Unemployment Insurance Information

Claims Information (continued)

Establishing a UI Claim

Eligibility Requirements
Potentially eligible claimants must have become unemployed through no fault of their own. All claimants, except those who are still attached to an employer's payroll, must (a) register for work with the Employment Security Commission; (b) file a claim for each calendar week of benefits they request, and (c) actively seek work during any week for which unemployment benefits are claimed. Actively seeking work means doing those things that an unemployed person who wants to work would normally do. Unless otherwise instructed, a claimant must seek work in person on two different days with at least two different employers and must keep a written record of all work search contacts for periodic review by Commission staff.

Claimants who are enrolled in Approved Commission Training may be exempted from these work search requirements.

Reporting Earnings
A claimant must report gross earnings (even though not yet received) made during each week that benefits are claimed. The claimant must also report any other income received, except Social Security benefits.

Pensions from base period employers are deductible and must be reported when an initial claim is filed or upon receipt of a pension. Any subsequent changes in the pension amount must be reported.

Employers who file attached claims for their employees who are working less than three customarily scheduled workdays (or less than 60% of the customarily scheduled work hours) must question those employees and report all income received by the employees during the payroll week (including earnings from other sources).

Claimants are encouraged to accept "pick-up" or part-time work while looking for permanent, full-time employment.

Earnings Allowance
The earnings allowance is the maximum amount a claimant may earn in a compensable week before the weekly benefit amount is reduced. It is computed by dividing the claimant's high quarter wages by 13, multiplying this result by ten percent (0.10), and rounding any amount which is not a whole dollar down to the next lower whole dollar.

For example, the earnings allowance for a claimant with high quarter wages of $3,639.38 is computed below:

Earnings over this amount are deducted dollar for dollar from weekly benefits.

Ineligible Amount
Ineligible amount is determined by adding the claimant's earning allowance to the claimant's weekly benefit amount. If, in a given week, the earnings reported by the claimant equal or exceed the ineligible amount, then the claimant cannot receive any unemployment benefits for that week.

Maximum Weekly Benefit Information
In accordance with North Carolina General Statute 96-12:

The average weekly insured wage in 2010 was $784.37. Based on this amount the following figures are effective for benefit years beginning on or after August 1, 2011.

The minimum total insured wages for establishing a subsequent benefit year are $4,706.22. The minimum total insured wages must fall between the beginning of the prior benefit year and the start of the new benefit year.

**Those claimants already receiving benefits will continue to receive benefits pursuant to their initial claim and are not eligible for an increase in their weekly benefit amount. Those individuals filing claims after Aug. 1 are eligible for the maximum weekly benefit amount as set forth above.

The average unemployment insurance benefit in North Carolina for the past year is $282.35

Reporting Job Offers, changes in Pension Status, or School Attendance.
Claimants must notify the Employment Security Commission of any job offers they have received, and if there have been changes in any retirement pension. Also, it is the claimant's responsibility to inform the Employment Security Commission of any changes in school attendance that may affect availability for work.

Denial of Benefits
Any individual who quits a job, is fired from a job, refuses a referral to a job, refuses a job, refuses to enter Approved Commission Training, or fails to complete Approved Commission Training may be denied unemployment benefits.

Benefits are denied to any claimant who fails to meet the weekly eligibility conditions. This denial may be time certain (applied only to the week or weeks in which the condition/restriction existed) or indefinite (applied to each week until the condition/restriction is removed).

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Unemployment Insurance Information