TEXAS UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION LAW

TEXAS UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION LAW
A. Sources of Law, Organization, and Websites
The Texas Unemployment Compensation Act is found at TEX. LABOR CODE ANN.
CHAPTER 201.
The “Texas Workforce Commission” (referred to herein as “TWC”) is the state agency
that administers the act pursuant to TEX. LABOR CODE ANN. CHAPTER 301. Prior to 1995,
the agency that administered the act was called the “Texas Employment Commission,” and the
older case law will refer to it (or TEC) rather than the Texas Workforce Commission or TWC.
Pursuant to TEX. LABOR CODE ANN. §§301.061 and 302.002, the TWC has enacted rules and
regulations, and the rules and regulations for unemployment insurance may be found at 40 TEX.
ADMIN. CODE Chapter 815. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE.
TWC has a detailed website at http://www.twc.state.tx.us. You will need to make sure
that you have Adobe Acrobat Reader to access many of the items in the website. When you
open the website, it will have a map of Texas surrounded by boxes with various headings that are
interactive links to the website. Click on the heading that says “JOB SEEKERS AND
EMPLOYEES”. When you click on this heading, it will take you to a table of contents and the
topics are also interactive links to the site. Click on the heading that says “Unemployment Claim
and Appeals Information,” and it will take you to the table of contents for “Unemployment
Claim and Appeals Information,” which is located at the following address:
http://www.twc.state.tx.us/customers/jsemp/jsempsub2.html. Another helpful part of the website
is the table entitled “Laws: Statutes and Rules” located at
http://www.twc.state.tx.us/customers/rpm/rpmsub1.html and the headings are interactive links to
the laws and rules.
The website includes a complete copy of the above mentioned rules, and the index to the
rules may be found in a table located at http://www.twc.state.tx.us/twcinfo/rules/twcrules.html.
The unemployment compensation rules are found in Chapter 815 in the table and may be
accessed in either PDF (requires Adobe Acrobat to read) or Word 97 format. In addition to the
rules, the TWC Appeals Manual, which describes the appeals process and states the procedures
for the handling of appeals, may be found at http://www.twc.state.tx.us/ui/appl/app_man1.html.
The TWC Appeals Policy and Precedent Manual, which contains digest paragraphs of case
holdings made or approved by the Commission and designated by the Commission to stand as
precedent, is available online also at http://www.twc.state.tx.us/ui/appl/app_manual.html.