Section 61-5-46 - Mandatory transfer of experience-rating account on transfer of business to another-Rate recalculation-ExceptionNotwithstanding any other provision of law, the following provisions apply with regard to assignment of rates and transfers of experience:
(1) If an employer transfers its organization, trade, or business, or a portion thereof, to another employer and, at the time of the transfer, there is substantially common ownership, management, or control of the two employers, then the unemployment experience attributable to the transferred organization, trade, or business shall be transferred to the employer to whom the business is so transferred. The rates of both employers shall be recalculated and made effective immediately upon the date of the transfer of the organization, trade, or business; and(2) If a person who is not an employer under this Title at the time the person acquires the organization, trade, or business of an employer, the unemployment experience of the acquired business may not be transferred to the person if the secretary finds that the person acquired the business solely or primarily for the purpose of obtaining a lower rate of contributions. Instead, the person shall be assigned the applicable new employer rate under the provisions of § 61-5-24. In determining whether the business was acquired solely or primarily for the purpose of obtaining a lower rate of contributions, the secretary shall use objective factors which may include the cost of acquiring the business, whether the person continued the business enterprise of the acquired business, how long the business enterprise was continued, or whether a substantial number of new employees were hired for performance of duties unrelated to the business activity conducted prior to acquisition. SL 2005, ch 281, §2; SDCL § 61-5-32.1; SL 2012, ch 252, §59.