Understanding Unemployment Eligibility

Under the state unemployment laws that are in effect in much of the country and under federal guidelines, there are many Americans that are out of work but who do not qualify to receive unemployment benefits under unemployment insurance. Unemployment eligibility may be denied to part time workers, temporary workers, and workers who are self-employed.

Many of the nation's unemployment laws require that the person applying for unemployment eligibility must not have become unemployed through any fault of their own. The most common reasons a person can apply for unemployment eligibility is through layoffs.

If a person is discovered to meet the requirements under unemployment laws to obtain unemployment eligibility, their unemployment benefits are determined based on the individual's reported quarterly earnings. A person's unemployment benefits are determined by the amount of earnings and the number of quarters the person has worked. If a person is found to have been the unemployment eligibility requirements, the normal weekly payment is thirty six percent of the individual's average weekly wages.

In order to establish that unemployment eligibility requirements have been met, the person seeking to satisfy unemployment eligibility will have to initiate an application for benefits through a state unemployment agency, although in some cases the unemployment application is initiated by the former employer.

Most unemployment laws only allow benefits to be applied for at the beginning of the week, on a Monday. There rest of the week is usually spent as a "waiting period," with the second week representing a time lag between when unemployment eligibility begins and benefits are first paid.

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