The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) reports that the rate of unemployment in Nevada has skyrocketed from 4% in November, 2006 to 14.2% as of June, 2010 – the highest in the country. To deal with this increase, President Obama signed the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010 on July 22, 2010. The Nevada unemployment extension extends benefits to qualifying claimants.
Nevada Unemployment Benefits Eligibility
Before getting into Nevada unemployment extension details, let’s address who qualifies for Nevada unemployment benefits per the Nevada DETR’s regulations.
Money
In order to qualify for Nevada unemployment benefits, you must have earned a certain amount of money during the “base period” of your unemployment claim. This proves that you were previously employed.
The base period that the Nevada DETR examines is a twelve month period during which your wage earnings are calculated when you file an unemployment claim. Click here for a great chart that shows the base period based on when you file your Nevada unemployment benefits claim. To qualify for Nevada unemployment benefits, you must have earned at least $400 in one quarter of the base period and have earnings totaling no less than 1.5 times the highest quarter earnings. For example, if your highest earnings in one quarter were $1,000, then your total earnings for the entire twelve month base period must be at least $1,500.
Otherwise, you can qualify for Nevada unemployment benefits as long as you have earned wages in at least three out of the four base period quarters.
Out of Work
Nevada DETR requires an unemployment applicant to be wholly unemployed or working so few hours as to be considered unemployed. You do not qualify for Nevada unemployment benefits if you are on worker’s comp, taking a leave of absence from your job, are self-employed* or work full-time on commission and are simply not making any sales.
*If self-employed, you may qualify for Nevada unemployment benefits if your self-employment is “casual in nature” and will not interfere with a full-time job. So, if you have your own business that you can run during off-work hours you may still qualify.
No Fault Unemployment
When you file for Nevada unemployment benefits, the state investigates the conditions under which you left your last job. If your last full-time job was less than four months then your job before that will also be reviewed. The Nevada DETR investigations determine if you are unemployed through no fault of your own.
Qualifying reasons for no fault unemployment are: being laid off, getting fired for reasons other than misconduct or quitting for reason that meet the test of “good cause” under the law. Nevada DETR guidelines for being fired and quitting are hazy and judged on a case by case basis.
Being fired for something other than misconduct means that you were fired because there was not enough work for you to do or you received a non-specific reason for being fired, such as “you just aren’t working out.”
“Good cause” is generally defined by Nevada DETR as an employee being subjected to conditions so intolerable that any reasonable person interested in staying at their job would none-the-less quit under said conditions. This, of course, can be very difficult for a former employee to prove without good documentation or supporting witnesses. Examples include cases where you may have been harassed by supervisors or co-workers without resolution or complaints made to management went wholly ignored.
Your Nevada unemployment benefits claim will be put on hold in cases where you were not let go in a lay off or due to lack of work while the Nevada DETR investigates the situation. You can appeal the decision if your claim is denied after investigating.
Available and Able to Work
To qualify for Nevada unemployment benefits, you must be willing and able to seek and accept job offers.
Common requirements of the Nevada DETR are that you must have access to child care for your kids, transportation, tools (if needed for your job), ability and willingness to work the days and hours standard to your line of work, and you must attend training approved by the Employment Security Division. You must also be actively seeking employment to continue to receive Nevada unemployment benefits.
Suitable Work
Your Nevada unemployment benefits will be canceled if you refuse a suitable work offer. Waiting to “hold out” for something better is not acceptable per Nevada DETR regulations. You must also pursue referrals given to you by the Employment Security Division.
Suitable work is defined as work that you typically perform and that pays the average wage for such a position. The keyword here is “average” wage. Nevada DETR states that a lot of people have trouble accepting that they may have to work for a lower wage than they received at their previous long-term job.
Purpose
It is important to remember that Nevada DETR enforced unemployment insurance is a preventative measure against “excessive financial hardship” while seeking new employment. It is not designed to be a safety net for people who feel like quitting their jobs, or a way for someone to “float” while they look for a job that pays the same as their last position. See Resources for a link to filling a Nevada unemployment benefits claim on-line.
Nevada Unemployment Extension
Normally, most state unemployment benefits are paid for a maximum of 26 weeks. However, with the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010, the Nevada unemployment extension extends benefits for those who qualify. This is similar to the Nevada unemployment extension that was approved in on February 22, 2010 which allowed claimants to extend benefits up to 13 weeks starting February 28, 2010. The Nevada unemployment extension will pay retroactive benefits for those who have not received a payment since June.
So, how do you know if you qualify? According to the Nevada DETR Unemployment Extensions Update on July 23, 2010, potential qualifying recipients will receive a letter within 7 to 10 days of the bill’s passage on July 22, 2010. This letter will include specific instructions which will help claimants avoid waiting on the phone on hold all day. The Nevada DETR asks claimants to not call telephone claim centers until they receive this letter, claiming that dealing with these calls will slow the overall reinstatement of Nevada unemployment benefits.
The Nevada unemployment extension is only for people who have been unemployed for more than six months. Qualifying claimants will have extended Nevada unemployment benefits until November 30, 2010.
See Resources for the Nevada DETR’s home page which has daily updates on unemployment extension news.
References
“Nevada DETR”: June 2010 Unemployment Rate Release
“Nevada DETR”: Unemployment Extensions Update (as of July 23, 2010)
“Nevada DETR”: Unemployment Eligibility
Resources
Nevada DETR”: Unemployment Insurance Claims On-Line Filing System
“Nevada DETR”: Home Page
