102.80 Uninsured employers fund.

(1) There is established a separate, nonlapsible trust fund designated as the uninsured employers fund consisting of all the following:

(a) Amounts collected from uninsured employers under s. 102.82.

(b) Uninsured employer surcharges collected under s. 102.85 (4).

(d) Amounts collected from employees or dependents of employees under s. 102.81 (4) (b).

(e) All moneys received by the department for the uninsured employers fund from any other source.

(f) Amounts transferred to the uninsured employers fund from the appropriation account under s. 20.445 (1) (ra) as provided in s. 102.81 (1) (c).

(1m) The moneys collected or received under sub. (1), together with all accrued interest, shall constitute a separate nonlapsible fund designated as the uninsured employers fund. Moneys in the fund may be expended only as provided in s. 20.445 (1) (sm) and may not be used for any other purpose of the state.

(3)

(a) If the cash balance in the uninsured employers fund equals or exceeds $4,000,000, the secretary shall consult the council on worker's compensation within 45 days after that cash balance equals or exceeds $4,000,000. The secretary may file with the secretary of administration, within 15 days after consulting the council on worker's compensation, a certificate attesting that the cash balance in the uninsured employers fund equals or exceeds $4,000,000.

(ag) The secretary shall monitor the cash balance in, and incurred losses to, the uninsured employers fund using generally accepted actuarial principles. If the secretary determines that the expected ultimate losses to the uninsured employers fund on known claims exceed 85 percent of the cash balance in the uninsured employers fund, the secretary shall consult with the council on worker's compensation. If the secretary, after consulting with the council on worker's compensation, determines that there is a reasonable likelihood that the cash balance in the uninsured employers fund may become inadequate to fund all claims under s. 102.81 (1), the secretary shall file with the secretary of administration a certificate attesting that the cash balance in the uninsured employer's fund is likely to become inadequate to fund all claims under s. 102.81 (1) and specifying a date after which no new claims under s. 102.81 (1) will be paid.

(am) If the secretary files the certificate under par. (a), the department may expend the moneys in the uninsured employers fund, beginning on the first day of the first July after the secretary files that certificate, to make payments under s. 102.81 (1) to employees of uninsured employers and to obtain reinsurance under s. 102.81 (2).

(b) If the secretary does not file the certificate under par. (a), the department may not expend the moneys in the uninsured employers fund.

(c) If, after filing the certificate under par. (a), the secretary files the certificate under par. (ag), the department may expend the moneys in the uninsured employers fund only to make payments under s. 102.81 (1) to employees of uninsured employers on claims made before the date specified in that certificate and to obtain reinsurance under s. 102.81 (2) for the payment of those claims.

(4)

(a) If an uninsured employer who owes to the department any amount under s. 102.82 or 102.85 (4) transfers his or her business assets or activities, the transferee is liable for the amounts owed by the uninsured employer under s. 102.82 or 102.85 (4) if the department determines that all of the following conditions are satisfied:

1. At the time of the transfer, the uninsured employer and the transferee are owned or controlled in whole or in substantial part, either directly or indirectly, by the same interest or interests. Without limitation by reason of enumeration, it is presumed unless shown to the contrary that the “same interest or interests" includes the spouse, child or parent of the individual who owned or controlled the business, or any combination of more than one of them.

2. The transferee has continued or resumed the business of the uninsured employer, either in the same establishment or elsewhere; or the transferee has employed substantially the same employees as those the uninsured employer had employed in connection with the business assets or activities transferred.

(b) The department may collect from a transferee described in par. (a) an amount owed under s. 102.82 or 102.85 (4) using the procedures specified in ss. 102.83, 102.835 and 102.87 and the preference specified in s. 102.84 in the same manner as the department may collect from an uninsured employer.

History: 1989 a. 64; 1991 a. 85; 1993 a. 81; 1995 a. 117; 2003 a. 139; 2005 a. 172; 2007 a. 185; 2015 a. 55.