Unemployment With Military Retirement and Disability in Arkansas

by Charles
(Arkansas)

Hi,

I am a retired military receiving retirement income from the Air Force. I also receive compensation and pension disability income. Both total about $3K.

After retiring in Arkansas, I took a Civil Service position making $55K a year. It is what is called a term position lasting for 6 years. It appears that with the current economic situation, they may not be renewing the term position effectively laying me off.

I know that I have my pension/disability pay, but the loss of $55K annually is a huge loss and I'll need to find another job. My question is, will I qualify for unemployment in AR based on my background?

Charles



Hi Charles,

Yes you should be able to collect unemployment, but I'm sure you're wondering about what income is deductible from unemployment benefits.

I can help you with that by simply directing you to DOLETA.

You'll want to take a look at the information in the "non-monetary chartbook. Deductible income from unemployment benefits begins on page 34.

What found troubling for you .. in Arkansas was that in table 5-16 there was no X in the box for AR under this heading: Excludes Pensions Not Affected By BP Work

BP means base period .. or the period of time which determines qualifying wages.

I've assumed that your military pension is long gone out of your base period, but AR is a state that doesn't seem to care.

As far as the disability .. I am not aware that that is considered deductible in any state ..

If in fact they do deduct the retirement from your benefits and the retirement is less than the weekly benefit amount .. you would still receive a partial unemployment benefit.

Chris