Benefit payments are issued by direct deposit or debit card.
To verify your identity:
- Visit the UC dashboard and click the "Sign In/Register" button.
- Sign in with an existing PA account or click the "Create a User Account" button to register.
- Next, confirm your information.
- Confirm you are submitting a new Unemployment Compensation Claim.
- When prompted, click "Verify with ID.me" to create an ID.me account or use your existing account. Do NOT create a new ID.me account with different information if you already have a previously created ID.me account. If you have forgotten your ID.me login information, use the "forgot password" option on the sign-in page.
After you have filed an initial application, the first week of the benefit year for which you are unemployed and eligible for benefits is called the "waiting week."
Benefits are not payable for the waiting week, but you must file a weekly certification for that week in order to be paid benefits for any claims weeks after your waiting week.
The date of each Saturday is called the compensable week ending (CWE) date. Your earnings and eligibility during each week determine whether you are entitled to benefits for that week and any amount of benefits payable to you.
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, including:
- 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.
Potential Earnings: 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. Absence from work includes situations when you will not be paid for periods of time when you were late to work, left early, called off sick or refused/did not show up for a shift. 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. Unemployment Compensation Fraud
You may work part-time and possibly receive an unemployment benefit for the week. Payment amount is determined using your "partial benefit credit," (PBC) which is 30% of your weekly benefit rate (WBR). Your WBR and your PBC are added together, and then any earnings you report are subtracted from that total. You are paid the difference, but you cannot be paid more than your weekly benefit rate for any week.
Check out our Partial Benefit Credit Calculator to estimate your payment for the week.
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.
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.
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.
Learn more information about SUB.