Ch. DWD 115 NoteNote: Chapter Ind-UC 115 was renumbered to be chapter ILHR 115 under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 1. and 2., Register, August, 1987, No. 380; chapter ILHR 115 as it existed on January 31, 1992 was repealed and a new chapter ILHR 115 was created effective February 1, 1992. Chapter ILHR 115 was renumbered Chapter DWD 115 under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 1., Stats., and corrections made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 6. and 7., Stats., Register, June, 1997, No. 498.

DWD 115.001(1)(1) In general. Except as provided in sub. (2), unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning, the definitions in ch. DWD 100 apply to this chapter.

DWD 115.001(2)(2) In this chapter:

DWD 115.001(2)(b)(b) “Transferee” means the person to whom an asset or business activity is transferred, whether or not that person is an employer before the transfer.

DWD 115.001(2)(d)(d) “Transfer percentage” means the percent of the transferor’s total payroll for a recent and representative period preceding the transfer date, which is properly assignable to the transferred business. The recent and representative period shall be the 4 most recently completed calendar quarters preceding the transfer date, except that the period may be expanded to include the partial quarter immediately preceding the transfer if the transfer date did not fall on a quarter ending date and there was no payroll assignable to the transferred portion of the business in the 4 most recently completed quarters.

DWD 115.001 HistoryHistory: Cr. Register, January, 1992, No. 433, eff. 2-1-92, r. (intro.), (3), (5) to (7), renum. (1), (2), (8), (11) and (12) to be 100.02 (4), (7), (43), (64) and (65), renum. (9) and (10) to be 100.02 (60) and (63) and am., renum. (4) to be (2) and am., cr. (1), Register, September, 1995, No. 477, eff. 10-1-95; CR 18-033: renum. (2) to (2) (intro.) and am., (a) renum. from 100.02 (63) and am., (b) renum. from 100.02 (64), (c) renum. from 100.02 (65) Register May 2019 No. 761, eff. 6-1-19; correction in (2) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 1., Stats., Register May 2019 No. 761.

DWD 115.01DWD 115.01 Business transfer; methods used in business transfers and in the ordinary course of business; transfer of an asset; transfer of a business activity; total or partial transfer.

DWD 115.01(1)(1) Business transfer. Under s. 108.16 (8) (a), Stats., a transfer of business occurs when any asset or business activity is transferred in whole or in part by a transferor to a transferee by any method other than in the ordinary course of business.

DWD 115.01(2)(2) Methods used in business transfers. Methods of transferring assets or business activities include gift, sale, lease, inheritance, foreclosure, termination or cancellation of lease, bankruptcy sale, reorganization, merger or consolidation and receivership.

DWD 115.01(3)(3) Events which are not business transfers. Corporate name changes, the election or cancellation of subchapter S status under section 1362 of the internal revenue code by a corporation, the transfer of payroll function only and the transfer of employees between an employee service company and its clients or customers are not transfers of a business. The transfer of shares of corporate stock by a stockholder is not a transfer of business for the corporation which issued the shares. Sale of used equipment or furniture and fixtures which are being replaced or no longer being used are considered transfers in the ordinary course of business rather than business transfers under ch. 108, Stats.

DWD 115.01(4)(4) Transfer of an asset. An asset is transferred if ownership, possession or use changes from the transferor to the transferee.

DWD 115.01(5)(5) Transfer of a business activity. For a transfer of a business activity to be a business transfer under this section and s. 108.16 (8) (a), Stats., the business activity after the transfer shall be similar to the business activity before the transfer. In determining whether a business activity has been transferred, continued or resumed, the department shall consider factors which suggest a similarity in business activity including any of the following:

DWD 115.01(5)(b)(b) The closeness of the transferee’s business location to that of the transferor when location is important to the business.

DWD 115.01(5)(d)(d) A lapse in operation of 6 months or less unless extensive remodeling is involved or the business is seasonal in nature but in no event shall the lapse be considered if greater than 2 years.

DWD 115.01(5)(g)(g) The transfer of inventory, expensive plant machinery, heavy equipment or unique assets as opposed to general office furniture and fixtures.