Eligible to Receive Benefits?

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:

Register for work with the Employment Security Commission

File a claim for each calendar week of benefits they request

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.)

Basic Requirements for a Valid Claim

To establish a valid claim for unemployment insurance benefits, you must:

Be unemployed.

Register for work and file a claim for benefits.

Have been paid wages during two of the four quarters that make up your base period.

Meet all other monetary requirements.

What to Bring with You: Unemployment Office

To speed up processing of your claim, you should bring the following information and/or items with you:

Your Social Security card.

The names and addresses of your last two employers and the beginning and ending dates of your employment with them.

Employer names and addresses and employment dates of any work you performed in another state during the last 18 months.

Forms SF-8 and SF-50, if you worked for the Federal government during the last 18 months.

Copy 4 of your DD 214 Form if you were in military service during the last 18 months.

Proof of your immigration status if you are not a citizen of the United States.

What Are The Types of Unemployment Insurance?

There are two basic types of unemployment - separated and attached.

Separated unemployment occurs when an individual is out of work for an indefinite period and no longer has any attachment to the payroll or work force of any employing unit.

An employer is not required to provide any type of separation notice to an employee who is permanently or totally separated from the employer's payroll or work force.

Attached unemployment occurs when an individual retains an attachment to the payroll and work force of an employer, but works less than three customarily scheduled workdays (or less than 60 percent of the customarily scheduled work hours) during a payroll week because the employer could not provide full- time work.

Attached unemployment is also referred to as a "temporary layoff." In such cases, the employer must prepare an attached claim for the worker and send it to Raleigh for processing within 7 days of the last day of the payroll week.

Eligibility Requirements: Separated Claimants

As a separated claimant, you must meet the following requirements to be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits or "waiting period" credit:

Be unemployed through no fault of your own.

Register for work with the job Service.

File a claim for each calendar week of unemployment benefits you request.

Be able to accept any suitable work (part-time or full-time).

Be available to accept suitable work immediately.

Be actively looking for work and have no restrictions which would keep you from accepting suitable work during any week for which you claim unemployment benefits.

Actively seeking work is defined as doing those things that an unemployed person who wants to work would normally do. In the absence of more specific requirements, you must seek work in person on two different days with at least two different employers. You must keep a written record of all work search contacts for periodic review by Commission staff.

Note: A Employment Security Commission representative will help you develop a work search plan. You must meet the requirements of this work search plan for each week that you claim benefits. Getting a Severance Package?

A separation payment is any payment which was made, is being made, or will be made, to an individual as result of separation from last employment.

Separation pay may be in the form of wages in lieu of notice, accrued vacation pay, terminal leave pay, severance pay, or accumulated sick leave payment.

An individual who receives separation pay is not considered to be unemployed during the time period covered by the payment. If the employer does not specify a period of time covered by the separation payment, the Commission will use the claimant's previous pay rate to compute the covered time period.

The resulting number is added to the last day of actual work to determine the date the individual is no longer in pay status. Week-ends are not used in computing time covered by separation payments for persons who worked a five-day week.

The effective date of the new claim is the Sunday of the calendar week in which the number of days covered by the separation payment is less than five.

Note: Individuals receiving separation pay are considered to be unemployed during any week that they are registered at or attending an institution of higher learning, a secondary school or an approved Commission training program.

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