Sec. 1.5. (a) As used in this section, "erroneous payment" means a payment that would not have been made but for the failure by an employer or a person acting on behalf of the employer with respect to a claim for unemployment benefits to which the payment relates.
(b) As used in this section, "pattern of failure" means a repeated and documented failure by an employer or a person acting on behalf of an employer to respond to requests for information made by the department, taking into consideration the number of failures in relation to the total number of requests received by the employer or the person acting on behalf of an employer.
(c) The experience account of an employer may not be relieved of charges for a benefit overpayment from the state's unemployment insurance benefit fund established by IC 22-4-26-1, if the department determines that:
(1) the erroneous payment was made because the employer or a person acting on behalf of the employer was at fault in failing to respond in a timely or adequate manner to the department's request for information relating to the claim for unemployment benefits; and
(2) the employer or a person acting on behalf of the employer has established a pattern of failure to respond in a timely or adequate manner to department requests described in subdivision (1).