- Regular unemployment compensation (UC) lasts 26 weeks or six months. To qualify you must be partially or totally unemployed and have an approved job separation. Failing to meet your weekly requirements, such as not filing a claim or not actively looking for work, disqualifies you from receiving benefits.
- If you exhaust your regular UC, the law provides for additional weeks of benefits during periods of high unemployment. The basic extension of benefits lasts an additional 13 weeks; however, some states voluntarily increased the number to 20 weeks. Some other states that have experienced a decline in their unemployment rates, such as a Pennsylvania, no longer offer extended benefits. Pennsylvania will no longer pay extended benefits after June 11, 2011.
- Unemployed workers may collect one of four tiers of emergency unemployment compensation (EUC). The extension ranges from 34 to 53 weeks and in some cases 99 weeks for states with high unemployment rates. Tier 1 EUC lasts 20 weeks, and Tier 2 entitles you to 14 more weeks of unemployment comensation. You may qualify for an additional 13 weeks if you live in a state with an unemployment rate of 6 percent or higher and six weeks beyond that if the unemployment rate in your state is 8.5 percent or above.
- To qualify for EUC, you must be partially or totally unemployed. In addition, you must not be eligible for regular unemployment compensation in any other state. Check with the Department of Labor in your state to determine your eligibility. The date your EUC begins depends on when you last exhausted your regular unemployment compensation.
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