How many weeks must I work to be eligible for unemployment?

by Tim
(Glens Falls ,NY)

How many weeks must I work to be eligible? What constitutes a week?



The minimal monetary eligibility requirements are base on wages earned in "quarters" of the base period .. so it really has nothing to do with weeks worked unless you are referring to "serving a disqualification". I realize this is confusing, but the monetary entitlement chartbook at the the USDOL may help you sort this out for yourself .. given that you know when you worked and how much you made.

The hitch in the git-a-long is that most states additionally require a percentage of the high quarter earnings to exist outside the high quarter in the base period (which is nothing more that the period of time they look back at your earnings).

If I were to try to figure this out .. I would want to know the dates of all employment in the last eighteen months .. and how much you averaged per week in all employment.

And of course the date you filed a claim because that date is relevant to the establishment of the base period.