Section 871.24.38. Combined wage claim.

       24.38(1) Purpose of plan. The combined wage program is to enable an unemployed worker with covered employment or wages in more than one state to combine all such employment and wages in one state in order to qualify for benefits or to receive increased benefits.

        a.           Each state will cooperate with every other state by implementing these uniform combined wage procedures, rules and regulations. This includes the District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

        b.           The benefit year, base period, qualifying wages, benefit rate, and duration of benefits under the unemployment compensation law of the paying state shall be the benefit year, base period, qualifying wages, benefit rate, and duration of benefits applicable to a combined wage claimant.

        c.           The rights of the individual under the combined wage claim plan shall be determined by the paying state after the combining of all wages available from the transferring states; however, in the case in which another state transfers wages to Iowa and Iowa is the paying state, Iowa cannot again adjudicate a separation that has been previously adjudicated by the transferring state. The department shall respect the prior adjudication of the transferring state if the department is aware of the decision and will apply the Iowa requalification criteria, unless the individual has requalified pursuant to the liable state’s requalification criteria.

        d.           All other provisions of the unemployment compensation laws and rules of the state agency of the paying state shall be applied to the combined wage claim.

        e.           The state in which the claim is filed will be the paying state except in those cases in which the individual does not qualify after the transfer has been completed or if the claimant meets the definition of a commuter.

       24.38(2) Exception to combining wage credits. Under the following circumstances, wages and employment are not transferable to the paying state:

        a.           Any employment and wages which have been transferred to any other paying state and not returned unused.

        b.           Wages that have been used by the transferring state as the basis of a monetary determination which established a benefit year.

        c.           Any employment and wages that have been canceled or are unavailable as a result of a transferring state determination made prior to the request for transfer.

       24.38(3) The claimant will be told that if there was a previous election to file a combined wage claim, the claimant may withdraw the combined wage claim any time, up to the date the paying state’s monetary determination becomes final. However, if the claimant withdraws a combined wage claim and benefits have been paid, the claimant will be required to repay any such benefits. This repayment may be done by cash or by an authorization to the state(s) from which such claimant next claims benefits to reimburse the combined wage paying state for any benefits which said claimant will be paid.