§1539.  Merger of employing units; determination of rate

A.  Whenever an individual, group of individuals, partnership, corporation, or employing unit, whether or not an employer as defined in this Chapter, in any manner succeeds to or acquires the employees, organization, trade, or business or substantially all the assets thereof of another employing unit which at the time of acquisition was an employer subject to this Chapter, the experience-rating records of such predecessor employer shall be transferred as of the date of acquisition to the successor employer for the purpose of rate determination.

B.  If the successor employer was an employer subject to this Chapter prior to the date of the acquisition, his rate of contribution for the period from such date to the end of the then current contribution year shall be the same as his rate with respect to the period immediately preceding the date of acquisition.

C.  If the successor was not an employer prior to the date of acquisition his rate shall be the rate applicable to the predecessor employer with respect to the period immediately preceding the date of acquisition, provided there was only one predecessor or there were only predecessors with identical rates; in the event that the predecessors' rates are not identical, the successor's rate shall be the highest rate applicable to any of the predecessor employers with respect to the period immediately preceding the date of acquisition.

D.(1)  In all cases where an individual, firm, corporation, or other legal entity acquires an operating department, section, division, or any substantial portion of the business or assets of any employer, which is clearly segregable and identifiable, and the successor is an employer at the time of the acquisition, or becomes an employer before or within the calendar quarter immediately following the calendar quarter within which the acquisition was made, the administrator shall transfer to such successor the portion of the predecessor's payroll record and experience-rating record which is attributable to the portion of the business which was acquired.

(2)  This Subsection shall apply to all such transfers or acquisitions occurring on or after July 2, 1984.

(3)  For transfers occurring after June 12, 1995, the successor employer and predecessor shall submit to the administrator the predecessor's payroll and experience-rating record which is attributable to the portion of the business which was acquired within one hundred eighty days from the acquisition.

(4)  The administrator shall prescribe, by regulation, the method by which the experience to be transferred shall be computed.

Acts 1984, No. 364, §1; Acts 1987, No. 302, §1; Acts 1995, No. 101, eff. June 12, 1995; Acts 2003, No. 460, §1, eff. June 20, 2003.