Section 61.3. Wages

(a) Date of payment.

(1) General rule—Wages are considered paid on the date when the employer actually pays them.

(2) Delayed payment of wages—For purposes of benefits, if payment of wages is delayed, the wages are considered paid on the date when the employer generally pays amounts definitely assignable to a payroll period.

(b) Shipping Articles. Wages with respect to services performed under Shipping Articles, which are effective for a period of more than 1 month and under which wages are not paid in full at periodic intervals of 1 month or less, shall be considered to be paid in the calendar quarter in which the services of the employe were being performed. The amount of those wages shall be determined on the basis of the ratio of the number of days in a calendar quarter in which service was performed by the employe to the total number of days in which the employe performed services under the Shipping Articles.

(c) Noncash wages.

(1) General rule—Except as provided in paragraph (2), the money value of remuneration paid in mediums other than cash is the fair market value of the remuneration at the time of payment.

(2) Meals and lodging—Meals and lodging are valued at amounts assigned to meals and lodging in the documents referenced in 41 CFR 301-11.6 (relating to where do I find maximum per diem and actual expense rates), for the calendar year in which they are provided and for the location where they are provided, unless the employer is able to produce sufficient, credible evidence that the fair market value of the meals and lodging is less than such values.

The provisions of this § 61.3 amended February 11, 2011, effective February 12, 2011, this section will be in effect as to wages paid on or after January 1, 2012, 41 Pa.B. 844. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (328196) and (313903).

Notation

Notes of Decisions

Date of Payment

The Unemployment Compensation Board of Review is bound by this regulation and is required to treat wages as paid on the date the employer was supposed to make the payments. Therefore, the Board erred in concluding that the lump sum payment was properly assignable to the second quarter of 1994, rather than to the period from April of 1994 through March of 1995 to an employe on ‘‘leave’’ status when the payment had a direct relation to the personal services rendered with respect to claimant’s employment. Coates v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 676 A.2d 742 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1996).

The Unemployment Compensation Referee and the Board of Appeals properly applied back wages earned by employes to the quarter in which they earned the wages rather than the quarter when the wages were paid as required by the rationale of Cugini v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 512 A.2d 1169 (Pa. 1986). USX Corporation v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 551 A.2d 389 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1988).

Subsection (a) provides that ‘‘(w)ages shall be deemed to be paid on the day . . . generally paid by the employer, even though the wages have not actually been reduced to the possession’’ of the employee, controls the attribution of severance pay for purposes of computing claimant base year wages. Cugini v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 512 A.2d 1169 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1986).

This section, assigning wages to usual pay date rather than actual date of receipt, pertains to employers’ reporting of wages for fund collection purposes and is not relevant to assignment for wages for purposes of determining claimant eligibility for benefits. Rebo v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 499 A.2d 732 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1985) appeal granted 518 A.2d 807 (Pa. 1986).

Generally Paid

The 1994 employe calendar published by employer and claimant’s wage records, indicated that group III employes, such as claimant, received paychecks as a rule on alternate Fridays throughout 1994; thus, claimant was ‘‘generally paid’’ every other Friday. Accordingly, the $952 payment on March 31, 1994, a Thursday, should have been attributed to April 1, 1994, a Friday; thus, claimant was entitled to unemployment compensation benefits. Gibson v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 682 A.2d 422 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1996).