Opening claims too early or late is a common problem that delays claims. You must open your claim during the exact week (Sunday through Saturday) when you are first unemployed.

Don’t open too early
Did you just work a full week, and now it’s Friday night and you’d like to get a jump-start on your unemployment claim for next week? STOP! It is too early to open a claim. You must wait for the next calendar week to begin (Sunday).

Don’t open too late
Do you already have a claim that will reactivate now that you are unemployed again? Filing a weekly claim is NOT the first thing you need to do! You first need to REOPEN your claim, and you must do that during the first week you are unemployed. It is very similar to opening a new claim.

After you reopen your claim during the week when you are first unemployed, you will file weekly claims for payments starting with the upcoming Sunday. You cannot go directly into the weekly claims process without first reopening your claim.

• If you open your claim too early, your first week will be denied because you were not unemployed. This causes delays.


• If you open too late, you will potentially miss receiving one week of benefits. You then would have to request backdating for your claim to receive that first benefit payment (or waiting week if it is a new claim).


• A claim’s effective date is always the date of the of the most recent Sunday. You cannot make a claim effective for an upcoming week or a past week. You must open it during the correct week.


• Claims are valid for one full year from the date you first opened it.


• You have Sunday through Saturday of each week to file a claim, no matter what type of claim is due (new claims, reopened claims, weekly claims).


• Filing a new or reopened claim will not generate a benefit payment. These claims will only notify L&I that you expect to start filing for benefits, which allows the system to “get ready.” Filing a weekly claim after the end of each week you are unemployed is how you request a benefit payment. To do so, login and look for the link titled “Weekly Claim Certification.”


• See the Department’s ​Visual Guide to opening unemployment claims at the right time.

If after reading this explanation, you are still unsure of whether you are eligible for a week of benefits, it is better to file your claim and let the Department make that determination.

Usually, a person who worked at least 80% of his or her normal hours in a week is still considered fully employed for that week. The Department will perform a calculation to confirm. If your gross earnings for the week are equal to or higher than the combination rate on your claim, then you are ineligible to receive benefits for the week. There is a calculator on the Department’s website you can use to do this calculation and learn more: Partial Benefit Credit

A bus driver works full-time, 6 hours per day, Monday through Friday, and makes $25 per hour in gross pay. He has an existing UC claim with a weekly benefit rate (WBR) of $400 per week.

• His partial benefit credit (PBC) is $120 (30% of $400).
• His combination rate is $520, ($400 WBR plus $120 PBC).

Let’s see if he would be eligible for benefits in two different scenarios:

• During a particular week the bus driver worked 3 days (18 hours) and earned $450. He was “unemployed” that week and eligible for benefits because his earnings were less than his combination rate. He is eligible for $70 in benefits ($520 – $450 = $70) that week, but he must first reopen his claim during that week​ (i.e., the week he became unemployed) before he can file for that week beginning on Sunday receive the $70 in benefits.


• In his last week before the school break the bus driver worked 4 days (24 hours) and earned $600. He was not “unemployed” that week because his $600 in earnings were more than his $520 combination rate. He would not be eligible for any benefits for that week even though he only worked 24 hours instead of his typical 30 hours. He should reopen his claim the following week when he will be unemployed.

Unemployment Compensation is not Workers Compensation. They are completely different programs. Workers’ Compensation is for workers who are injured on the job and receive medical benefits and indemnity payments for being unable to work.​

The Department asks this question to see if your employer provided you with “reasonable assurance” that you would return to your job in the academic term, which might disqualify you from unemployment benefits. This disqualification ONLY applies to employees of educational institutions whether they are drivers, lunchroom aides, crossing guards, etc. It does NOT apply to drivers who work for contract driving companies. Drivers who work directly for schools are evaluated to see if they qualify for unemployment under Section 402.1 of the UC Law.

This question is just for statistical purposes, but please note that all are “School Bus Drivers” even if you technically work driving a van or other vehicle that is not an actual bus.

This is another statistical question. You can use “Bus Drivers, School or Special Client” or type in the numerical code “53302200.”

​​As long as you are not continuing to work part-time for your employer for the time being, then you would say “no.” This question is not related to whether or not you will be working for the same employer when they recall you. This is asking about your work schedule right now.​

Hopefully you are opening your claim during the correct week: the first week in which you are actually unemployed​. If you did not work at all during the week, then this will be zero. If you worked part-time, enter the gross amount of earnings you made that week (hourly wage times the number of hours).

​​Layoff, furlough, and lack of work are all the same.​

​​A “Voluntary Layoff Option” is a very specific action that employers use when downsizing their workforce. This is not related to school-related holidays and between-term layoffs, so this does not apply in that situation. In this situation you would indicate “NO”.​

Having a recall date from your employer is different from the Reasonable Assurance issue discussed above. Even if you work for a contractor, you may still have a recall date from your employer for when the break ends. This date is important because it affects other requirements of the UC Law.

An exact recall date in writing will exempt you from the following requirements for unemployment compensation:

• Registering for work in the PA CareerLink system within 30 days of opening your claim;
• Searching for work each week; and
• Being called to in-person reemployment sessions at the PA CareerLink®

To be exempt from work registration and work search requirements:

• Your employer must provide this date to you in writing; and
• Your employer must provide an exact date

To be fully exempt, a verbally given date is not enough. An estimate or a range of dates is also not acceptable.

If you have a recall date in writing from your employer, the most critical actions for you to take are to:

• Answer “Yes” to the question “Did your employer tell you that you would be recalled to your job?”;
• Enter the exact date of recall into the “Anticipated recall date” field; and
• Answer “Yes” to “Do you have a recall notice in writing from your employer?”

No other actions are necessary regarding your recall date, but these three steps are critical. Do not skip them. If these fields in the system are not complete, then you will likely receive a determination denying benefits for not registering for work, as well as receiving call-in notices for a RESEA session at a PA CareerLink®. ​

• Do NOT mail your recall notice to Labor & Industry. Please save yourself a stamp!​ (This letter can be in any format but is often provided to you by your employer on a form UC-1609.)
• Keep your written recall date on file in case the Department ever requests it from you.
• If you wish, you may upload a copy of your notice to your dashboard as your own way of keeping it on file. Staff do not review these; denials are issued based on a crossmatch between systems, which uses the date you entered in your application.
• If your recall date changes, let the Department know right away (call, email, chat). Benefits are held after the date you provided unless you tell the Department that the date has changed.
• If you no longer have a valid recall date, you must register for work, search for work, and could potentially have other requirements you must meet to obtain UC benefits.

If you wish to use the online UC Benefits system for opening and managing your unemployment claim, you will need to have your identity verified. There is an automated identity verification process which will appear from a company called “ID.me.” A few helpful notes about using ID.me:

• Two people cannot share the same email address for ID.me verification.
• ID.me accounts are reusable, so if you’ve already been verified elsewhere (such as when filing your taxes with the IRS, or getting benefits from the Veterans’ Administration, etc.), you would use the same ID.me login you already have.

The login for the UC Benefits system is specific to that system. This information is not the same as what you would use for ID.me or for other state services which may use a Keystone ID or Keystone Login. You will create – or reuse, if you already have an account – the information specifically in this system.

Even if you wish to be paid by Direct Deposit, everyone is required to review the debit card disclosures and accept their terms by checking the box. This is because a debit card may automatically be issued to you if there is ever a problem with your bank account.