871—24.46(96) Extended benefits.
	24.46(1) Purpose. Extended benefits are benefits paid to an eligible individual during periods of high unemployment in a state under the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 and the Extended Benefit Program Regulations under 20 Code of Federal Regulations Part 615. The purpose of extended benefits is to extend the period of time for which an individual may receive benefits to allow the individual additional time to locate employment in recognition of the likelihood that employment is more difficult to find during periods of high unemployment in a state. The cost of extended benefits is shared between the federal and state governments.
	24.46(2) Determination of when extended benefits are paid.
	a. 	When paid. The state “on” indicator determines when extended benefits are paid in this state. A state “on” indicator is in effect during a week for which the rate of insured unemployment is 5 percent or greater and 120 percent or greater than the average of the rates of insured unemployment for the same week in the two immediately preceding calendar years.
	b. 	When not paid. The state “off” indicator determines when extended benefits are not paid in this state. A state “off” indicator is in effect during a week for which the rate of insured unemployment is less than 5 percent or less than 120 percent of the average of the rates of insured unemployment for the same week in the two immediately preceding calendar years.
	c. 	Period of payment. The extended benefit period is the period of time when extended benefits are paid in this state. An extended benefit period begins with the third week following a week for which there is a state “on” indicator in effect. An extended benefit period ends either with the completion of the thirteenth consecutive week beginning with the third week following a state “on” indicator, or later, with the completion of the third week following the first week for which there is a state “off” indicator. However, another extended benefit period shall not begin until the fourteenth week following the end of a previous extended benefit period.
	d. 	Rate of insured unemployment. For the purposes of this subrule, the rate of insured unemployment means the percentage derived by dividing the average weekly number of individuals filing claims for regular benefits (excluding state plant closing benefits and benefits paid to federal civilian employees and ex-service members under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 85) in this state for weeks of unemployment with respect to the most recently completed 13-consecutive-week period by the average monthly insured employment for the first four of the six most recently completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the end of the 13-week period.
	24.46(3) Announcement and notice of the beginning and ending of an extended benefit period.
	a. 	Announcement by director. The beginning or ending date, whichever is appropriate, of an extended benefit period is announced by the director of the department of workforce development through appropriate news media in this state. As the case may be, the announcement clearly describes the unemployed individuals who may become eligible or ineligible for extended benefits.
	b. 	Notice to individuals. The Form 65-5309, Notice to Individuals, is used by the department to notify individuals of:
	(1)	The beginning of an extended benefit period. The notice of potential entitlement to extended benefits is sent to each individual who has exhausted all rights to regular benefits either prior to the beginning of, or during, the extended benefit period and who has a benefit year which will not end prior to the beginning of the extended benefit. The notice describes those actions required of the individual to claim the extended benefits.
	(2)	The ending of an extended benefit period. The notice of termination of entitlement to extended benefits is sent to each individual who is currently filing a claim for extended benefits of the ending of an extended benefit period. The notice describes the effect on the individual’s right to extended benefits.
	24.46(4) Amount and duration of extended benefits.
	a. 	Weekly extended benefit amount. An individual’s weekly extended benefit amount paid for a week of total unemployment during the individual’s eligibility period is equal to the individual’s weekly regular benefit amount paid for a week of total unemployment during the individual’s applicable benefit year.
	b. 	Duration of extended benefits. The total amount of extended benefits which an individual may receive during the individual’s applicable benefit year is limited to 50 percent of the total amount of regular benefits, excluding any state plant closing benefits, received by the individual during that benefit year or 13 times the individual’s weekly regular benefit amount paid for a week of total unemployment during that benefit year whichever is less; however, an individual is limited to two weeks of extended benefits if the individual files an interstate claim for extended benefits in a state in which an extended benefit period is not in effect.
	c. 	Eligibility period. The eligibility period is the period of weeks in and after an individual’s benefit year which begin in an extended benefit period when an individual is eligible to receive extended benefits; however, if a benefit year ends within an individual’s eligibility period for extended benefits, the remaining extended benefits which the individual is entitled to receive in that portion of the eligibility period which extends beyond the end of the individual’s benefit year, is reduced, but not below zero, by an amount arrived at by multiplying the number of weeks of Federal Trade Readjustment Act benefits received by the individual during the benefit year times the individual’s weekly extended benefit amount.
	d. 	Applicable benefit year. The applicable benefit year includes the period of one year from the date that an individual files a valid claim for benefits and any weeks following this one-year period in which the individual’s eligibility period for extended benefits has not expired and the individual is not able to establish a second benefit year for regular benefits.
