All About Unemployment Compensation

Knowing about and being able to collect unemployment compensation is important for individuals who suddenly find themselves without a job. When a person loses their job, especially if they have held it for several years, it can be quite a confusing and frightening time. Many questions start running through the individual's head, including how they will pay their rent and bills, support their family, and sometimes even put food on the table.

Fortunately, each state in the United States offers individuals unemployment insurance. However, you must meet eligibility standards in order to qualify to collect these benefits. First and foremost, you absolutely cannot have voluntarily quit your job. Being fired or laid off due to downsizing are key in being eligible to receive unemployment compensation.

You will have to fill out forms that must be filed with your state's Department of Labor office. Several years back, if you suddenly found yourself out of work not by your own choice, you would be forced to make a trip to the local office in your area and file in person. However, in this digital age, where everything is now computerized, you can sit in front of your home computer to do this. Filing is done electronically, and you will have to answer several questions pertaining to your job and how you lost it. Note that if you were fired, you will receive more forms in the regular mail that you will have to send back to the unemployment department of the DOL. You must also have worked at your job for at least six months.

Often, you may run into a problem when seeking to collect unemployment compensation. If you worked for an international organization such as the United Nations, for instance, you cannot collect, as they do not offer this benefit. However, if you unceremoniously lost your previous job(s) in the last quarter, you can collect based on that instead.

Usually, you will be eligible to collect benefits for 26 weeks. However, in recent years, this was lengthened to as long as 99 weeks due to the poor economy.