ARTICLE 1 - IN GENERAL

(i) "Base period" means the first four (4) of the last five (5) completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual's benefit year or any other twelve (12) month period specified by commission regulation. A calendar quarter used in one (1) base period of a valid claim shall not be used in a subsequent base period. If a combined wage claim under W.S. 27-3-608, the base period is as provided under law of the paying state;

(ii) "Benefit" means a payment to an individual for unemployment under this act;

(iii) "Benefit year" means:

(A) The fifty-two (52) consecutive calendar week period beginning the first week of a claim series established by the filing of a valid initial claim for benefits following the termination of any previously established benefit year; or

(B) The fifty-three (53) consecutive calendar week period beginning the first week of a claim series if filing a new valid claim results in the overlapping of any quarter of the base period of a previously filed claim; or

(iv) "Calendar quarter" means a period of three (3) consecutive calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30 or December 31;

(v) "Commission" means the unemployment insurance commission of Wyoming within the department of workforce services;

(vi) "Contribution" means payments to the unemployment compensation fund required by this act including payments instead of contributions under W.S. 27-3-509;

(vii) "Employing unit" means any individual or type of organization employing one (1) or more individuals in this state including any partnership, association, trust, estate, corporation, domestic or foreign insurance company or corporation, a receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, trustee or a successor or the legal representative of a deceased person and including any limited liability corporation. Also, any individual or organization not previously subject to this act shall be an employing unit upon acquiring any entity already subject to this act. An individual performing services within this state for any employing unit maintaining two (2) or more separate places of business in the state is employed by a single employing unit. An individual employed to perform for or assist any agent or employee of an employing unit is employed by the employing unit whether hired or paid directly by the employing unit or by the agent or employee if the employing unit had actual or constructive knowledge of the work;

(viii) "Employment office" means a free public employment office or branch operated by any state as part of a state controlled system of public employment offices or by a federal agency administering an unemployment compensation program or a system of free public employment offices;

(ix) "Fund" means the unemployment compensation fund established by this act;

(x) "Hospital" means any institution, building or agency maintaining, furnishing or offering hospitalization of the sick and injured or chronic or convalescent care by individuals employed by the state or any political subdivision;

(xi) "Institution of higher education" means any college or university in this state and any other public or nonprofit educational institution:

(A) Admitting as regular students only high school graduates or the recognized equivalent;

(B) Legally authorized to provide post secondary education in this state; and

(C) Providing an educational program for which a bachelor's or higher degree is awarded or which is accepted as full credit toward this degree, providing a program of postgraduate or postdoctoral study or a training program preparing students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation.

(xii) "Insured work" means employment for employers;

(xiii) "Nonprofit hospital" means any institution performing services specified by paragraph (x) of this subsection and organized and operated under W.S. 35-2-302(a)(vi) and authority of the state department of health;

(xiv) "State" means any of the fifty (50) states of the United States, the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands;

(xv) "Unemployment" means any week in which an individual performs no services and receives no wages or performs less than full-time work if wages payable for that week are less than his weekly benefit amount and are in accordance with regulations of the commission;

(xvi) "Valid claim" means a claim filed by an individual earning wages for insured work in amounts specified under W.S. 27-3-306(d) for which no misrepresentation is made of unemployment requirements of this act;

(xvii) "United States" used in a geographical sense means the fifty (50) states, the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands;

(xviii) "Wage" means remuneration payable for services from any source including commissions, bonuses and cash. The reasonable cash value of remuneration other than cash or check shall be prescribed by rule of the commission. To the extent the following are not considered wages under 26 U.S.C. §§ 3301 through 3311, "wage" does not include:

(A) For purposes of W.S. 27-3-503 through 27-3-509, remuneration greater than fifty-five percent (55%) of the statewide average annual wage calculated pursuant to W.S. 27-3-303(a) and rounded to the lowest one hundred dollars ($100.00), which is paid during any calendar year to an individual by each employer or a predecessor within any calendar year including employment under any other state unemployment compensation law unless the amount is subject to a federal tax against which credit may be taken for contributions paid into any state unemployment fund;

(B) Any premium paid by an employing unit under a plan, system or into a fund for insurance or annuities to provide an employee or class of employees retirement, sickness or accident disability, medical and hospitalization expenses for sickness or accident disability or death benefits if the employee cannot receive any part of this payment instead of the death benefit or any part of the premium if the benefit is insured and cannot assign or receive cash instead of the benefit upon withdrawal from or termination of the plan, system, policy or services with the employing unit;

(C) A payment by an employing unit not deducted from an employee's remuneration for the tax imposed under 26 U.S.C. § 3101;

(D) Dismissal payments which the employing unit is not obligated to make;

(E) That portion of tips or gratuities not reportable under 26 U.S.C. § 3306(s);

(F) The value of any meals or lodging furnished by and for the convenience of the employer to the employee if the meals are furnished on the business premises of the employer or in the case of lodging, the employee is required to accept lodging on the business premises of his employer as a condition of his employment;

(G) Remuneration received by an employee as sick pay following a six (6) month continuous period of illness;

(H) Any benefit under a cafeteria plan specified by 26 U.S.C. § 125, excluding cash;

(J) Wages of a deceased worker paid to a beneficiary or estate following the calendar year of the worker's death;

(K) Services received under any dependent care assistance program to the extent excluded from gross income under 26 U.S.C. § 129;

(M) Repealed By Laws 2010, Ch. 66, § 2.

