1594                             Laws of Maryland                      [Ch. 740

individual for total unemployment. Dependents' allowances shall be
in addition to the unemployment benefits otherwise payable, pro-
vided that the total of such unemployment benefits and allowances
for dependents shall not exceed [$65] $78 in any one benefit week
and further provided that no dependency allowance shall be payable
with respect to any week unless an unemployment benefit is also pay-
able with respect to such week. An individual's number of dependents
shall be determined as of the day with respect to which he first files
a valid claim for benefits in any benefit year, and shall be fixed
for the duration of such benefit year. No person who has been deter-
mined to be a child of one individual on the beginning date of such
individual's benefit year shall be deemed to be a child of any other
individual whose benefit year starts within one year thereafter. Pro-
vided, it shall be presumed that the father or stepfather is wholly
or mainly supporting his children, stepchildren, or adopted children,
who are a part of the household maintained by him, unless the con-
trary is shown to the satisfaction of the Executive Director. De-
pendents' allowances shall be regarded as benefits for the purpose
of computing contribution rates under the terms of Section 8(c) of
this article.

8.

(c) Experience rating.—Each employer shall pay contributions
with respect to employment during any fiscal year prior to July 1,
1964, as required by this article prior to July 1, 1964, and each
employer shall pay contributions at the standard rate of two and
seven-tenths (2.7) percent of wages paid by him during the fiscal
year beginning July 1, 1964, and during each fiscal year thereafter
with respect to employment occurring after June 30, 1964, except as
otherwise provided herein.

(1) The Executive Director shall maintain an experience-rating
record for each employer. Nothing in this article shall be construed
to grant to any employer or to individuals performing services for
him prior claims or rights to the amounts paid by the employer into
the fund.

Except as required by paragraph (i) of this subsection, benefits
paid shall be charged against employer experience-rating records as
hereafter specified.

If the claimant earned 75 percent or more of his base period wages
from the principal base period employer, all benefits paid to such
individual shall be charged against the experience-rating record of
his principal base period employer (as defined in subsection (c) (7)
of this section). If the claimant earned less than 75 percent of his
base period wages from the principal base period employer, all
benefits paid to such individual shall be charged on a pro rata basis
to all base period employers. The percentage of the charge to each
base period employer shall be in the same proportion as the amount
of wages paid to the claimant by each such employer is to the total
amount of wages received by the claimant during the base period,
and shall be computed as a whole number without decimals.

(i) If the claimant's unemployment is caused by a shutdown by
his employer for the purpose of having employees take their vacations
at the same time, all benefits paid to the claimant shall be charged
against the experience-rating record of the claimant's current em-
ployer.