The individual or organization for which the claimant last worked is mailed notice of the filing of an initial claim.

Yes. An employer should protest a claim when knowledge of any facts is available that may adversely affect the claimant's right to receive unemployment benefits or that may affect a charge to the employer's account. The law provides that an employer has 14 days from the date the notice is mailed in which to call, mail or fax a protest. Such protest should be mailed, faxed or submitted verbally to the office from which notice of the claim was mailed.

When a timely protest is received from an employer, the employer becomes an interested party to the claim and will be mailed a copy of the determination made in regard to the claim. This determination is furnished on Form BD630E, Employer’s Copy — Determination on Payment of Unemployment Benefits, or occasionally by means of a letter. If the claimant received the wages from a taxed employer which is an interested party, and such wages were used to establish this claim, the Determination will also indicate whether or not the benefits paid to the claimant during this benefit year will be charged to the account of such interested party. When a protest is not timely, employers will be mailed a letter providing this information.

If the claimant does not have sufficient wages to qualify for unemployment compensation, the interested party will be mailed a letter providing this information.

Either the employer, if an interested party, or the claimant, can file an appeal. Each has 14 days from the date a determination is mailed in which to file an appeal.

The sum of the regular unemployment benefits paid and 50% of the extended benefits paid to a claimant and charged to the tax account(s) of the base period employer(s) are called "Chargebacks." Chargebacks are used to compute an employer's tax rate and are not an amount owed the employer. (For reimbursing employers, see What Is A Reimbursing Employer?)

If claimants do not draw all of the benefits for which they qualify, the benefits not drawn will not become chargebacks. If at any time following the initial claim date an employer knows of circumstances which would prevent payment to the claimant, the employer should notify the Commission in writing of the circumstances and mail such notification to the Texas Workforce Commission, UI Support and Customer Service Department, 101 East 15th Street, Austin, Texas 78778-0001.

After a claimant is paid the first benefit payment, a Notice of Maximum Potential Chargeback, is mailed to each of the base period taxed employers showing the maximum amount of unemployment benefits potentially chargeable to the employer's account for tax computation purposes.

Yes. The taxed employer to which a Notice of Maximum Potential Chargeback is mailed has 30 days from the date the Notice was mailed in which to protest the chargeback notice and present facts which will prevent the account from being charged with benefits paid to the claimant. If such an employer was the employer for whom the claimant last worked prior to the initial claim date, that employer will have been notified previously of the claim and will have no further right to protest the chargeback notice except for any clerical or machine error as to the amount of the maximum potential chargeback shown on Form BE135H, Wage Verification Notice.

The lower half of the Notice of Maximum Potential Chargeback (BE135E), should be used by the employer to protest the chargeback. It should be completed in detail and mailed to the Texas Workforce Commission, Chargeback Determination Unit, 101 East 15th Street, Austin, Texas 78778-0001, within 30 days after the date the Form BE135E is mailed.

An employer can file a protest to a Notice of Maximum Potential Chargeback (BE135E) when the claimant's last separation from work with the employer prior to the initial claim date shown on the Notice was under one of the following circumstances:

• The claimant's separation was required by a Federal or Texas statute or a Texas municipal ordinance;
  
  
• The claimant left the work voluntarily without good cause connected with the work;
  
  
• The claimant left work voluntarily rather than provide services to an individual with a communicable disease;
  
  
• The claimant was discharged for misconduct connected with the work;
  
  
• The claimant was discharged for refusing to provide service to an individual with a communicable disease;
  
  
• Separation by medically verified illness of claimant or claimant's minor child;
  
  
• The claimant left partial employment voluntarily to accept other employment that the claimant reasonably believed would increase the claimant's weekly wage;
  
  
• A separation based on a natural disaster.
  
  
• The employer was called to active duty and had to lay off employees;
  
  
• The claimant left work due to a documented domestic violence situation;
  
  
• The claimant’s separation is due to inability to perform the work as a result of a disability for which the individual is receiving disability insurance benefits;
  
  
• The claimant left work to move from the area of employment with their spouse, who is a member of the United States armed forces, due to the spouse’s permanent change of station that is more than 120 days or a tour of duty of more than one year.

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