	24.46(5) Eligibility requirements for extended benefits. Except where the results are inconsistent with the provisions of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 as amended and the Extended Benefit Program Regulations under 20 Code of Federal Regulations Part 615, the provisions of this state’s law which apply to claims for, and the payment of, regular benefits apply to claims for, and the payment of, extended benefits. An individual is eligible to receive extended benefits for a week of unemployment during the individual’s eligibility period if the department finds that all of the following conditions are met:
	a. 	The individual is an exhaustee. An exhaustee is an individual who has exhausted all entitlements to regular benefits under this or any other state law as well as federal civilian employee, railroad unemployment insurance, and ex-service member benefits.
An individual is also an exhaustee:
	(1)	If the individual may be entitled to additional regular benefits as a result of a pending appeal with respect to wages that were not considered in the original monetary determination in the individual’s benefit year.
	(2)	If the individual’s benefit year has expired prior to the week, and the individual has no, or insufficient, wages on the basis of which to establish a new benefit year.
	(3)	If the individual has no right to benefits under other laws of the federal government, as specified in the regulations issued by the United States Secretary of Labor, or a contiguous country with which the United States has an agreement, but if the individual is seeking benefits and the appropriate agency finally determines that the individual is not entitled to the benefits, then the individual is an exhaustee.
	b. 	The individual has one and one-half times the high quarter wages. An individual is required to have been paid wages for insured work during the individual’s base period in an amount at least one and one-half times the wages paid to the individual during that quarter of the individual’s base period in which the individual’s wages were highest.
	c. 	The individual is required to actively seek, apply for or accept, suitable work. When an individual files an initial claim for extended benefits, the Form 60-0274, Notice for Individuals Claiming Extended Benefits, is used to determine the individual’s prospects for obtaining work and to notify the individual that, beginning with the week following the week in which the individual is furnished this notice:
	(1)	If the individual’s prospects for obtaining work within a reasonably short period are “good,” the individual is required to actively seek, apply for or accept, suitable work in which, all other considerations being reasonably equal, the gross average weekly wage equals or exceeds 65 percent of the individual’s average weekly wage from the highest earnings quarter of the individual’s base period.
	(2)	If the individual’s prospects for obtaining work within a reasonably short period are “not good,” the individual is required to actively seek, apply for or accept, suitable work which is within the individual’s capabilities to perform and which offers a gross average weekly wage which exceeds the individual’s weekly extended benefit amount for a week of total unemployment plus any supplemental unemployment benefits; however, the individual is not required to actively seek, apply for or accept, work which offers a gross average weekly wage less than the federal or state minimum wage whichever is higher.
	(3)	For the purposes of this paragraph, reasonably short period means four weeks. If an individual whose prospects for obtaining work are “good” has not secured work within four weeks following the week in which the individual is furnished the Form 60-0274, Notice to Individuals Claiming Extended Benefits, then the individual is notified on Form 65-5309, Notice to Individuals, that the individual’s prospects for obtaining work are now considered as “not good.”
	(4)	For the purposes of this paragraph, actively seeking work means that, for each week following the week in which the individual is furnished the Form 60-0274, Notice to Individuals Claiming Extended Benefits, the individual is required to provide tangible evidence on the weekly claim for benefits that the individual is making a systematic and sustained effort to search for suitable work.
	(5)	If prospects are determined to be “not good,” an individual shall not be disqualified for failing to apply for or accept work which is not offered in writing or is not listed with this state’s employment service.
	d. 	The individual is required to requalify following a disqualification for failure to actively seek, apply for or accept, suitable work. To become eligible for extended benefits following a disqualification for failure to actively seek, apply for or accept, suitable work, the individual is required to be employed in insured work for four weeks, which need not be consecutive, and earn four times the individual’s weekly extended benefit amount.