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Learn about the COVID-19 Recovery Assessment

As part of the Commonwealth’s plan to manageably spread over time the cost of benefits paid by the UI Trust Fund in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 crisis, experience-rated employers will be charged a quarterly COVID-19 Recovery Assessment.

Legislation enacted on May 28, 2021 created a new account, the COVID-19 Employer Relief Account. All COVID-related charges were moved from the solvency fund and charged to this account, lowering the 2021 solvency rate and providing rate relief to employers.

Legislation also created a new COVID-specific employer charge, the COVID-19 Recovery Assessment, to begin to recover the charges to the COVID-19 Employer Relief Account. The COVID-19 Recovery Assessment is intended to reduce the impact of COVID-related charges to employers’ UI rates by recovering these costs more manageably over time.

Please see the Employer 2021 Rate Recalculation Notice for more information regarding 2021 UI rate adjustments resulting from this legislation.

Please continue below to learn more about the COVID-19 Recovery Assessment.

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Contributions

The taxable wage base is $15,000 per employee. Contributions due are calculated by multiplying the COVID-19 Assessment rate and the employer’s quarterly taxable wages.

There is no additional reporting requirement for the COVID-19 Recovery Assessment. Contributions due will be automatically calculated for subject employers when quarterly Employment and Wage Detail reports are filed.

Who does this affect?

All private-contributory, experience-rated employers are subject to the COVID-19 Recovery Assessment.

Exemptions

Employers not subject to the COVID-19 Recovery Assessment are:

Reimbursable employers
Governmental employers
New non-construction and construction employers that received new employer UI rates
Employers with zero 3-year Average Wages on their rate notice that received assigned UI rates
Nonprofit employers that have changed their method of payment to contributory within the last three years

COVID-19 Recovery Assessment Rates

The COVID-19 Recovery Assessment rate is an assigned rate based on the employer’s UI rate. The 2022 COVID-19 Recovery Assessment Rate Schedule shows the assigned COVID-19 Recovery Assessment rate for each UI rate, equal to 12.50% of an employer’s corresponding UI rate. 2022 COVID-19 Recovery assessment rates are effective January 1, 2022.

2022 COVID-19 Recovery Assessment rates are now available on UI Online. To view your 2022 UI rate and your COVID-19 Recovery Assessment rate, please log in to your UI Online account and click on “Account Maintenance” then “View Rate Notice.”