File a Biweekly Claim

After filing your initial application for UC benefits, you will receive a Claims Confirmation letter in the mail. This letter will provide you with your 4 digit PIN# necessary to file your biweekly claim. This letter will also provide the date you will file your first biweekly claim, which is generally the second Sunday after completing your initial application for benefits.

When you file a biweekly claim, you will be filing for two benefit weeks at a time. A benefit week is a calendar week that begins Sunday and ends Saturday. The date of the Saturday is called the compensable week ending (CWE) date. Although you will file for two weeks at one time, you will certify your eligibility for each week separately.

NOTE: THE DEPARTMENT CANNOT PAY YOU FOR WEEKS UNLESS A TIMELY BIWEEKLY CLAIM HAS BEEN FILED.

The best way to file your biweekly claim is online from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday, and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.

You also can file by phone by using the automated PA Teleclaims (PAT) system. Call 888-255-4728 (TTY services for the deaf and hard of hearing: 888-334-4046), from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday, and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Filing Biweekly Claims by TTY

You may file your biweekly claims using TTY. More information on TTY filing is available here.

Fraudulent EUC and FAC Overpayments

Effective 04/29/2015, in accordance with Public Law 112-96, claimants overpaid because of having fraudulently received federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) and Federal Additional Compensation (FAC) benefits, will begin to have 100 percent, rather than only 50 percent, of their weekly benefits they currently qualify to receive applied to recoup their fraud EUC or FAC overpayments. Such claimants will not receive any benefits until they fully repay any outstanding fraudulent EUC and FAC overpayments. This recoupment action cannot be appealed or waived.

How to File a Biweekly Claim by Telephone

How to File a Biweekly Claim by Mail

Receiving Benefit Payments

Benefit payments are issued by direct deposit or debit card.

Waiting Week

The first week of the benefit year that you are unemployed and eligible for benefits is called the "waiting week." No UC is payable for the waiting week. You must claim and serve the waiting week after you have filed an application for benefits.

Compensable Week

All weeks of unemployment in Pennsylvania are based on a calendar week; that is, seven continuous days beginning with a Sunday and ending with the following Saturday. The date of the Saturday is called the compensable week ending (CWE) date. Your earnings and eligibility during each calendar week determine whether you are entitled to benefits for that week and the amount of benefits payable to you.

Earnings

For each week that you are claiming benefits, you must report all work and gross wages earned during that week, regardless of when they are paid. Earnings can be anything you receive for work you do. Earnings include cash, credit on purchases, meal allowances, lodging, tips, Military Reserve or National Guard Pay for federal active duty and the two-week training camp, and any other kind of payment you receive in exchange for work or service you perform. You must also report any hours of work you missed when work was available to you and provide the gross wages you could have earned for the hours absent. You may be disqualified for benefits or prosecuted under the Pennsylvania UC Law if you fail to report all work and earnings, and any hours of work that you missed.

Partial Benefit Credit

You may earn up to 30 percent of your weekly benefit rate in each claim week before your earnings affect your weekly benefit payment. This 30 percent of your weekly benefit rate is your "partial benefit credit." Any amount that you earn over the partial benefit credit earned in a week will be deducted from your weekly benefit rate dollar-for-dollar. When reporting earnings for a calendar week, always give the actual amount of gross earnings. The amount is rounded up to the highest dollar amount (i.e., $76.07 = $77) when determining the amount payable for the week.

The following example shows how the partial benefit credit works:

A person becomes unemployed and applies for UC benefits, and is determined to have a weekly benefit rate of $200. With a weekly benefit rate of $200, the partial benefit credit is $60 (30% of $200 = $60). This means that the claimant could earn up to $60 and still receive the full $200 in UC benefits for that week.

After being unemployed for a few weeks, the claimant found a part-time job that pays $99.25 (rounded up to $100) a week. The claimant is required to report the gross amount of part-time earnings when filing for benefits. The easiest way to figure the amount of benefits payable to the claimant for the week is to add the weekly benefit rate and the partial benefit credit together and subtract the weekly earnings.

Example:

In this example, if the claimant had earnings of $260 or more in any given week, there would be no benefits payable for that week.

Partial earnings are to be reported in the week earned, not in the week in which they were paid. All earnings must be reported, even if they are less than the partial benefit credit.

Supplemental Unemployment Benefits

Employers and unions in certain industries have set up plans to pay supplemental unemployment benefits (SUB) to employees who are laid off. These benefits are paid from a privately-operated fund. Such benefits are in addition to UC benefits paid by the state. More detailed information about SUB can be obtained from the pamphlet UCP-8, State Unemployment Compensation and Supplemental Unemployment Benefit Plans.

Holiday Pay

Holiday pay must be reported for the week in which the holiday occurs, regardless of when paid. Holiday pay is always deductible using the same partial benefit credit formula described for receiving partial benefit credit.

Vacation Pay

It is your responsibility to report all vacation pay. If you receive vacation pay and you are in temporary layoff status with an expected date of recall, your vacation pay will be deducted from your benefits using the same partial benefit credit formula described for receiving partial benefit credit. However, if your layoff is permanent or indefinite, vacation payments will not be deducted from your weekly benefits.