Unemployed Worker Benefits
This information tells you about some of the
benefits you may be able to get if you lose your job. It includes only benefits
which are administered by the Maine Department of Labor. If you have questions about
other benefits, such as EIC, tax and rent rebate, TANF, food stamps, MaineCare or general assistance, go to
Are You Leaving Money on the Table?
CONTENTS
Basic Rights
for All Programs
Basic
Unemployment Compensation
Dislocated Worker
Benefits
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June 30, 2008 - Congress passes law to provide 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits.
Read more here
|
Trade Readjustment
Act
Other Special DOL Programs
More Help
| If I need to apply
for unemployment benefits, what are my basic rights? |
For all of the benefit programs described below, you
have the following rights:
- the right to apply for benefits (in person, by phone, or online)
- the right to a written decision
- the right to appeal any decision related to your
benefits by going to a fair hearing. Read the
notice carefully
and be sure to appeal within the specified time.
- the right to a written notice before your
benefits are cut off
- the right to a fact finding meeting
before any benefit is terminated
- the right to read and copy the written rules of
the program to help you figure out whether or not a decision about your benefits was right
Basic Unemployment Compensation
| How do I know if I'm eligible to get
unemployment compensation? |
To be eligible, you must meet these four
tests:
- As soon as you are out of work, file a weekly
claim with the
Maine Dept. of Labor (DOL) Unemployment Claims Center.
This filing also registers you for work with the
DOL CareeerCenter.
You can apply online, by phone or by mail.
Get more information about filing.
You will be asked to provide information about your employment history, the reason for your job
loss and your availability for work.
- After you sign up, wait until your one week "waiting period" is over. You must file a claim for
this week but will not receive a check for this week.
- Be able and available for work and actively
seek work in your usual trade or one for which you are trained.
Exceptions:
You do not have to meet this requirement if you are in an "approved" training
program. To find out if your training program can be "approved" ask at your local Career Center or
call 1-800-593-7660.
You do not have to accept a midnight to 5 a.m. shift (or a shift which mostly falls within
those hours) if the job would interfere with your duty to care for your children or other
family members. The same rule applies if you had to refuse a job because you need a
personal care attendant to help you get ready for work and none is available during those
hours.
You can still claim benefits if you are a part-time worker or have gone part-time temporarily,
due to illness or disability of you or a family member, or due to domestic violence. You must be
looking for part-time work.
You can still get benefits for part of the week if you were not available for work during
the rest of the week for "good cause" (such as illness, court appearance, or
death of an immediate family member).
- You earned at least 2 times the
average weekly wage in 2 different quarters of your "base
period" and 6 times the average weekly wage in your overall
"base period." The average weekly wage effective through May 2007 is $617.05.
"Base period" means the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters just
before you applied for benefits.
Example: If you applied on
April 10, 2006, your "base period" would be January through December
2005.
If you are not eligible under this earnings test, look at your earnings for the
last 4 completed calendar quarters instead. In the above
example, this alternative "base period" would be the last 3 quarters of
2005
(April through December) and the first quarter of 2006 (January through March).
| If I meet those five basic tests, will I
qualify for benefits? |
Maybe. The Department of Labor can still deny
you benefits for any of these reasons:
- You voluntarily quit work.
Exceptions:
- You had good cause for quitting and your
reason is work-related.
- You quit because you or a member
of your immediate family became ill or disabled and
you took reasonable steps to promptly notify your employer and
you asked your employer if you could come back to work when you are able to do so.
- You quit "to follow your spouse" and
started looking for work within 14 days of relocating.
- You quit to accept a new job and
that job fell through for reasons caused by your new employer.
- You quit to protect yourself from a violent
spouse or partner and you did everything you could, within reason,
to keep your job.
- You quit a job that was not your
"regular" employment.
Example: You worked as a welder for several
years but took a job as a dishwasher for minimum wage for a few weeks. You would not
lose out on unemployment checks because you quit the dishwashing job.
Warning: The longer your stay in a
"non-regular" job, the more "regular" that job becomes.
- You voluntarily moved to an area where
there are fewer jobs.
