1. Your past wages

To establish a payable claim, you must have received enough wages to meet the requirements. We use the wages paid to you during a recent 12-month period, called the base period, to calculate your benefit amounts. The base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you filed your claim. (Calendar quarters are three-month periods beginning with January, April, July, or October.) This means that when we calculate benefits we can't use earnings in the calendar quarter in which you filed your claim, or the quarter just before that. We base your weekly benefit amount on the highest quarter earnings in your base period. We divide that high quarter's total earnings by 25 to get your weekly benefit amount. We may have to change this amount to be inside the allowed range of benefit amounts in Texas. Your maximum, or total, benefit amount is the smaller of 26 times the weekly amount, or 27% of all your wages in the base period. Your weekly benefit amount will be between $59 and $406 depending upon the wages you earned.

To have a payable claim, the law requires that:

1. You have wages in at least two of the four base period calendar quarters being used, and
2. Your total base period wages are at least 37 times your weekly benefit amount, and
3. If you qualified for benefits on a prior claim, you must have earned 6 times your new weekly benefit amount since that time.

If you were out of work for a prolonged time during the base period because of a medically verifiable illness, injury, disability, or pregnancy, tell TWC because you may be able to use an alternate base period. If you meet the requirements, the alternate base period could use wages you received before your illness or injury. If you qualify under both base periods, you decide which base period to use.

2. Your separation from your last work

You must be unemployed or partially unemployed through no fault of your own to receive benefits. You should be prepared to present evidence that you tried to correct the problem before you quit.

Examples of qualifying reasons are:

• You were laid off due to lack of work.
• You are still working but the employer reduced your hours. (Your reduction in hours must not be the result of a disciplinary action.)
• You were fired without work-related misconduct. Examples of misconduct are a violation of company policy; violation of law; neglect or mismanagement of your position; or failure to perform your work acceptably if you are capable of doing so.
• You quit your job for a good well-documented work-related or medical reason. TWC may rule good cause if the work situation would cause a person who truly wants to keep the job to leave it.
  • Examples of possible good cause are unsafe working conditions or a significant change in hiring agreement, or not receiving payment for your work.
  • Examples of medical reasons are quitting on your doctor's advice, or quitting to care for a minor child, or quitting to care for a terminally ill spouse if there is no alternative care provider.
• You quit to protect yourself from family violence or stalking, evidenced by an active or recently issued protective order, a police record documenting family violence or stalking directed against you, or medical documentation of family violence against you.

In addition:

• If you quit to move with your husband or wife, you may be able to receive benefits after a disqualification of 6 to 25 weeks. This is a disqualification of both time and money, because we must subtract the number of disqualified weeks from your total benefits.
• If you quit to move with your military spouse, Texas lets you receive benefits without penalty if your spouse has a permanent change of station longer than 120 days, or a tour of duty longer than one year.

Is My Claim Confidential?

Yes.  However, we share some information with certain government agencies, when the law allows it.  These agencies use the information for programs like Medicaid, Food Stamps, and Child Support.  In addition, we share your information with Chase Bank; it manages your debit-card account.  The law allows TWC to release information if necessary.  Government agencies and Chase Bank must keep your claim information private.  TWC mails a written notice of your claim to your last employer and may communicate with your former employers about your claim.

When Will I Know My Benefit Amounts?

We will mail you a Statement of Benefits the same day we mail your benefit information packet. The Statement of Benefits tells you:

• The base period used for your claim
• The wages your employers reported paying you during each quarter of the base period
• Whether you are eligible for benefit amounts based on those wages

If you are eligible, it tells you the 12-month period your claim will be in effect, which is your benefit year. Your benefit year stays in effect for those dates even if you were disqualified or you have drawn all of your benefits. In other words, the money may run out before the year is over, and no more benefits will be available until the next benefit year. The statement also tells you your potential benefit amounts. The weekly benefit amount is the amount we can pay you for one full week of unemployment. Your maximum benefit amount is the total amount we can pay during your benefit year. Your weekly benefit amount will be between $59 and $406 depending upon the wages you earned.

Check to make sure that the Social Security Number (SSN) on the Statement of Benefits matches the number on your Social Security card. Look at the employer(s) and the wages listed for your base period, and check to see if all your wages for that period are included. As you check the wages, keep the following tips in mind:

• The wages are listed in the quarter in which they were paid to you, regardless of when you earned the money.
• The law does not allow us to use some types of wages to establish claims. Some examples are:
  • work as an elected official
  • work for a foreign government
  • work for a church
  • work for your son, daughter, husband, or wife
  • most work as an insurance agent or real estate broker
• The first Statement of Benefits usually does not include wages received from work for the federal government, military service, or work in other states. We will send you an adjusted Statement of Benefits when we receive records for those wages.

What if Wages Are Missing or Wrong?

You should call us if you believe there are any mistakes on the wages. The phone number is on the front of the Statement of Benefits. Mistakes might include missing wages, the wrong amount of wages, or wages that are not yours. Contact us quickly so we pay you the right amount of benefits--no less and no more than due. If you receive benefits based on incorrect wages or wages that aren't yours, you will have to repay any overpayments. You may request that we correct your wages at any time during your benefit year.

Once we determine your correct wages, we will send you a new Statement of Benefits. If you disagree with the new determination of your wages, you can appeal. There are instructions for appealing a determination later in this information.

Who Pays For UI Benefits?

Employers' UI taxes pay for your benefits. Unlike income tax or Social Security taxes, employers cannot deduct money from workers' wages to pay UI taxes. The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) administers the UI program in Texas.

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