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Hi! My husband was discharged (honorable) from the army November 2012. His goal was to go back to school so he received unemployment benefits for about 3 months until he started school under the GI Bill. 4 years later, he is about to graduate and of course our first choice would be for him to get a job right away. If that doesn't happen, I'm wondering if he could resume his unemployment benefits if we need to since the military was still his last job.
No. Once you file a claim (military discharge) he would have been paid just like any other employment. So, once the benefit year November 2012 to October 2013, it ended, it's gone, it's over.
Unfortunately, many veterans were unaware that under unemployment from a military discharge, the veteran attending school under the GI Bill for a new career, VA Vocational Rehabilitation retraining, or other US government sponsored retraining programs, you would have been allowed to continue collecting while attending school until the benefits were exhausted. However once the benefit year of the unemployment claim expires it's done with and is gone.
In order to qualify for unemployment now, he would need to have new employment and a new qualifying separation.
Since the military does not pay into any State's unemployment system, when a person is discharged and files for unemployment, the DOD reimburses the state for the money being spent along with an administrative fee to cover the states administration of the claim. All aspects of the continued claim process is based on state regulations. However, the DOD has a carve-out for those attending training to enable them to have a civilian career. If the military position is not readily transferable to a civilian career, or your military career is no longer viable due to injuries from military service, you are being Re-Trained and this is the one and only known exception to the No Unemployment rule for schooling.
Now, before you can just expect continued payment, you must have gotten approval the same as a civilian attending training under a jobs skills program. This is where most go wrong, they attend without ever getting the authorization so their benefit ends. Another main reason is most just ask if they can get unemployment while attending school. That is a No. But, if its an approved skills based training (just like their civilian counterparts) the answer is yes if approved.
Now all this really doesn't matter as his ability to collect after discharge ended in 2013 anyway. It also is now a non-issue since Congress passed the NDAA amendment that included the end of paying unemployment benefits for discharged veterans who are also collecting a monthly stipend/living expense beyond tuition. That door to double dipping is now close and locked.
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