Unemployment insurance is a small source of income for workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Workers who quit or who are self-employed are generally not eligible for unemployment insurance and must provide their own rainy-day funds to cover situations where no work is available. Unemployment insurance, for those who are eligible, is paid to workers by state governments from a fund of unemployment taxes collected from employers.
Benefits
Eligibility for unemployment insurance, benefit amounts and the length of time benefits are available are determined by state law and vary depending on where you live. Information on eligibility for state unemployment compensation is available on the state unemployment office website for your state. The unemployment compensation you will receive will depend upon the amount you earned while working. In addition, there are eligibility requirements to qualify for unemployment benefits including working a certain number of weeks.
Regular unemployment benefits are paid for a maximum of 26 weeks, less in some states. In many states, the compensation will be half your earnings, up to a maximum amount. The maximum varies by location. In order to receive unemployment compensation, workers must meet the unemployment eligibility requirements for wages earned or time worked during an established (one year) period of time.In addition, workers must be determined to be unemployed through no fault of their own. There are no federal unemployment benefit programs in effect. Those benefits, known as an unemployment extension, provided additional weeks of unemployment compensation for the long-term unemployed. Extended unemployment benefits, including Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) and Extended Benefit (EB) programs were available to workers who had exhausted regular state unemployment insurance benefits during periods of high unemployment prior to 2014.
A person who becomes unemployed must meet two requirements to be considered for unemployment insurance. An unemployed individual has to meet state-mandated thresholds for either wages earned or time worked in a stated base period. The state must also determine that he is unemployed through no fault of his own. A person can file unemployment insurance claims If these two requirements are fulfilled.
An individual files his claim in the state in which he worked and subsequently lost his job. He can file his claim by phone or over the Internet at a state's unemployment insurance agency. It takes two to three weeks for processing and approval of a claim. After a person is approved, he must either file weekly or bi-weekly claims that test his employment situation and whether or not he remains eligible for payment. An unemployed worker cannot refuse work during a week, and on each weekly or bi-weekly claim, he must report any income made, even freelance work. Failure to do so can result in ineligibility. Continuing claims refers to unemployed workers that qualify for benefits under unemployment insurance. In order to be included in continuing claims, the person must have been covered by unemployment insurance and be currently receiving benefits. Data on unemployment claims is published by the Department of Labor on a weekly basis, allowing for frequent updates on the levels of unemployment.
