Unemployment Eligibility? (2014, employment, school)

[Lindsey0508]

Hi all, I'm not looking to move to the area, I've lived here my entire life - but can't quite find the answer I'm looking for online, and the woman at the unemployment office really wasn't very bright to understand what I was trying to say…

I presently work for the State through Session - which ends April 15th… I'm trying to determine if I could be eligible for unemployment with a contractual position ending. Not sure if I should expect them to say 'you knew it was ending, you should've been prepared' or if they'll cover me… I'm already looking for work, but I planned to file for unemployment immediately just in case I can't find anything quickly.

Anyone have any experience here?

[River Runner]

I CANNOT speak to Maryland specifically. Specifics for eligibility can vary from state to state. I used to be an unemployment fraud investigator for another state so I can give you a little general information. Some of the things that are looked at include:

Your wages over a set period of time called the base period. For the state I lived in this was the last five completed quarters. So at this minute for example the last five completed quarters are Quarter 1 = October/November/December 2013, Quarter 2 = Jan/Feb/March 2014, Quarter 3 April/May/June 2014 Quarter 4= July/August/Sept 2014 and Quarter 5 = October/Nov/Dec 2014. Take the first four of those five and unemployment looks at the wages in that base period to see if you have the minimum amount per quarter and in total over the all four quarters. If you don't meet the minimum then you have a second chance where the oldest quarter is dropped off and the most recent added in and the wages there are reviewed to see if you meet the minimum. Again this may vary slightly from state to state as some states for example take more recent four quarters not the oldest of the quarters. This review of the wages earned is the very first eligibility piece known as being monetarily eligible. You can't qualify if you don't have the minimum in wages from qualifying employers (employers who are UI tax liable and pay into the unemployment tax fund). Your claim would end there until two things occur - the quarter changed and you had worked and earned additional wages. Then you could reapply and see if you were now eligible.

If you meet the monetary requirements from qualifying employers (employers paying into the unemployment tax fund) then there are other criteria to look at such as:

The reason you got done working: lack of work layoff, termination (fired), voluntary quit, medical. Since unemployment is meant as income for workers who have gotten done working through no fault of their own then the only one of these that may be automatically acceptable in this category is lack of work layoff meaning you got done because the employer ran out of work for you to do and had to lay you off. The other reasons for getting done will require additional information, likely a fact finding interview, followed by an eligibility decision rendered by the adjudicator who conducted the interview.

Some of the other factors reviewed include being able and available and looking for work. You will have to report if you received any severance pay, refused any offers of work, are attending school/training, and other similar information.

As you can see there are many different eligibility requirements one must meet in order to qualify for benefits. So it was not that the person you spoke with did not want to help it was just that they don't know if you will meet all the requirements to qualify before you apply. There is no way to check eligibility ahead of time. And you have to wait until you separate from employment to apply.

Hope I didn't completely confuse you and that something in there was helpful.