Immediate Alert to All Missouri Employers

This afternoon the Missouri Supreme Court ruled House Bill 150 to be unconstitutional. As you may remember from media reports, HB 150 made severance pay deductible from the claimant’s benefit amount, which prevented a claimant from collecting UI benefits during their severance period. It also introduced a graduated number of weeks that a claimant could collect benefits based on the statewide unemployment rate. As a result of this decision, severance pay will no longer be deductible and the number of weeks of UI will revert back to 20 weeks.

In the coming days, we should receive additional information on how the Missouri Division of Employment Security will handle the change in the law. The immediate effect on Missouri employers is that the maximum claim liability will increase by seven weeks. Employers who customarily pay severance pay will also see these former employees receive their benefits immediately without any penalty.

How the DES will handle any retroactive adjudication of previous claims is unknown at this time. We will be reaching out to the DES to obtain any information and pass it on to you. As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how this determination will impact your company or the UI structure in general.

Regards,
Jeff Oswald, UIS
816.524.5999