As the recession continues to affect millions of Americans, new workers are laid off every month creating a new group of individuals that are eligible to file for unemployment benefits. Unemployment can be a stressful time and it is easy to see why people would be distracted when trying to file for unemployment benefits. The truth of the matter is that filing for unemployment is a rather easy task that can be completed over the phone, via mail, or on the internet. Using the internet to file your unemployment claim is often the quickest and easiest way to start collecting your unemployment benefits.
If you are looking to file an unemployment claim you must realize that there are certain requirements that must be met in order for you to be eligible to file for unemployment.
- First, you must have worked and received enough wages in the last 18 months.
- Second, you have to be able to work right now if you were offered a job and actively seeking employment.
If you do not meet both of these requirements you will be deemed ineligible for unemployment benefits
After you meet to the requirements listed above you will need a bit of information in order to correctly file your unemployment claim. The first bit of information that you will need is your personal information including social security number, full name including any nicknames, initials and maiden names you have used in the past 18 months, mailing address, telephone number, and driver’s license or ID card. If you are not a U.S. citizen you will need your alien registration number and expiration date.
The second set of information you will need to file an unemployment claim is about your previous employer. This information includes your most recent employer’s name even if it was a temporary or part-time job, last employer’s complete mailing address including zip code, phone number, name of your last supervisor, and the reason you are no longer working for that employer. If you had more than one employer in the last 18 months you need to provide information about all of your previous employers. This includes the names of all your employers over the last year and a half, start and end dates for each position, and gross earnings from each employer along with how you were paid i.e. hourly, weekly, monthly, salary.
When applying for unemployment benefits it is important that you allow ample time for your claim to be processed before you call the unemployment office looking for answers about your claim. It can take up to 10 days to process your unemployment claim, so you do not want to call the offices before that 10 day window is up. Millions of new Americans are becoming eligible for unemployment benefits every month. These increasing numbers are placing a high demand on the workers at the unemployment offices, which is why it is important for you to allow them enough time to file and process your claim before making any inquiries about your claims’ status.
Each state control’s their own unemployment office, so go to Google and search for your state’s unemployment office to begin.
