Working at KSB School Law is always an adventure. While the popular question last week was not “Where are we going to lunch?” (ahem Jordan), “Who is creating the powerpoint for our next presentation?” (looking at you Tyler), or “Which Disney movie is the greatest of all time?” (Sara, guilty as charged, but please send me your votes because we all know Emperor's New Groove wins), the most popular question we fielded in our office was “Are classified staff eligible for unemployment compensation in the summer?” As the calendar inches closer to summer, business managers and superintendents are addressing unemployment compensation and eligibility questions from substitute teachers and classified staff. As long as certain conditions are met, the answer is “no” in both Nebraska and South Dakota.
Nebraska law provides that school district employees are disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits for periods of unemployment which fall between regular school terms if they performed services for a school district during the first term and have a contract or a reasonable assurance of employment to perform similar services on comparable terms for any school district during the second term. NEB. REV. STAT. § 48-628.06. Similarly, South Dakota law states “With respect to services performed in any other capacity for an educational institution, no benefits may be paid to an individual on the basis of the individual's services for any week that commences between two successive academic years or terms if the individual performs the services in the first academic year or term and there is a reasonable assurance that the individual will perform the services in the second one.” SDCL 61-6-15.
Both states specifically address an employee’s ability to have “reasonable assurance” of continued employment. To guard against unemployment compensation claims, we recommend districts issue a “reasonable assurance” form to substitute teachers and classified staff. This form gives employees an assurance of the school district's intention to continue their employment the following school year without guaranteeing them re-employment. This form can be used as evidence in unemployment compensation cases of the district’s intent to continue employment in the subsequent school year.
If you have any questions about unemployment claims or would like a sample reasonable assurance form, please feel free to contact Karen, Steve, Bobby, Coady, Jordan, Tyler or Sara at (402) 804-8000, or send everyone an email at ksb@ksbschoollaw.com.