23-725. Employer coverage; termination; election of coverage

A. Except as provided in subsections D and E of this section, an employing unit that is or becomes an employer subject to the provisions of this chapter within any calendar year shall be deemed an employer during the whole of the calendar year.

B. Except as otherwise provided in subsections D, E, F, G and H of this section, an employing unit shall cease to be an employer subject to this chapter:

1. As of the first day of January of any calendar year:

(a) If the department finds that during the preceding calendar year the employing unit ceased all operations for a period of thirty-five weeks and did not in any calendar quarter in the preceding calendar year pay wages for employment amounting to one thousand five hundred dollars or more, or

(b) If the employing unit files with the department within the period from January 1 through March 31 of the year a written application for termination of coverage and the department finds that during the preceding calendar year the employing unit did not have one or more individuals in employment in twenty separate weeks and did not pay wages for employment amounting to at least one thousand five hundred dollars during any calendar quarter in the preceding calendar year.

2. On the transfer date of an employer experience rating account resulting from transfer by an employing unit of its organization, trade or business, or substantially all the assets an employing unit, to a successor.

C. For the purposes of subsection B of this section, the two or more employing units mentioned in section 23-613, subsection A, paragraph 3, 4 or 5 shall be treated as a single employing unit.

D. An employing unit, not otherwise subject to this chapter, that files with the department its written election to become an employer subject to this chapter for not less than two calendar years, shall with the written approval of the election by the department, become an employer subject to this chapter to the same extent as all other employers, as of the date stated in the approval, and shall cease to be subject to this chapter as of January 1 of any calendar year subsequent to the two calendar years, only if within the period from January 1 through March 31 of that year it has filed with the department a written notice to that effect.

E. Any employing unit for which services that do not constitute employment as defined in this chapter are performed, may file with the department a written election that all such services, with respect to which payments are not required under an employment security law of any other state or of the federal government, and that are performed by individuals in its employ in one or more distinct establishments or places of business, shall be deemed to constitute employment by an employer for all the purposes of this chapter for at least two calendar years. On the written approval of the election by the department, the services shall be deemed to constitute employment subject to this chapter from and after the date stated in the approval. The services shall cease to be deemed employment subject to this chapter as of January 1 of any calendar year subsequent to the two calendar years, only if within the period from January 1 through March 31 of that year the employing unit has filed with the department a written notice to that effect.

F. Any employing unit that became an employer by reason of section 23-613, subsection A, paragraph 2, subdivision (c) because of services defined as employment under section 23-615, subsection A, paragraph 7, shall cease to be an employer subject to this chapter as of the first day of January of any calendar year if either of the following:

1. The department finds that the employing unit ceased all operations for a period of thirty-five weeks in the preceding calendar year.

2. The employing unit files with the department within the period from January 1 through March 31 of the year a written application for termination of coverage and the department finds that there were not twenty separate days, each day being in a separate calendar week within the preceding calendar year, within which the employing unit employed four or more individuals in employment subject to this chapter.

G. Any employing unit that is an employer solely by reason of section 23-613, subsection B, shall cease to be an employer subject to this chapter as of the first day of January of any calendar year if either of the following are true:

1. The department finds that during the preceding calendar year the employing unit ceased all operations for a period of thirty-five weeks and did not in any calendar quarter in the preceding calendar year pay wages for agricultural labor amounting to at least twenty thousand dollars.

2. The employing unit files with the department within the period from January 1 through March 31 of the year a written application for termination of coverage and the department finds that during the preceding calendar year the employing unit did not have at least ten individuals employed in agricultural labor in twenty separate weeks and did not pay wages for agricultural labor amounting to at least twenty thousand dollars during any calendar quarter in the preceding calendar year.

H. Any employing unit that is an employer solely by reason of section 23-613, subsection C, shall cease to be an employer subject to this chapter as of January 1 of any calendar year if the employing unit files with the department within the period from January 1 through March 31 of that year a written application for termination of coverage and the department finds that the employing unit did not pay wages for domestic service in a private home, local college club, or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority amounting to at least one thousand dollars during any calendar quarter in the preceding calendar year.

I. The time limitation for filing of written application for termination of coverage prescribed in subsections B, F, G and H of this section may be waived by the department if the time limitation has expired prior to the date on which a determination of liability that the employing unit is subject to this chapter has been made as provided in section 23-724.