You were fired for "misconduct. Misconduct means that you did something wrong that was
within your control and was very harmful to your employer. For example, repeated tardiness, violating a
reasonable rule, dishonesty or drinking on the job would probably be "misconduct."
You are not guilty of "misconduct" if:
- you did the best job you could, but it just wasn’t good enough for your employer.
This is not misconduct;
- you made an isolated mistake, or error in judgment;
- you were absent from work because of your illness or the illness of a family member and you
made a reasonable effort to tell your employer.
The above examples are not misconduct and, therefore, cannot be used to deny you benefits.
- You refused to accept "suitable work." During the first 12
weeks of your unemployment, the Department will consider the degree of risk to your
health, safety, and morals, your physical fitness, prior training, experience, prior
earnings, length of unemployment, how hard it is to find work in your customary
occupation, and the distance of work from the your home. After the first 12 weeks,
your prior rate of pay will not be considered, if a job becomes available that
pays at least the state's annual weekly wage. Note: If you qualify as a
part-time
worker, you are allowed to refuse full-time job offers.
- You are out of work due to a strike or work stoppage. However, if your
job was filled by a "replacement" worker while you were on strike, you should
then become eligible to receive benefits. Also, there are some narrow exceptions to
this rule where the strike was caused by dangerous working conditions. Note:
If you are out of work because of a "lock out," you can still qualify.
- You put false information in an application for unemployment
benefits or knowingly omitted material information.
(This can result in a disqualification from receiving benefits for up to one
year, plus a financial penalty that increases with each offense - from 50% up
to100% of the benefits you should not have received.)
- You were fired for committing a crime in connection with your work.
- You were fired for missing work for more than 2 work days because you were in
jail for committing a crime.
- You are getting pension or retirement benefits.
Note: You may
still qualify if the pension is small or if you or an employer other than your "base
period" employer contributed to the plan.
- You are on a voluntary leave of absence.
As a general rule, if you are disqualified for any of the above reasons, you can
requalify by working and earning a certain amount of money. For example, if you are
disqualified for quitting your job, you can re-qualify for benefits once you earn 4 times your
weekly benefit amount. NOTE: Once you earn this amount you will still have to meet all of the
eligibility requirements. So, for example, if you quit the new job, you will still be disqualified.
| What if I am getting vacation pay or severance pay from my employer? |
Vacation pay will disqualify you for the period that equals the amount of vacation pay
you received.
Example: Two weeks of vacation pay will disqualify you for 2 weeks.
Severance pay will be deducted from your benefit only in the week you receive it.
| Can I get any help for my children? |
If you have children and get
unemployment compensation, you will also get $10 per week for each child you
support. The child must be under 18 or physically or mentally disabled or a
full-time student. If you are paying court-ordered support for a child who does not
live with you, you can get a $10 benefit for that child as long as the child's custodial
parent is not getting the same benefit for that child. (DHHS also has
authority to withhold money from your benefit for child support owed. Contact
DHHS to negotiate a smaller weekly withholding. For more information on DHHS
child support collection, click here.)
Note: Your children may also be eligible for MaineCare.
To find out more about MaineCare, food stamps, or TANF, call
Pine Tree Legal Assistance or
the Department of Health and Human
Services.
| What other rules must I follow to get this benefit? |
The DOL gives out a 28 page booklet
What Every Worker Should Know
About Unemployment Insurance. This booklet provides a very complete review of Maine’s laws governing
unemployment compensation. Refer to it when you have questions.
Dislocated Worker Benefits
| What is the Dislocated Worker Benefit? |
This benefit, sometimes called DWB, gives up to 26
weeks of additional unemployment benefits for "dislocated workers" who are in
"approved training."
| Who is eligible for this extended benefit? |
To be eligible for DWB, you must be a
"dislocated worker." Here are the tests:
- You got a lay off notice from your
employer and you are eligible for or
have exhausted your unemployment benefits, and
it is unlikely there will be work for you in the same industry.
or
- You lost your job due to a plant closing.
or
- You are "long-term unemployed" and it is unlikely that you will be
able to find work in your previous occupation.
| Are there any other things I must do to qualify? |
Yes. You must be in "approved
training." "Approved training" is any training offered under the Workforce
Investment Act through a Career Center or which the Unemployment Compensation Commission has approved.
