Opening claims too early or late is a common problem that delays claims. You must open your claim during the exact week (Sunday through Saturday) when you are first unemployed.
Don’t open too early
Did you just work a full week, and now it’s Friday night and you’d like to get a jump-start on your unemployment claim for next week? STOP! It is too early to open a claim. You must wait for the next calendar week to begin (Sunday).
Don’t open too late
Do you already have a claim that will reactivate now that you are unemployed again? Filing a weekly claim is NOT the first thing you need to do! You first need to REOPEN your claim, and you must do that during the first week you are unemployed. It is very similar to opening a new claim.
After you reopen your claim during the week when you are first unemployed, you will file weekly claims for payments starting with the upcoming Sunday. You cannot go directly into the weekly claims process without first reopening your claim.
If after reading this explanation, you are still unsure of whether you are eligible for a week of benefits, it is better to file your claim and let the Department make that determination.
Usually, a person who worked at least 80% of his or her normal hours in a week is still considered fully employed for that week. The Department will perform a calculation to confirm. If your gross earnings for the week are equal to or higher than the combination rate on your claim, then you are ineligible to receive benefits for the week. There is a calculator on the Department’s website you can use to do this calculation and learn more: Partial Benefit Credit
A bus driver works full-time, 6 hours per day, Monday through Friday, and makes $25 per hour in gross pay. He has an existing UC claim with a weekly benefit rate (WBR) of $400 per week.
- His partial benefit credit (PBC) is $120 (30% of $400).
- His combination rate is $520, ($400 WBR plus $120 PBC).
Let’s see if he would be eligible for benefits in two different scenarios:
- During a particular week the bus driver worked 3 days (18 hours) and earned $450. He was “unemployed” that week and eligible for benefits because his earnings were less than his combination rate. He is eligible for $70 in benefits ($520 – $450 = $70) that week, but he must first reopen his claim during that week (i.e., the week he became unemployed) before he can file for that week beginning on Sunday receive the $70 in benefits.
- In his last week before the school break the bus driver worked 4 days (24 hours) and earned $600. He was not “unemployed” that week because his $600 in earnings were more than his $520 combination rate. He would not be eligible for any benefits for that week even though he only worked 24 hours instead of his typical 30 hours. He should reopen his claim the following week when he will be unemployed.