As used in ARM 24.11.511, 24.11.513, 24.11.515, 24.11.516, 24.11.517, 24.11.518, 24.11.521, 24.11.523, 24.11.525, 24.11.531, and 24.11.534, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

(1) "Agent state" means any state from or through which an individual files an interstate claim for benefits against another state.

(2) "Benefits" means the compensation payable to an individual, with respect to his unemployment under the unemployment insurance law of any state.

(3) "Interstate benefit payment plan" means the plan approved by the interstate conference of employment security agencies under which benefits are payable to unemployed individuals absent from the state (or states) in which benefit credits have been accumulated.

(4) "Interstate claimant" means an individual who files an interstate claim for benefits under the unemployment insurance law of a liable state from another state, through the facilities of an agent state, or directly with the liable state. The term "interstate claimant" shall not include any individual who customarily commutes across state lines from a residence in one state to work in a liable state unless the department finds that this exclusion would create undue hardship on such claimants in specified areas.

(5) "Liable state" means any state against which an individual files, from or through another state, an interstate claim for benefits.

(6) "State" means any of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

(7) "Week of unemployment" means any week of unemployment as defined in the law of the liable state from which benefits with respect to such week are claimed.