What Can You Do If You’ve Been Denied Unemployment Benefits?
Around 2.03 million Americans claim unemployment benefits, which are short-term funds that replace a person’s regular earnings while they look for a new job. Unemployment benefits are payments made by the government and other authorized bodies to unemployed people. The benefits themselves are very modest, averaging just $300 a week. However, only about 40% of the long term unemployed collect benefits.
State unemployment benefits are 26 weeks. Extensions have passed Congress 11 times since 2008 and led to a series of eligibility tiers. In the hardest hit states, they were extended to 99 weeks, but eventually cut back to 73 weeks. The annual cost is approximately 25 billion dollars. As of 2014, states owed the federal treasury 38 billion. Since 2008, more than 24 million Americans have relied on long-term unemployment insurance.
Denial of Unemployment Benefits
But they aren’t guaranteed and many people find their claim for unemployment insurance is denied. This could be due to you quitting your job without a substantial reason, you were fired because of misconduct or you didn’t earn enough money while you were working. Even if your claim was originally approved, you can still be denied later on if you don’t meet the continuing requirements.
But if you feel that you have been wrongly denied and you are eligible for unemployment insurance, then you can appeal against the decision. The process for appealing a denied claim varies from state to state. Generally you will need to submit a formal written appeal to your state’s unemployment agency, outlining why you disagree with their decision against you. In some states, you’ll need to do this within seven days, so it’s very important that you get this actioned as soon as possible. But don’t worry, this handy guide tells you all you need to know about the appeal process and what you will need to do. These are aspects of finance that can be especially important to ordinary families.
