How is unemployment benefits determined

You do not need to apply. To get started, gather your total wages from all employers for the last 18 months and follow the steps below.

Why can I only choose a Sunday date? A: Unemployment claims generally begin the Sunday of the week you first apply for benefits. Enter your wages, before taxes or other withholdings, for the following months and round to the nearest dollar. Include vacation pay, tips, residual payments, commissions, and bonuses. Do not include severance pay. Remove emotion. These situations can be emotional, as they deal with determining whether an individual will be receiving income that could potentially sustain him or her.

The representative should stick to the facts and not engage in argumentative conversation with the employee before, during or after the hearing. Be on time. The unemployment commission reserves only a few minutes for each case; if the representative is not available when the officer is ready to begin, the officer will move on without his or her input.

After the hearing is complete, the unemployment officer will usually tell the parties when they should expect to receive a determination in the case. When the employer receives the determination, if the commission has decided in favor of the employee, instructions will be included on how to appeal the decision. Customarily, the unemployment officer will explain reasons for the determination. The employer should use that explanation to help decide whether an appeal is worthwhile.

These scenarios may assist employers in determining whether there is good cause tocontest a claim; however, only the unemployment commission can make a determination regarding benefit awards, and the commission may disagree with an employer's opinion regarding unemployment eligibility. ABC Company has a clear policy on absenteeism. Employees are required to call into work two hours before the start of their shifts and to speak with either a manager or a supervisor if they are unable to come into work.

If employees do not follow this procedure, their absences are considered unexcused. ABC Company has a progressive absenteeism policy in which employees will go through various stages of discipline as unexcused absences increase, ultimately leading to termination if employees experience seven unexcused absences within a month period.

After the first time she left a message saying she was unable to come into work, her supervisor spoke with her and reminded her of the company policy. Her supervisor also explained to Jane that this absence would be considered unexcused. After repeated unexcused absences, Jane was terminated per company policy.

The employer should also provide the commission with a copy of the company policy and instances when the policy was explained to Jane, such as a signed acknowledgement from the employee handbook with this policy, issued to Jane. ABC Company has experienced a slowdown of widget orders over the last few months.

Because of this loss of business, ABC Company can no longer afford to employ all 10 widget makers it has on staff, nor does it have enough work for these widget makers to perform. ABC Company has decided to lay off a widget maker, and John is notified that his employment will be ending due to lack of work. In this scenario, John has lost work through no fault of his own.

He has a legal right to unemployment. Sally has been unhappy working for ABC Company for some time. Because of this, she has decided to seek employment elsewhere.

Sally receives an offer of employment from another employer and submits a letter of resignation to ABC Company. A week after leaving ABC Company, Sally learns that her offer with her new employer has been rescinded. She files for unemployment. In this scenario, Sally has willfully left her employment with ABC Company, and ABC Company should participate in the fact-finding hearing and explain to the unemployment commission that Sally would still be employed with ABC Company had she not voluntarily resigned from her position.

Bob is currently going through a divorce and now has child care issues that he did not experience previously. He has asked ABC Company if it would consider reducing his hours from full time to part time so that he can care for his children.

ABC Company agrees to the reduction in work hours. Once Bob begins working the new schedule, he realizes that he cannot afford to work only 20 hours per week.

He files for partial unemployment. Overpayments Identifying unemployment scams Handbook for unemployed workers Request your unemployment records Layoff assistance for workers. Information for unemployed workers. When will I know my weekly benefit amount?

How much can I get each week? How can I estimate my weekly benefit amount? When you file your claim here: Your base year is the blue-shaded area. Estimate your own WBA Identify the two highest quarters in your base year. Generally earnings need to be reported for the week you earn them in, not in the week you are paid the earnings. This is usually a monetary cap, which is calculated by multiplying your weekly benefit by This means that if you qualify for partial unemployment , you could benefit for more than 26 weeks.

However, you may not qualify for full coverage. Minimum and maximum weekly benefits are set by law. The benefit ended July The weekly benefit amount in Alaska is calculated via a benefits chart based on your total income in 4 of the last 5 quarters.

The weekly benefit amount in California is calculated via a benefits chart based on your earnings in the highest quarter of the past four quarters. If you collect income while on unemployment benefits, Florida will disregard 8 x Federal hourly minimum wage 7.