Title 60.2, Title 60.2. Unemployment Compensation

The General Assembly reserves the right to amend or repeal all or any part of this title at any time. There shall be no vested private right of any kind against such amendment or repeal. All the rights, privileges, or immunities conferred by this title or by acts done pursuant th…

The Commission shall cause to be readily available for distribution to the public the text of this title, the Commission's regulations and general rules, its annual reports to the Governor, and any other material the Commission deems relevant and suitable. The Commission shall fu…

Each employer shall post and maintain in places readily accessible to individuals in its services all such posters related to unemployment insurance as furnished it by the Commission.

Any agreement other than an agreement made pursuant to § 60.2-608 by an individual to waive, release or commute his rights to benefits or any other rights under this title shall be void. Any agreement by any individual in the employ of any person or concern to pay all or any port…

The Virginia Employment Commission shall consist of one Commissioner, who shall be appointed by the Governor for a term of four years, subject to confirmation by the General Assembly, if in session when such appointment is made, and if not in session, then at its next succeeding …

The Commissioner shall be bonded in accordance with § 2.2-1840, conditioned upon the faithful discharge of his duties.

A. It shall be the duty of the Commission to administer this title. The Commission may establish separate divisions as necessary to carry out the duties and powers prescribed by this section. It shall have power and authority to adopt, amend, or rescind such rules and regulations…

A. Each employing unit shall keep true and accurate work records, containing such information as the Commission may prescribe. Such records shall be open to inspection and be subject to being copied by the Commission or its authorized representatives at any reasonable time and as…

A. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A of § 60.2-114, the Commission shall be authorized to enter into agreements with any consumer reporting agency pursuant to which the consumer reporting agency is provided secure electronic access to information contained in quarter…

A. In the administration of this title, the Commission shall cooperate with the United States Department of Labor to the fullest extent consistent with the provisions of this title. The Commission shall make such reports, in such form and containing such information as the United…

A. Subject to the approval of the Governor, the Commission is hereby authorized to enter into arrangements 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 ci…

If § 303 (a) (5) of Title III of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 503 (a) (5)) and § 3304 (a) (4) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C.) are amended to permit a state agency to use, in partial or complete substitution for grants under such Title III, for financing administr…

A. In any civil action to enforce the provisions of this title the Commission and the Commonwealth may be represented by the Office of the Attorney General. B. The Office of the Attorney General may commence actions in this Commonwealth as agent for, or on behalf of, any other st…

All criminal actions for violation of any provision of this title, or of any rules or regulations issued pursuant to this title, shall be prosecuted by the attorney for the Commonwealth of the county or city in which the offense, or a part thereof, was committed, except that the …

The compensation of the assistant attorneys general, together with their proper expenses incurred in the performance of their duties, shall be chargeable as administrative expense of the Commission and paid in the manner in which the compensation and expenses of employees of the …

Any person who willfully violates any provision of this title or any valid rule or regulation promulgated pursuant to it, for which a penalty is not provided, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Each day that such violation continues shall be deemed to be a separate offense…

In any action commenced under this title, the Commission may, if the party elects, send notices and other communications to such party through email or other electronic means. The Commission shall allow any party to change its election regarding receiving communications through e…

A. Each employer subject to the provisions of this title shall submit claim-related forms, including separation information, using an electronic format as prescribed by the Commission, unless the employer has been granted a waiver by the Commission. An employer shall submit any o…

A. The Commission shall create the Office of the Unemployment Compensation Ombudsman (the Office) and shall appoint an Unemployment Compensation Ombudsman to head the Office. The Unemployment Compensation Ombudsman shall provide neutral educational information and assistance to, …

No individual claiming benefits shall be charged fees of any kind in any proceeding under this title by the Commission or its representatives. Any person who violates any provision of this section shall, for each such offense, be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Any individual or employing unit appearing before an officer of the Commission may be represented by counsel or other duly authorized agent. However, no such counsel or agent representing a claimant shall either charge or receive for such services more than an amount approved by …

As used in this title, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the terms defined in this chapter shall have the meanings there ascribed to them.

