Waiting Period
To satisfy a waiting period requirement, no benefits are payable for your first 7 days of unemployment in your first claim in a period of continuing unemployment, unless you have already served a waiting period in the benefit year. Benefits are payable for each remaining day of unemployment in your first claim. For example, if you claim all 14 days in your first claim, you will be paid benefits for 7 days. If you are eligible and your claims are continuous from one benefit year to another, you generally will serve only one waiting period in your period of continuing unemployment.
A period of continuing unemployment means a period of time for which you file claims for unemployment benefits where (1) each claim has 5 or more valid days of unemployment and (2) each claim begins within 15 days after the previous claim ends. For example, claims for the 14-day periods beginning June 17 and July 15 are in the same period of continuing unemployment. The second claim starts within 15 days after June 30, the last day of the claim period beginning June 17. So benefits are payable for days over 4 in the claim period beginning July 15. If the second claim period began July 16, however, a 7-day waiting period would apply because that claim would start the first period of continuing unemployment in the new benefit year.
If you have at least 5, 6, or 7 days of unemployment in a 14-day period, you should file a claim for benefits. Even though no benefits would be payable if the claim is your first claim in the benefit year, your claim must be filed in order to satisfy the waiting period requirement. After your first claim, benefits will be paid for all days over 4 for other claims in the benefit year.
Normal Benefits
You can receive normal benefits for as many as 130 days (26 weeks) in a benefit year, but your benefits cannot be more than your base year wages counting not more than a prescribed amount for any month. Benefit rights are exhausted when a benefit year ends (normally June 30) or earlier if benefit payments equal base year creditable earnings.
Example:
When determining maximum normal benefits payable in the general benefit year, beginning July 1, 2021, we count monthly earnings up to $2,138.00 for months in base year 2020. The monthly compensation base for base year 2021 is $2,209.00.