Unemployment benefits help individuals who are between jobs to make ends meet. However, before you collect a dime of benefits, your state's labor office must verify you meet the qualifications. Even after you begin collecting benefits, you may become ineligible if you don't continue to meet the qualifications. The specific qualifications by state, so it's important that you contact your state's labor office for the ones that apply to you. There are, however, certain qualifications that generally apply to everyone.
Still Working
The first qualification requirement is that you be unemployed. The term "unemployed," however, may mean different things in different states. In addition to the traditional completely unemployed status, states often also consider partial unemployment. Partial unemployment is when you do have some income but it's less than full-time work hours and you earn less than your eligible weekly benefit amount. If you're not totally unemployed with no income or able to meet your state's partial unemployment qualifications, you're ineligible for benefits.
Ineligible Job Separation
Another major qualification for unemployment is that you be unemployed through no fault of your own. In almost all cases, this means you must be terminated or leave for reasons beyond your control. For example, if your employer lays you off due to the company's finances, you're eligible for benefits. On the other hand, if you were terminated for failure to do your job, you likely can't collect unemployment. You also won't be able to collect unemployment benefits if you leave you job voluntarily.
Not Looking for New Employment
Once you're approve for benefits, you may still become ineligible for unemployment if you're not making a significant effort to look for new full-time employment. Although all states require you to keep a record of your job search, the content of the records may vary depending on the state. The amount of time you must spend looking for new work varies, too. If the state requests that you show your job search records and you can't provide satisfactory information, you're ineligible to collect benefits.
Maxed Benefit Amount
Each unemployment claim has a maximum benefit amount --- often referred to as MBA or total claim benefits --- that caps the amount of money you may collect. Each state has its own formula for calculating the maximum benefit, but the formula always has a basis in the amount of wages you earned in the 15 to 18 months before you started collecting benefits. Once you've collected your total claim benefits, you're ineligible to collect benefits until the next benefit year.
Tags: your state, become ineligible, benefit amount, claim benefits, collect benefits, collect unemployment, collecting benefits