A. The term "agricultural labor" includes all service performed: 1. On a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with cultivating the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, …

"Annual payroll" means the total amount of wages payable by an employer, regardless of the time of payment, for employment during a calendar year.

"Average annual payroll" means the average of the annual payrolls of any employer for the last three or five preceding calendar years, whichever is higher.

"Base period" means the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the claimant's benefit year; however, if the claimant has earned insufficient wages in the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters to become elig…

"Benefits" means the money payments payable to an individual, as provided in this title, with respect to his unemployment.

"Benefit year" with respect to any individual means a period of fifty-two consecutive weeks beginning with the first day of the week in which an individual files a new valid claim for benefits except that the benefit year shall be fifty-three weeks if filing of a new valid claim …

"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 Commission may by regulation prescribe.

"Commission" means the Virginia Employment Commission. Wherever in this Code, or any act of the General Assembly the term "Unemployment Compensation Commission" is used, it shall mean the Virginia Employment Commission.

"Taxes" means the money imposed by and collectible under this title and includes payments in lieu of taxes collectible under §§ 60.2-501 through 60.2-507.

A. The term "employer" means any employing unit which: 1. In any calendar quarter in either the current or preceding calendar year paid for some service in employment wages of $1,500 or more or such other amount as provided by federal law pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 3306; or 2. For s…

A. "Employing unit" means any of the following which has or had in its employ one or more individuals performing services for it within this Commonwealth: 1. Any individual or type of organization, including the state government and its instrumentalities; 2. Any of the political …

A. "Employment" means: 1. Any service including service in interstate commerce, performed for remuneration or under any contract of hire, written or oral, express or implied; and 2. Any service, of whatever nature, performed by an individual for any employing unit, for remunerati…

A. In the trucking industry, an owner-operator or lessee of a vehicle which is licensed and registered as a truck, tractor, or truck-tractor by a governmental motor vehicle regulatory agency is an independent contractor, not an employee, while performing services in the operation…

If an employing unit is unsure of the status of an individual performing services for it, the employing unit may obtain a written determination pursuant to § 60.2-500.

A. "Employment" includes: 1. Service performed by an individual (i) in the employ of the Commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions or instrumentalities or (ii) in the employ of the Commonwealth and one or more other states or their political subdivisions or instrumentalit…

A. "Employment" includes service performed by an individual in agricultural labor as defined in § 60.2-201 when: 1. Such service is performed for a person who: a. During any calendar quarter in either the current or the preceding calendar year paid wages of $20,000 or more to ind…

"Employment" includes domestic service performed by an individual in a private home, local college club or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority for a person who paid wages of $1,000 or more to individuals employed in such domestic service in any calendar quarter in t…

A. "Employment" includes any service of an individual who is a citizen of the United States, performed outside the United States, except in Canada, in the employ of an American employer other than service which is deemed "employment" under the provisions of subsections A and B of…

A. The term "employment" shall include an individual's entire service, performed within or both within and without this Commonwealth if: 1. The service is localized in this Commonwealth; or 2. The service is not localized in any state but some of the service is performed in this …

Notwithstanding any other provision of §§ 60.2-212 through 60.2-217 and § 60.2-219, the term "employment" shall mean service with respect to which a tax is required to be paid under any federal law imposing a tax against which credit may be taken for taxes required to be paid int…

The term "employment" shall not include: 1. Service performed in the employ of the United States government or of any instrumentality of the United States which is wholly or partially owned by the United States or which is exempt from the tax imposed by § 3301 of the Federal Inte…

"Institution of higher education," for the purposes of this title, 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 autho…

"Hospital" means an institution as defined in §§ 32.1-123 and 37.2-100. 1971, Ex. Sess., c. 235, § 60.1-14.2; 1986, c. 480.

"Employment office" means a free public employment office, or branch thereof, operated (i) by this Commonwealth or maintained as a part of a state-controlled system of public employment offices or (ii) by a federal agency charged with the administration of free public employment …