Article 5. Transfer Of Reserve Accounts of California Unemployment Insurance Code >> Division 1. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 5.

Whenever any employing unit acquires the organization, trade, or business, or substantially all of the assets thereof, or a distinct and severable portion of such organization, trade, or business, of any employer, excepting any assets retained by the employer incident to the liquidation of his obligations (whether or not the acquiring employing unit was an "employing unit" within the meaning of Section 135 prior to such acquisition), and continues such organization, trade, or business, or such distinct and severable portion thereof without substantial reduction of personnel resulting from such acquisition, an application may be made within 90 days of such acquisition for transfer of reserve account. The application shall contain the name and address of the predecessor, the date of acquisition, the name of the successor, the number of employees prior to and subsequent to the date of acquisition, and, in case of severable portions, such pay roll data as may be required by the department to determine the proper amount to be transferred.

To the extent permitted by federal law, Sections 1051, 1052, and 1053 are applicable to acquisitions by a nonprofit organization which has elected reimbursement financing pursuant to Section 801 and the director shall transfer the reserve account of the predecessor employer to the successor nonprofit organization. Notwithstanding Section 1029, the reserve account shall not be canceled and the cost of benefits otherwise chargeable to the organization shall be charged to the reserve account until it is exhausted.

Upon receipt of the application the separate account, actual contribution and benefit experience and payrolls of the predecessor or that part thereof, as determined by authorized regulations, which pertains to the organization, trade, or business, or portion thereof acquired, shall be transferred to the successor employer for the purpose of determining its rate of contribution after the acquisition with the same effect for that purpose as if the operations of the predecessor had at all times been carried on by the successor. The separate account shall be transferred by the director to the successor employer and, as of the date of the acquisition, shall become the separate account or part of the separate account, as the case may be, of the successor employer, and the benefits thereafter chargeable to the predecessor employer on account of employment relating to the transferred organization, trade, or business or transferred portion thereof prior to the date of the acquisition shall be charged to the separate account. This section shall not apply to any acquisition which is determined by the director to have been made for the purpose of obtaining a more favorable rate of contributions under Section 977.

Sections 1051 and 1052 are applicable to applications for transfer of reserve accounts made after the 90-day period beginning with the date of acquisition but prior to the cancellation of the reserve account pursuant to Section 1029 if the reserve account has not been reacquired by the predecessor on re-entering business or, in the case of distinct and severable portions, if the predecessor did not continue in business, but any amendment of the contribution rate shall be made as of the first day of the calendar quarter next succeeding the date of the application.

The provisions of this article requiring a specific application for transfer of reserve account shall not apply to any successor who through error or inadvertence continued to file contribution reports and pay contributions for the account and at the rate determined by the department to apply to the predecessor employer, but such reporting and payment shall be deemed to be in lieu of the application and shall be given the same effect as though a specific application had been filed during the 90-day period beginning with the date of acquisition.

In the event of a denial or granting of an application for transfer of reserve account, the director shall give notice pursuant to Section 1206 to the employing unit making such application, and to the predecessor employing unit to whose reserve account the application relates, if such predecessor employing unit has continued in business as an employer.

The director may prescribe regulations for the establishment, maintenance, and dissolution of joint accounts by two or more employers and shall, in accordance with such regulations, upon application by two or more employers to establish such account or to merge their several individual accounts in a joint account, maintain such joint account, as if it constituted a single employer's account.

Upon dissolution of a joint venture each participating employer may within 90 days apply for the transfer of his proportionate share of the reserve account. Upon receipt of the application the separate account, actual contribution and benefit experience and pay rolls of such joint venture shall be apportioned among the employers making such application in the same proportion that assets are distributed among the participating employers, and the portion thereof of each shall be transferred to each such employer for the purpose of determining its rate of contribution after the dissolution with the same effect for such purpose as if the applicable portion of the operations of such joint venture had at all times been carried on by such employer. Such portion of such separate account shall be transferred by the director to each such employer and as of the date of such dissolution shall become the separate account or part of the separate account, as the case may be, of such employer. The benefits thereafter chargeable to such joint venture on account of employment relating to such joint venture prior to the date of such dissolution shall be charged to the separate accounts of such employers in proportion to their participation in the joint venture. Any such joint venture shall promptly notify the director of its dissolution. As used in this section only, "employer" includes the successor of an employer and any subsequent successor employer or employers.

As used in this article the term "joint venture" means a separate employing unit which has been organized by two or more employers to accomplish a contract or project or series of contracts or projects and which is wholly owned by such employers. As used in this section only, "employer" means any individual or type of organization, including any partnership, joint venture, association, trust, estate, joint stock company, insurance company, corporation whether domestic or foreign, and the receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee or successor thereof, and the legal representative of a deceased person.

A change in contribution rate caused by a transfer under this article of all or a portion of the separate account, actual contribution and benefit experience and pay rolls shall not become effective earlier than the beginning of the calendar quarter next succeeding the effective date of the transfer.

(a) For purposes of this article, the reserve account attributable to a transferred business shall also be transferred to, and combined with, the reserve account attributable to the employer to whom that business is transferred, if both of the following are satisfied:
  (1) An employer transfers all or part of its business or payroll to another employer.
  (2) At the time of transfer, both employers are under common ownership, management, or control.
  (b) This section shall be applied to meet the minimum requirements contained in any guidance or regulations issued by the United States Department of Labor.