Employment Security Department: Frequently asked questions - November 5, 2011

Employment Security publishes the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate once a month. The Employment and Economic Information website includes the latest employment information.

Workers who lose their job through no fault of their own can apply for unemployment benefits online or by phone at 800-318-6022. Telephones and computers are available at all WorkSource offices. Telephone and the Internet are the primary options for filing unemployment claims because they allow us to provide higher-quality and generally faster customer service. When we historically provided this service at local offices, it was not unusual to wait in line for several hours.

We also use a standard script on the phone and online that allows us to capture accurate information more quickly. This results in a shorter application process and gets benefits to unemployed workers faster.

Unemployment benefits are calculated based on earnings. To calculate the benefit amount: 
1.     Add the total wages for the two highest quarters in the past year*.
2.     Divide the total by two.
3.     Multiply by 0.0385.

This is the weekly benefit amount, up to a maximum that is established in state law.

The regular minimum and maximum is $138 and $583.

Individuals who file new claims from March 6 through Nov. 5, 2011, are eligible for an additional $25 per week for the duration of their claims or until the total payout of this additional benefit reaches $68 million, whichever comes first.

A person can collect regular unemployment benefits for a maximum of up to 26 weeks.

Note: In 2008, as unemployment rates rose across the country, Congress approved Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) for people who had run out of regular benefits. In Washington, this provides up to 53 additional weeks of benefits on top of regular unemployment for qualified applicants. For more about EUC and extended benefits (which pay up to 20 additional weeks during periods of high unemployment), see the "Emergency Unemployment Compensation & Extended Benefits" fact sheet.
 
* Benefits are calculated based on wages from the previous base year, not the calendar year. The base year if the first four of the last five calendar quarters.

To be eligible for benefits, a person must have worked at least 680 hours in the past year and must have lost a job through no fault of his or her own. To remain eligible each week, the claimant must be physically able to work, available for work and actively seeking suitable work (see “What are the requirements to remain on unemployment?” below). There are few exceptions to this general rule.  For example, victims of domestic violence or stalking who voluntarily leave work to protect themselves or their families also may be eligible for unemployment benefits. Individuals who leave their jobs because the spouse or domestic partner is transferred also may be eligible for benefits. These individuals must work as long as they can before the transfer. 

Individuals who own a business or are members of limited partnerships or limited liability companies are not eligible for unemployment benefits.

Corporate officers are covered by unemployment insurance unless the corporation exempts the officers from coverage by January 15. Only certain officers are eligible to be exempted.

Officer cannot get unemployment benefits if they own at least 10 percent of the business or are related to another corporate officer who owns at least 10 percent of the business.

See the Corporate officer requirements fact sheet for more information.

People who collect unemployment must be able to work, available for work and actively seeking suitable work. They must verify that they are meeting these requirements by filing a claim each week. Claims can be filed online or by phone at 800-318-6022. Most claimants are required to engage in at least three "work-search activities", which includes applying or interviewing for a job and/or taking workshops through their local WorkSource office every week while they collect benefits. Members of full-referral unions must comply with their union’s dispatch rules.

People who live in other states and worked in Washington may be eligible to collect unemployment benefits in Washington. They are still subject to job-search requirements, which are verified through the department's audit program. If an individual goes on vacation and is not available for work while collecting benefits, he or she must report it when filing the weekly claim. Individuals on vacation are not considered able and available to work are not eligible for benefits that week.

Employment Security does verify that people are looking for work while collecting benefits. In 2010, more than 66,000 claimants were interviewed to confirm that they were looking for work.  Roughly 7,400 did not report for interviews and were denied benefits as a result. Also in 2010, Employment Security indentified more than 9,000 individuals hwo are not actively seeking work. Those individuals have to pay back $23 million in benefits. 

Suspected unemployment benefit or tax fraud can be reported by calling (toll-free) 866-266-1987 or online. There is also a website at suspectfraud.com; click on the link to the Employment Security Department.

Employment Security has an aggressive fraud-detection program to prevent people from collecting benefits to which they are not entitled. The agency uses a variety of techniques to catch people, including cross-matching records with the Social Security Administration and the state Department of Labor & Industries. Employment Security also compares unemployment records to the state and national list of new hires, and investigates tips from the public.
 
Those who are caught collecting benefits they shouldn’t receive must pay back the money, with interest, and will be denied benefits for 26 weeks. State law also imposes a monetary fine for repeat offenders and disqualification periods of one to two years.

An individual who is disqualified for benefits for the first time is also disqualified for an additional 26 weeks. An individual disqualified for benefits a second time is disqualified for an additional 52 weeks of benefits and must pay a penalty equaling 25 percent of the amount overpaid. An individual disqualified for benefits a third and any time after is disqualified for 104 weeks and must pay a penalty equal to 50 percent of hte amount overpaid.

Each year, the department audits a sample of unemployment claims to measure the accuracy of the benefit payment system. An internal audit sampled 480 out of 450,000 unemployment claims paid in 2010 and found that 89.1 percent were paid accurately. Overpayments were found in 10.9 percent of the reviewed claims. About 95 percent of overpayments occur because inaccurate information is provided by claimants or by employers. Common issues include claimants not reporting or misreporting earnings, not telling the truth about why they lost their jobs and employers misreporting wages on quarterly tax reports. Another primary cause of overpayments is claimants not actively looking for work while collecting benefits.

Agency errors, such as approving training for claimants who were not eligible and data-entry mistakes, account for a very small percentage of all overpayments.

A common mispreception is that many individuals file for unemployment year after year. But the data do not support this notion. According to a study of unemployment claimants from January 2002 through June 2006:

• 89 percent filed only one or two claims during that time.
• Out of $4.3 billion paid out in claims, about 17 percent went to people who filed three or more claims.
• Repeat claimants (three or more claims) collected an average of 53 percent to 56 percent of the total benefits available to them.
  

In 2010, Washington had the fifth-highest benefit rate in the nation. This is largely because Washington is a high-wage state and benefit rates are based on income. Washington ranks eleventh in the nation for the percentage of the average weekly wage that is actually replaced by weekly benefit payments, at 42.3 percent.

On average, people collected unemployment benefits for 42.2 weeks in 2010. during normal economic times, an individual may collect regular unemployment benefits for up to 26 weeks. However, due to the recession, two extended-benefit programs have been available in Washington state, giving eligible unemployed workers access to up to 99 weeks of benefits. 

Disaster unemployment assistance is available to people who are unemployed due to a disaster and who are not eligible for regular unemployment benefits. These include business owners and corporate officers, people who were injured in the disaster and cannot work, people who are prevented from starting a new job due to the disaster, and those who became head of their household due to a death caused by the disaster. If a disaster occurs, the Governor must request special assistance from the President. The President must then approve and sign a declaration. Disaster unemployment assistance is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).