To find out more about approved training call 1-800-593-7660; TTY: 1-888-457-8884.
| What if I have been out of work for a long
time? Can I still qualify? |
Yes. However, there is a deadline. To
get DWB, you must enroll in "approved training" within 30 months (2˝ years) of
exhausting your unemployment benefits.
Trade Assistance Programs
(TRA, TAA and ATAA)
| What is Trade Assistance? |
These programs help workers who have lost work due to competition from imports and
certain shifts of production to other countries. They provide up to 78 weeks of extended
unemployment checks, plus money for training, job search, relocation assistance, health insurance and
similar kinds of help.
Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) provides eligible workers over 50 with a wage subsidy if
they find new employment within 26 weeks of their separation and their new job has lower wages than their
old job.
| How can I qualify for Trade Assistance? |
Here are the 4 basic requirements to qualify:
- You were laid off or had your hours cut
by a plant that has been certified by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) as being
adversely affected by trade. Your employer, a group of workers, your
union, or the Maine Department of Labor can petition the USDOL for plant certification.
- You must have been laid off after your
plant's "impact date." This date is chosen by the USDOL as the date
when your plant was first adversely affected.
- You earned at least $30 in each of 26
weeks during the one year period before your layoff (or meet some specific reasons for
being out of work during that time).
- You enrolled in
an approved training program within 8 weeks after your plant was certified or within
16 weeks of your layoff. Note: There are narrow exceptions to this rule, where
the Department can waive your training requirement.
- To get extended benefits — or "additional TRA" — you completed an employability plan within 210 days
of your company’s first certification, or if later, within 210 days of your most recent layoff.
| Is there a deadline for getting these benefits? |
Yes. You must collect the extended weekly
benefit within two years of your most recent layoff from the certified plant. (This
time limit does not apply to training benefits. You can qualify for training
benefits at any time.)
NOTE: This
is only a simple outline of trade-related assistance. Because of deadlines, you, your union, or
your employer must apply early for plant certification. Also, once the
plant is certified, apply for training and weekly benefits as soon as possible after
your layoff. Get more detailed information at your
Career Center: 1-888-457-8883; TTY: 1-800-794-1110.
| Can I qualify for any other unemployment benefit programs? |
The Maine Dept. of Labor also runs these special programs:
- Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) provides benefits if you are unemployed because of a major
natural disaster. In the past clam diggers affected by red tide have qualified for this help.
- Unemployment for Laid-off Military and Federal Employees (UCX, UCFE) provides weekly income to meet basic
needs while searching for employment.
- Maine Enterprise Option (MEO) helps those who are "likely to exhaust" unemployment benefits and who
desire to start a new business.
- Extended Benefits (EB) are paid to all claimants during periods of high unemployment.
| Where can I get more information and help? |
To apply for benefits, or get more information, contact:
Unemployment Claims Center
1-800-593-7660 or TTY: 1-888-457-8884, or
DOL CareerCenter
1-888-457-8883; TTY: 1-800-794-1110.
If you are denied benefits, call your area
Pine Tree Legal
Assistance office, or the Maine Volunteer Lawyer Project at
1-800-442-4293. If you
are appealing a denial of benefits on your own, you can get a free video tape to help you
prepare for the hearing. To order a tape, call the Department of Labor
Administrative Hearings Division at 624-5900. Also, the
Department of Labor posts information about
how
their appeal process works.
Special thanks to Maine Equal Justice for their help
with updating this information.
More Important Information For
Unemployed Workers
Maine Department of Labor
Unemployment Compensation Information
Maine CareerCenter
Job-Seekers Page
|
Notice
© Pine Tree
Legal Assistance
September 2006
Sometimes the laws
change. We cannot promise that this information is always
up-to-date and correct. If the date above is not this year,
call us to see if there is an update.
We provide this
information as a public service. It is not legal advice.
By sending you this information, we are not acting as your lawyer.
Always consult a lawyer, if you can, before taking legal action.
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