What is weekly benefit rate

The 4 quarters in your base period are the first 4 of the last 5 complete calendar quarters. Note: If you do not have enough wages to qualify for a claim using the base period described above, an "alternate base period" will be used. The alternate base period will be the four most recently completed calendar quarters before the week you filed your initial claim application for a new benefit year. Even if you have been paid enough wages from covered employment to qualify monetarily for benefits, actual payment will be dependent upon approval of all eligibility issues.

Washington Ave P. Click here for more information on these alternate base years, including if you are filing for Unemployment Insurance benefits after a period of disability. If your weekly benefit rate is less than the maxium weekly benefit rate and you have dependents , you may qualify for Dependency Benefits. Example 1: Steve worked 20 weeks during the base year period.

The maximum anyone can receive, regardless of how many weeks they worked during the base year or how much they earned, is 26 times the maximum weekly benefit rate. The annual claim period, or benefit year, is days from the date of your claim. If you return to work before you collect all the benefits in your claim, and then become unemployed again before the one-year anniversary of your claim, you should immediately reopen your claim.

We do not need to recalculate your weekly benefit rate in this case — it remains the same. Whether or not you have collected all the benefits in your claim, we stop paying benefits after one year has passed from the initial date of your claim.

If after this one-year anniversary you are unemployed, you need to file a new claim because we have to recalculate your weekly benefit rate based on the new base year period. In order to qualify for a new claim, you must have worked for a certain amount of time before you apply again. You need to have worked at least four weeks and earned six times your last claim's weekly benefit rate in covered employment. You must also meet all other eligibility rules.

We need all of this information to see if you are once again eligible for benefits. Click here to use our online tool to estimate your potential weekly benefit and maximum benefit amounts. If your work hours were reduced, but not completely cut, you may still be able to collect Unemployment Insurance benefits. NOTE : When claiming benefits, you must report your part-time wages when earned, even if you have not yet been paid. For full functionality of this site, you may need to upgrade your browser.

NOTE: This tool gives an estimate only. It does not guarantee that you will be eligible for benefits or a specific amount of benefits. You must file an Unemployment Insurance claim to find out if you are eligible and learn your actual benefit amount. Enter your gross earnings for each of the calendar quarters.

Gross earnings are your wages before taxes and other deductions. Read more about PUA.