(N) Services or benefits received under any educational assistance program;

(O) Any benefit or other value received under an employee achievement award;

(P) The value of any qualified group legal services plan to the extent payments are excluded from gross income under 26 U.S.C. § 120;

(Q) Costs of group term life insurance;

(R) Repealed By Laws 2010, Ch. 66, § 2.

(S) Any moving expenses;

(T) Employer contributions to any qualified retirement and pension plan or individual retirement account and distributions from qualified retirement and pension plans and annuities under 26 U.S.C. § 403(b);

(U) Benefit payments under any supplemental unemployment compensation plan; and

(W) Any benefits paid under the Wyoming Worker's Compensation Act or any other worker's compensation law of another state.

(xix) "Week" means a period of seven (7) consecutive calendar days beginning Sunday and the commission may by regulation prescribe that a week is within the benefit year which includes the greater part of that week;

(xx) "Department" means the divisions within the department of workforce services established under W.S. 9-2-2002 which contain the principal operating units that administer the unemployment compensation program pursuant to the Social Security Act;

(xxi) "Casual labor" means service not within the normal course of business and for which the remuneration paid is less than fifty dollars ($50.00);

(xxii) "Erroneous payment" means a payment that, but for the failure by the employer or the employer's agent to provide requested information with respect to the claim for unemployment compensation, would not have been made;

(xxiii) "Pattern of failing" means repeated documented failure on the part of the employer or the agent of the employer to respond to a written request from the department for information relating to a claim for benefits, taking into consideration the number of instances of failure in relation to the total volume of requests by the department to the employer or the employer's agent;

(xxiv) "Misconduct connected with work" means an act of an employee which indicates an intentional disregard of the employer's interests or the commonly accepted duties, obligations and responsibilities of an employee. "Misconduct connected with work" does not include:

(A) Ordinary negligence in isolated instances;

(B) Good faith errors in judgment or discretion;

(xxv) "This act" means W.S. 27-3-101 through 27-3-811.

(a) As used in this act, "employer" means any employing unit:

(i) For whom a worker performs service as an employee;

(ii) Acquiring the organization, business, trade or substantially all of the assets of an employer subject to this act at the time of acquisition;

(iii) Electing coverage under this act pursuant to W.S. 27-3-502(d);

(iv) Not otherwise qualifying as an employer under this section and liable for any federal tax on services employed against which credit may be taken for contribution payments into any state unemployment fund;

(v) Not otherwise qualifying as an employer under this section and as a condition for full tax credit against the tax imposed by 26 U.S.C. §§ 3301 through 3311, is required to be an employer under this act;

(vi) Employing services defined as employment under W.S. 27-3-105(a)(i), except as provided by paragraphs (viii) and (ix) of this subsection;

(vii) Employing services defined as employment under W.S. 27-3-105(a)(ii), except as provided by subsection (b) of this section;

(viii) Employing agricultural labor defined under W.S. 27-3-107;

(ix) Employing domestic service defined under W.S. 27-3-107(g); or

(x) That is an Indian tribe, as defined by section 3306 of the federal Unemployment Tax Act, for which service in employment, as defined by this act, is performed.

(b) Domestic service shall not be considered by the department in determining if an employing unit is an employer under paragraph (a)(i), (vi), (vii) or (viii) of this section. Agricultural labor shall not be considered by the department in determining if an employing unit is an employer under paragraph (a)(i), (vi), (vii) or (ix) of this section.

(c) Employment under this section shall include services performed entirely within another state pursuant to an agreement under W.S. 27-3-608(b) and otherwise qualifying as employment under this act.

(a) As used in this act, "employment" means service:

(i) Performed by an employee defined under 26 U.S.C. § 3306(i) including service in interstate commerce, except 26 U.S.C. § 3121(d)(2) does not apply;

(ii) Subject to any federal tax against which credit may be taken for contribution payments into any state unemployment fund;

(iii) Required to be employment under this act as a condition for full tax credit against the tax imposed by 26 U.S.C. §§ 3301 through 3311; and

(iv) Otherwise specified under W.S. 27-3-104 through 27-3-108.

