Many people have asked about the difference between becoming eligible for Unemployment and staying eligible in order to get Unemployment payments. Hopefully, this post will clarify any confusion.

Getting Approved for Unemployment

You can get approved for regular Unemployment (UI) if you:

• Were laid off from a job
• Your pay was reduced (eg: your pay was reduced from $20/hour to $15/hour)
• Your hours were cut (eg: your hours were cut from 30 hours a week to 20 hours a week – thus also causing a reduction in overall pay)

You can get approved for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) if you:

• Quit your job due to Covid (for example you had to quarantine or you are the primary caregiver for a child whose place of childcare closed due to Covid-19)
• Lost all your Self-Employed work
• Lost some of your Self-Employed work
• Were scheduled to start a job or self-employed work, but couldn’t start due to Covid-19
• Have one of the UI eligibility above, but don’t have enough earnings from your previous job to qualify for UI

IMPORTANT: Your eligibility reason to get approved for Unemployment has to happen only once.  That reason needs to have happened at whichever date you are starting your Unemployment claim, not today!

In other words, if you are applying today (October 20) with an effective start date of March 15, then your ‘eligibility reason’ needs to have happened then, not today.  So, for example, if you lost your job for two weeks back on March 15, you can still be eligible for Unemployment if you apply today, in October, even if you got your job back before the end of March.

Read more:

• Watch: Unemployment: Are you eligible?
• Unemployment>Eligibility
• Difference Between Regular Unemployment and PUA – Why Less Than $182
• Am I on PUA or Regular Unemployment?

Eligibility for Weekly Payments – Staying on Unemployment

Once you become eligible for Unemploymentmt – either UI or PUA, you DO NOT need to have that “eligibility reason” in order to be eligible for weekly payments. For example, if you quit your job due to catching Covid, and you are feeling better, or your child’s school is now open, you can still collect Unemployment, even though your original eligibility factor no longer exists.

Once you are deemed “eligible” and are approved for Unemployment, the next step is actually getting paid for each week that you are on Unemployment. Each week is separate!  If you are not eligible for one week, you can still be eligible the next week and so on.

These are the 4 main things that need to apply to you each week in order to receive payments for that week. All 4 need to apply to you each week. If even only one doesn’t apply to you, you are not eligible for that week. Though as mentioned, you can still be eligible for other weeks.

1. You didn’t refuse any work that week
   If you refused a work offer without good cause, that will cause you to not be eligible for Unemployment. If you refused a job for a Covid-related reason, then if you are on PUA, you are still eligible. (In fact, the weekly certification specifically asks if you refused a job other than for a Covid-related reason.) If you are on regular Unemployment (UI) and you report that you refused a job offer, then you will receive a questionnaire asking why you refused work, and when you respond that it was due to Covid, you should be moved over from UI to PUA. If this is indeed the case, it is very beneficial to the employer because employers are not charged for PUA claims.
   This actually can affect your eligibility for future weeks as well. If you refused a job offer without good reason, you will likely not be eligible for payment in future weeks either.
2. You worked 3 or fewer days that week
   Every day that you work removes 25% from your weekly benefit amount (1 day = 25%, 2 days = 50%, 3 days = 75% and 4 days = 100%). Even if you worked 3 days in a week and as such lose 75% of your weekly benefit amount, you will still get 100% of any bonus for that week ($600 April-July 26 and $300 July 27-Sept 6).
   
   
3. You weren’t paid more than $504
   Unlike #2 above, as long as you earned under $504, it does not make a difference if you earned $1 or $503. Once you cross over the $504 mark, you completely lose your Unemployment payment for that week.
   Notes:
   – If you are on UI, you can earn more than $504 in self-employment and still be eligible.
   – If you are on PUA, then in addition to not earning more than $504 in regular employment you cannot earn more than  $504 net income, in self-employment. If you are not sure how much your net income would be after business expenses, speak with an accountant. To understand your self-employment net income from 2019, look at your Schedule C. The difference between line 1 and line 31 is your “business expenses” and line 31 is your net income.
   
   
4. You were “ready, willing and able” to work
   As with #2 above, every day that you were not “ready, willing and able” to work removes 25% of your weekly benefit amount. If you were out of the country, the DOL generally considers that as not “ready, willing and able” to work.

So basically, if you worked throughout the pandemic and earned over  $504/week, even if you lost work, there is no point signing up for Unemployment because there will be no week that you can actually get paid.

If, on the other hand, there were some weeks that you did not earn $504, then you can sign up for Unemployment and only get paid for those weeks.

Searching for Work
Besides the eligibility criteria needed for each week, there is also the “work search requirement”, which is unclear during Covid.

Read the Work Search FAQ from the DOL.

Here are some scenarios where you most likely don’t need to look for work:

1. You were laid off from a business that either closed or reduced operations due to Covid and you were told that you will have your job back when the business you work for reopens or returns to normal operations.
2. You are self-employed and cannot run your “business” due to Covid-19 and you will start working once your industry is able to do business.
3. You were eligible due to being the primary caregiver with a child whose school is closed due to Covid and the school is still closed.

If none of the above applies to you, then it is a good idea to search for work each week and keep a work record. Read ‘I heard I need to look for work while getting unemployment. Do I?‘ for more details.

Read more:

• Certifying Weekly Benefits
• Guide How to Get Missing Unemployment Payments – NY
• Unemployment Roundup
• Work Search FAQ from the DOL