I took some time off over the Thanksgiving holidays as I hope a lot of you were able to do but of course have been digging out over the last week.  Isn't that how it always goes?  So, I apologize for being neglectful with the blog recently. 

Did you know that all states provide for the payment of unemployment benefits when underemployment reaches a certain level. In most states, a worker is partially unemployed during a week of less than full-time work if earnings from the regular employer (or odd-job earnings) are less than the weekly benefit amount (WBA).

Most states use the individual’s earnings to determine partial benefits and not the number of hours worked in a given week. Individuals may be found eligible for benefits in all states due to reduced hours or temporary layoffs of even just a couple days.

How Do States Determine Eligibility for Partial Unemployment?

Well, each state has a specific method of determining eligibility for Partial Unemployment. The calculations are typically based on the individual’s earnings, state-specific disregarded earnings, and the individual’s calculated WBA. The disregarded earnings are established by each state and may be a specific dollar amount, a portion of the individual’s earnings, or a portion of the individual’s WBA which gets disregarded from their actual income for that week.

The amount of benefits for a week of partial unemployment is usually the WBA less wages earned, after the earnings disregard.

Example:

In the state of Maryland the earnings disregarded in computing partial week benefits is $100. This means if an individual has an established WBA of $300, and they earn $275 during a partial week, the state will disregard the first $100 of their earnings. This leaves $175 of recognized income for that week. This $175 will be reduced from the WBA, leaving total a total benefit payment of $125.  

If you have employees collecting partial unemployment benefits, you can expect your state to request earnings information more frequently.  You also want to make sure you are checking your charge statements carefully to ensure you are not being charged the full WBA.

If you are interested in getting information specific to the states in which you do business, contact Sheila Gramann at sheila.gramann@talx.com or give her a call at (314) 214-7387.  Tell her you got her name off of Tammy's blog and she'll be happy to help.

Tammy Mullin