencies, nor is it the inten…

"Insured work" means employment for employers.

An "insured worker" is an individual who has been paid wages in his base period for insured work equal to or exceeding one and one-half times the total of his wages paid in the quarter of such base period in which his wages for insured work were highest; provided, however, that n…

"Payments in lieu of contributions" means the money payments to the unemployment compensation fund required by the provisions of Section 41-31-630.

"Secretary of Labor" means the United States Secretary of Labor.

"Educational institution" means any educational institution except an institution of higher education as defined in Section 41-27-290 of this Title: (1) In which participants, trainees or students are offered an organized course of study or training designed to transfer to them k…

"State" includes, in addition to the states of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and effective one day after the date on which the United States Secretary of Labor approves its unemployment compensation law under Section 3304(a) of the …

"Statewide average weekly wage" means the amount computed by the department as of July first of each year that is the aggregate amount of wages, irrespective of the limitation on the amount of wages subject to contributions by reason of Section 41-27-380(2), reported by employers…

(1) An individual is considered "unemployed" in a week during which he performs no services and with respect to which no wages are payable to him or in a week of less than full-time work if the wages payable to him with respect to that week are less than his weekly benefit amount…

(A) "Wages" means remuneration paid for personal services, including commissions and bonuses, sums paid to an employee by an employer pursuant to an order of the National Labor Relations Board or by private agreement, consent, or arbitration for loss of pay by reason of discharge…

"Week" means calendar week or a period of seven consecutive days that the department prescribes by regulation. The department likewise may determine that a week is considered "in", "within", or "during" that benefit year which includes the greater part of that week.

The General Assembly reserves the right to amend or repeal all or any part of Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title at any time and there shall be no vested private right of any kind against any such amendment or repeal. All the rights, privileges, and immunities conferred by such…

Effective January 1, 1986, the departmental administrative contingency assessment is an assessment of six one-hundredths of one percent to be assessed upon the wages as defined in Section 41-27-380(2) of all employers except those who have either elected to make payments in lieu …

The department must promulgate regulations applicable to unemployed individuals, making distinctions in the procedures regarding total unemployment, part-total unemployment, partial unemployment of the individuals attached to their regular jobs and other forms of short-time work …

If the services performed during one half or more of any pay period by an individual for the person employing him constitute employment, all the services of such individual for such period shall be deemed to be employment; but if the services performed during more than one half o…

If the majority of the weeks of work in an individual's base period includes part-time work, the individual shall not be denied unemployment benefits under any provisions of this act relating to availability for work, active search for work, or failure to accept work, solely beca…

All individuals performing services within this State for any employing unit which maintains two or more separate establishments within this State shall be deemed to be employed by a single employing unit for all the purposes of Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title.

Each individual employed to perform or to assist in performing the work of any agent or employee of an employing unit shall be deemed to be employed by such employing unit for all the purposes of Chapters 27 through 41 of this Title, whether such individual was hired or paid dire…

The department may enter into agreements with the appropriate agencies of other states or the federal government whereby individuals performing services in this and other states for a single employing unit under circumstances not specifically provided for in Section 41-27-230 or …

A report, communication, or other similar matter, either oral or written from an employee or employer to the other or to the department or its agents, representatives, or employees that has been written, sent, delivered, or made in connection with the requirements and the adminis…

In case of a suit to enjoin the collection of the contributions provided for in Chapters 27 through 41 of this title, to test the validity of those chapters or for another purpose connected with its duties, the department must be made a party to it and the Attorney General or cou…

In a civil action to enforce the provisions of Chapters 27 through 41 of this title, the department and the State may be represented by a qualified attorney employed by the department and is designated by it for this purpose or, at the department's request, by the Attorney Genera…

(A) All criminal actions for violation of any provision of Chapters 27 through 41 of this title or of any rules or regulations issued pursuant thereto shall be prosecuted by the Attorney General of the State or at his request and under his direction by the solicitor of any circui…

The department may compromise a civil penalty or cause of action arising pursuant to a provision of Chapters 27 through 41 of this title instead of commencing suit on them and may compromise the case after suit on it commences. In these cases the department shall keep on file in …

The failure to do an act required by or under the provisions of Chapters 27 through 41 of this title shall be deemed an act committed in part at the office of the department in Columbia.

The certificate of the department to the effect that a contribution has not been paid, that a report has not been made, that information has not been furnished, or that records have not been produced or made available for inspection, as required pursuant to Chapters 27 through 41…

A benefit is considered due and payable pursuant to Chapters 27 through 41 of this title only to the extent provided in those chapters and to the extent that money is available for them to the credit of the unemployment compensation fund and neither the State nor the department m…