North Carolina General Statutes

Laws of North Carolina, known as statutes, are made by the North Carolina General Assembly. The General Assembly is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are 50 senators and 120 members of the House of Representatives. Chapter 96 of the North Carolina General Statutes, known as the Employment Security Law, governs the Division of Employment Security.

View statutes

DES Administrative Rules

The North Carolina Administrative Code is the official publication of the rules that govern the state's agencies, boards and commissions. DES's Administrative Rules are in Title 4, Chapter 24 of the North Carolina Administrative Code.

DES Periodic Review of Existing Rules

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-21.3A, adopted in 2013, requires all agencies to conduct a review of that agency’s rules every ten years, determining whether each rule is necessary or unnecessary.  Necessary is defined as any rule other than an unnecessary rule. Unnecessary is defined as a rule that the agency determines to be obsolete, redundant, or otherwise not needed.  Agencies must post a report issued by the Rules Review Commission on the agency’s website to invite public comments for at least 60 days on the rules and the agency’s initial determinations of whether the rule is necessary or unnecessary.  The agency is then required to review the public comments and prepare a brief response addressing the merits of each comment.  After the comment period is over and the agency has had an opportunity to make its final determination of whether the rule is necessary or unnecessary, the agency will send the Rules Review Commission a report of its initial determinations as well as any public comments received and the agency’s responses to any public comments.

“Public comment” is defined by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-21.3A(a)(5) as a written objection to all or part of a rule.  Additionally, pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-21.3A(c)(2), in order for the Rules Review Commission to determine whether the public comment has merit, the public comment must address the specific substance of the rule and address any of the standards of Commission review, as set forth in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 150B-21.9(a).

WHERE TO FIND THE DIVISION OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY’S REPORT:

View the Initial Determination Report containing the Division of Employment Security’s initial determination for each of its existing rules.  View the DES's existing Administrative Rules in Title 4, Chapter 24.

COMMENT PERIOD:

The comment period begins March 5, 2024 and ends on May 13, 2024.

HOW TO SUBMIT COMMENTS:

Please submit comments to Sharon J. Martin, Rulemaking Coordinator. 

Please specify the rule citation (ex: 04 NCAC 24A .0101) to which your comment corresponds. 

To submit electronic comments, email:  DES.Rules@commerce.nc.gov. 

In the alternative, comments may be mailed to the following:

        North Carolina Department of Commerce
        Division of Employment Security
        Legal Services Section
        ATTN:  Sharon J. Martin
        P.O. Box 25903
        Raleigh, NC 27611-5903

DES Proposed Rules

As needed, DES will post updates on its intentions to amend permanent rules. There are no such amendments at this time.