UI

In Texas, Unemployment Insurance (UI) is an employer-paid insurance program that helps workers who become unemployed through no fault of their own. It provides temporary financial assistance to qualified people, based on previous earnings, while they are looking for other work. Employer taxes and reimbursements help to fund the Unemployment Trust Fund.

The law governing UI benefits in Texas is the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act, which is Title 4, Subtitle A of the Texas Labor Code.

The law sets qualifying requirements in three main areas: your past wages, your job separation, and your ongoing availability to work. You must meet all of the requirements to receive benefits.

To establish a payable claim, you must have received enough wages to meet the requirements. The Texas Workforce Commission uses the wages paid to you during a recent 12-month period, called your base period, to calculate your benefit amounts.

If you were out of work for a prolonged time, tell TWC so they can make sure they use the right rules when calculating your eligibility. .

You must be unemployed or partially unemployed through no fault of your own to receive benefits.

Examples of qualifying reasons are:

You were laid off due to lack of work.

You are still working but the employer reduced your hours. (Your reduction in hours must not be the result of a disciplinary action.)

You were fired without work-related misconduct. Examples of misconduct are a violation of company policy; violation of law; neglect or mismanagement of your position; or failure to perform your work acceptably if you are capable of doing so.

You quit your job for a good well-documented work-related or medical reason. TWC may rule good cause if the work situation would cause a person who truly wants to keep the job to leave it.

You quit protecting yourself from family violence or stalking, evidenced by an active or recently issued protective order, a police record documenting family violence or stalking directed against you, or medical documentation of family violence against you.

In addition:

If you quit to move with your husband or wife, you may be able to receive benefits after a disqualification of 6 to 25 weeks. This is a disqualification of both time and money, because we must subtract the number of disqualified weeks from your total benefits.

If you quit to move with your military spouse, Texas lets you receive benefits without penalty if your spouse has a permanent change of station longer than 120 days, or a tour of duty longer than one year.

During each week you claim benefits, you must:

·    Make an active search for full-time work, unless TWC exempts you from this requirement

·    Be physically able to work

·    Be available for full-time work

·    Apply for and accept suitable work

·    Be registered for work search online at www.texasworkforce.org, (click on WorkInTexas.com), or with the nearest workforce center

·    Call TWC, or call or report to a workforce center, as instructed

 To learn about applying for Unemployment Insurance Benefits on line, click here:

Applying on line

To learn more about Unemployment Insurance and Work Search Requirements, click here: Unemployment Insurance Benefits and Work Search Information.pdf

For Frequently Asked Questions about Unemployment Insurance Benefits, click here: Frequently Asked Questions on UI.doc