(b) An individual who performs service for wages is an employee for purposes of this act unless it is shown that the individual:

(i) Is free from control or direction over the details of the performance of services by contract and by fact;

(ii) Repealed by Laws 1991, ch. 153, § 1.

(iii) Repealed by Laws 1995, ch. 121, § 3.

(iv) Repealed by Laws 1995, ch. 121, § 3.

(v) Represents his services to the public as a self-employed individual or an independent contractor; and

(vi) May substitute another individual to perform his services.

(c) As used in this act, "employment" does not include service performed by a person acting as a fiduciary, as that term is defined in W.S. 4-10-103(a)(vii), and receiving reasonable compensation for fiduciary services pursuant to the Uniform Trust Code or the Wyoming Probate Code.

(a) Employment under this act includes service performed for:

(i) This state, any of its political subdivisions, including service as an appointed official of any political subdivision, or for this state and any other state or its political subdivisions and this service is excluded from employment under 26 U.S.C. §§ 3301 through 3311 solely by 26 U.S.C. § 3306(c)(7);

(ii) A religious, charitable, educational or other organization if excluded from employment under 26 U.S.C. §§ 3301 through 3311 solely by 26 U.S.C. § 3306(c)(8) and the organization employed four (4) or more individuals for part of one (1) day for twenty (20) weeks within the current or preceding calendar year; and

(iii) An Indian tribe, as defined by section 3306 of the federal Unemployment Tax Act, if the service is excluded from employment, as defined by the federal Unemployment Tax Act, only because of the application of section 3306(c)(7) of that act and is not otherwise excluded from employment as defined by this act.

(b) Subsection (a) of this section does not include service performed:

(i) For a church or convention or association of churches;

(ii) For an organization operated primarily for religious purposes and supervised, controlled or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches;

(iii) As an ordained, commissioned or licensed minister of a church in the exercise of his ministry;

(iv) As a member of a religious order in the exercise of required duties of the order;

(v) As an elected official;

(vi) As a member of a legislative body or the judiciary of the state or any political subdivision;

(vii) As a member of the state national guard or air national guard;

(viii) For a governmental agency as a temporary employee for fire, storm, snow, earthquake, flood or similar emergencies;

(ix) By a major nontenured policymaking or advisory position pursuant to law or by a policymaking or advisory position not ordinarily requiring more than eight (8) hours of service per week;

(x) By an individual receiving rehabilitative services from a facility providing rehabilitation programs for individuals with impaired earning capacities because of age, physical or mental deficiencies or injury or providing remunerative work for individuals not readily absorbed into the labor market because of physical or mental deficiencies;

(xi) By an individual receiving a wage as part of a work experience or workfare program assisted or financed by the federal government or any state or local government, except for those programs employing an individual in on-the-job training for which wages are wholly or partially paid by the employer;

(xii) By an inmate of a state custodial or penal institution; or

(xiii) As an election official or election worker if the amount of remuneration received by the individual during the calendar year for services performed as an election official or election worker is less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00).

(a) Employment under this act includes service performed outside the United States except in Canada and the Virgin Islands by a United States citizen for an American employer if:

(i) The employer's principal place of business in the United States is located in this state;

(ii) The employer has no place of business in the United States and is a resident of this state, a corporation organized under state law or a partnership or trust and the number of partners or trustees resident of this state is greater than the number of residents of any other state;

(iii) The employer elected coverage under this act; or

(iv) A claim for benefits based on this service is filed under this act and the employer failed to elect coverage in any state.

(b) As used in subsection (a) of this section, "American employer" means a:

(i) Resident of the United States;

(ii) Partnership and two-thirds (2/3) or more of the partners are residents of the United States;

(iii) Trust and the trustees are United States residents; or

(iv) Corporation organized under federal or any state law.

(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, employment includes service performed in this state, both in and outside this state or in Canada if the service is:

(i) Localized in this state;

(ii) Not localized in any state, a part of the service is performed in this state and the base of operations is located in this state or if the base of operations is not located in any state, the individual is a resident of this state; or

(iii) Not subject to the law of any state or Canada and the service is directed or controlled from a location in this state.

(d) Service not covered under subsection (c) of this section, performed entirely outside this state and contributions are not required or paid under federal or any state law is employment under this act if the individual performing the service is a resident of this state and the department approves the election of the employing unit for coverage under this act.

(e) Service is localized within a state if it is performed entirely within the state or both within and outside the state if the service performed outside the state is incidental.

