OAR 471-031-0075: Appointment of an Agent to Act on Behalf of a Group of Employers

(1) Employers who are engaged in substantially similar operations, and rotationally employ the same group of employees in employment during the course of a year may: (a) Pool their employment experience with respect to those employees under the Employment Department Law; (b) Declare their intention of operating with respect to those employees through an agent in the same manner as though the agent were the employer of those employees as provided in ORS 657.475; and (c) File with the Director an application requesting the agent appointed by the group be permitted to act for the group. (2) The agent shall maintain, prepare, and file reports and make tax payments required under the Employment Department Law and these rules. In addition, the employer shall submit as a supplement to each regular tax report a supplementary tax report showing by months the amount of the payroll and the total taxes paid on behalf of each member of the group of employers. (3) Prior to approval or disapproval by the Director of an application, a copy of the agreement between the agent and the appointing group authorizing the agent to represent them shall be submitted for the consideration of the Director. (4) The tax rate of each employer in the group shall be the rate assigned in accordance with ORS 657.435 unless there has been one year immediately preceding the computation date throughout which the employer’s account has been chargeable with benefits. Any period during which benefits were chargeable against an individual account may be combined with the period of membership in the group during which benefits paid on the basis of wage credits earned with such employer were chargeable to the agent's account, for the purpose of establishing a year of experience. (5) For the purposes of rate determination pursuant to the Employment Department Law: (a) The Director shall establish and maintain a separate account in the name of the agent. This account shall be charged with all benefits paid on the basis of wage credits reported by the agent. All wage reports submitted by the agent shall be maintained as if they represented wage reports of employees of such agent; (b) In addition, the Director shall continue to maintain a separate account for each member of the group and shall transfer to each account the amount of payroll reported on each employer’s behalf by the agent and the taxes paid on each employer’s behalf by the agent; (c) As of June 30 of each year, the Director shall determine the amount of each employer's share of the total benefit charges which have been made against the agent's account during the year ending on said date; such share shall be in the proportion that the individual employer's payroll in the year, reported by the agent, bears to the total payroll in such year reported by the agent for all of the employer members of the group. When determined, the amount of benefit charges to be allocated to each individual employer shall be transferred to that employer's account. (6) If any member of the group terminates their relationship with the agent, they shall within ten (10) days thereafter notify the Director. The employer shall continue to be charged their prorated share of benefit charges so long as the base year period against which charges are being made includes any calendar quarter in which the employer was a party to the agency agreement.