A representative or representatives designated by the director of the division and hereafter referred to as a "deputy" shall promptly examine the claim, and shall notify the most recent employing unit and, successively as necessary, each employer in inverse chronological order during the base year. Such notification shall require said employing unit and employer to furnish such information to the deputy as may be necessary to determine the claimant's eligibility and his benefit rights with respect to the employer in question.
In his discretion, the director may appoint special deputies to make initial or subsequent determinations under subsection (f) of R.S. 43:21-4 and subsection (d) of R.S. 43:21-5.
If any employer or employing unit fails to respond to the request for information within 10 days after the mailing, or communicating by electronic means, of such request, the deputy shall rely entirely on information from other sources, including an affidavit to the best of the knowledge and belief of the claimant with respect to his wages and time worked. Except in the event of fraud, if it is determined that any information in such affidavit is erroneous, no penalty shall be imposed on the claimant.
The deputy shall make an initial determination contingent upon the receipt of all necessary information and notify the claimant no later than three weeks from the date on which the division received the claim for benefits. If an initial determination cannot be made due to the lack of documentation, notification will be sent to the claimant providing a status of the claim. The division will then have an additional two weeks to obtain the missing information in order to make the initial determination and advise the claimant accordingly. The initial determination shall show the weekly benefit amount payable, the maximum duration of benefits with respect to the employer to whom the determination relates, and the ratio of benefits chargeable to the employer's account for benefit years commencing on or after July 1, 1986, and also shall show whether the claimant is ineligible or disqualified for benefits under the initial determination. The employer whose account may be charged for benefits payable pursuant to said determination shall be promptly notified thereof.
Whenever an initial determination is based upon information other than that supplied by an employer because such employer failed to respond to the deputy's request for information, such initial determination and any subsequent determination thereunder shall be incontestable by the noncomplying employer, as to any charges to his employer's account because of benefits paid prior to the close of the calendar week following the receipt of his reply. Such initial determination shall be altered if necessary upon receipt of information from the employer, and any benefits paid or payable with respect to weeks occurring subsequent to the close of the calendar week following the receipt of the employer's reply shall be paid in accordance with such altered initial determination.
The deputy shall issue a separate initial benefit determination with respect to each of the claimant's base year employers, starting with the most recent employer and continuing as necessary in the inverse chronological order of the claimant's last date of employment with each such employer. If an appeal is taken from an initial determination, as hereinafter provided, by any employer other than the first chargeable base year employer or for benefit years commencing on or after July 1, 1986, that employer from whom the individual was most recently separated, then such appeal shall be limited in scope to include only one or more of the following matters:
The amount of benefits payable under an initial determination may be reduced or canceled if necessary to avoid payment of benefits for a number of weeks in excess of the maximum specified in subsection (d) of R.S. 43:21-3.
Unless the claimant or any interested party, within seven calendar days after delivery of notification of an initial determination or within 10 calendar days after such notification was mailed to his or their last-known address and addresses, files an appeal from such decision, such decision shall be final and benefits shall be paid or denied in accordance therewith, except for such determinations as may be altered in benefit amounts or duration as provided in this paragraph. Benefits payable for periods pending an appeal and not in dispute shall be paid as such benefits accrue; provided that insofar as any such appeal is or may be an appeal from a determination to the effect that the claimant is disqualified under the provisions of R.S. 43:21-5 or any amendments thereof or supplements thereto, benefits pending determination of the appeal shall be withheld only for the period of disqualification as provided for in said section, and notwithstanding such appeal, the benefits otherwise provided by this act shall be paid for the period subsequent to such period of disqualification; and provided, also, that if there are two determinations of entitlement, benefits for the period covered by such determinations shall be paid regardless of any appeal which may thereafter be taken, but no employer's account shall be charged with benefits so paid, if the decision is finally reversed.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Title, if an individual shows to the satisfaction of the deputy that there were at least 13 weeks in his base period in each of which he earned wages from two or more employers totaling $30.00 or more but in each of which there was no single employer from whom he earned as much as $100.00, then such individual's claim shall be determined in accordance with the special provisions of this paragraph. In such case, the deputy shall determine the individual's eligibility for benefits, his average weekly wage, weekly benefit rate and maximum total benefits as if all his base year employers were a single employer. Such determination shall apportion the liability for benefit charges thereunder to the individual's several base year employers so that each employer's maximum liability for charges thereunder bears approximately the same relation to the maximum total benefits allowed as the wages earned by the individual from each employer during the base year bears to his total wages earned from all employers during the base year. Such initial determination shall also specify the individual's last date of employment within the base year with respect to each base year employer, and such employers shall be charged for benefits paid under said initial determination in the inverse chronological order of such last date of employment.
Determinations of the division prohibiting the relief of charges pursuant to this subsection shall be subject to appeal in the same manner as other determinations of the division related to the charging of employer accounts.
For purposes of subsection (j) of this section:
"Erroneous benefit payment" means a benefit payment that, except for the failure by the employer, or an agent of the employer, to respond in a timely or adequate manner to a request from the division for information with respect to the claim for benefits, would not have been made; and
"Pattern of failing" means repeated documented failure on the part of the employer, or an agent of the employer, to respond to requests from the division to the employer or employer's agent for information related to a claim for benefits, except that an employer, or an agent of an employer, shall not be determined to have engaged in a "pattern of failing" if the number of failures to respond to requests from the division for information related to claims for benefits during the previous 365 calendar days is less than three, or if the number of failures is less than two percent of the number of requests from the division, whichever is greater.
N.J.S. § 43:21-6