(a) As used in this section, "agricultural labor" means remunerated service performed:

(i) On a farm for any person involving cultivating the soil or raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity including training and managing livestock, bees, poultry, wildlife or furbearing animals;

(ii) For the owner, tenant or other operator of a farm involving the maintenance of the farm and any tools and equipment if the major part of the service is performed on the farm;

(iii) For the operator of a farm in handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing, delivering to storage or market in its unmanufactured state or delivering to a carrier for transportation to market, any agricultural or horticultural commodity if the operator produced more than fifty percent (50%) of the commodity;

(iv) For the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs or waterways used exclusively for supplying and storing water for farming purposes;

(v) In the production or harvesting of an agricultural commodity as defined under 12 U.S.C. § 1141j(g);

(vi) For a group of farm operators or a cooperative organization of which the operators are members for services specified under paragraph (iii) of this subsection if the operators produced more than fifty percent (50%) of the commodity. This paragraph does not apply to service involving commercial canning, commercial freezing or any agricultural or horticultural commodity after delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption.

(b) As used in subsection (a) of this section, "farm" means stock, dairy, poultry, fruit and furbearing animal operations, truck farms, ranches, nurseries, ranges, orchards, greenhouses and other operations primarily engaged in the raising of agricultural or horticultural commodities.

(i) Paid cash wages of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000.00) or more during any calendar quarter in the current or preceding calendar year to individuals employed in agricultural labor; or

(ii) Employed ten (10) or more individuals in agricultural labor for a part of one (1) day for twenty (20) calendar weeks within the current or preceding calendar year.

(d) For purposes of this section, any member of a crew furnished by a crew leader to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person is an employee of the crew leader if:

(i) The crew leader is certified under 29 U.S.C. 1801 through 1872; or

(ii) Substantially all crew members operate or maintain tractors, mechanized harvesting or crop dusting equipment or other mechanized equipment provided by the crew leader; and

(iii) The individual is not an employee of any other person under W.S. 27-3-104 through 27-3-108.

(e) As used in this section, "crew leader" means an individual who:

(i) Furnishes individuals to perform agricultural labor for any other person;

(ii) Pays for himself or for others the cash wages of individuals furnished by him for agricultural labor; and

(iii) Has not entered into a written agreement with the other person designating the individuals as employees of that person.

(f) If an individual furnished by a crew leader to perform agricultural labor for another person is not an employee of the crew leader pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, the other person is the employer and shall pay cash wages of the individual equal to the amount paid by the crew leader for the service performed for that person.

(g) Employment under this act includes domestic service performed for a person in a private home, local college club or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority for which cash wages of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or more are paid for any calendar quarter of the current or preceding calendar year.

(h) Service performed during any period in which exemptions from federal unemployment tax liability are provided for under 26 U.S.C. § 3306(c)(1)(B) including any amendments or extensions thereto, by an alien admitted to the United States to perform service in agricultural labor under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101 through 1503, is exempt from this section.

(a) Employment under this act does not include service performed:

(i) By an individual for his spouse or child or by a person under twenty-one (21) years of age for his parent or for a partnership consisting only of his parents;

(ii) For the federal government or any federal agency exempt from this act by federal constitution, except service for those agencies otherwise required by law to contribute to any state unemployment compensation fund;

(iii) For an employer or employee representative defined under 45 U.S.C. § 351 et seq. unless an agreement is in effect pursuant to W.S. 27-3-608;

(iv) By an individual under the age of eighteen (18) or as a direct seller or independent contractor in the business of distributing or delivering newspapers or shopping news excluding the delivery or distribution at any point for further delivery or distribution but including directly related services such as soliciting customers and collecting receipts, provided:

(A) All or substantially all of the individual's pay for the service, whether or not paid in cash, directly relates to sales or other output rather than to the number of hours worked; and

(B) The individual performs the service under a written contract with the newspaper or shopping news publisher which specifies that the individual will not be treated as an employee with respect to the services for federal tax purposes.

(v) As real estate activity under W.S. 33-28-102(b)(xlv) by a responsible broker, associate broker or salesperson licensed under the Real Estate License Act, W.S. 33-28-101 through 33-28-401;

(vi) In the employ of a school, college or university by a student enrolled and regularly attending the school, college or university or by the spouse of a student if the spouse is informed at the time employed that employment is provided under a financial assistance program and the employment is not covered by unemployment compensation;

(vii) By an individual enrolled in a full-time program of an educational institution combining academic instruction with work experience if the service is an integral part of the program and is certified by the institution to the employer. This paragraph does not apply to service performed in a program established for an employer or group of employers;

(viii) By a hospital patient employed by the hospital;

(ix) In a barber shop licensed under W.S. 33-7-108 or salon licensed under W.S. 33-12-127 if:

(A) Use of shop facilities by an individual performing services is contingent upon payment of a flat rate of compensation to the shop owner; and

(B) The individual performing services receives no compensation from the shop owner for services performed.

(x) By an individual who is the owner and operator of a motor vehicle which is leased or contracted with driver to a for-hire common or contract carrier. The owner-operator shall not be an employee for purposes of this act if he performs the service pursuant to a contract which provides that the owner-operator shall not be treated as an employee for purposes of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, the Social Security Act, the Federal Unemployment Tax Act and income tax withholding at source;