Unemployment Benefits in Texas

The recession has affected everyone in the United States and unemployment does not discriminate in favor of Texas. A lot of the people that have recently been laid off are looking at the option of unemployment because work seems to be hard to come by these days. There are three main qualifying requirements in the State of Texas are past wages, method of job separation, and work availability and search. There is a specific process to follow when applying for unemployment benefits in Texas and hopefully this article will lead you in the right direction.

The wages that Texas bases your weekly benefits on are the wages earned in the past 12 month period. Your weekly payment is based on the highest quarter earnings and that is divided by 25 to get your benefit amount. Your amount will be no less than $58 and no more than $392 weekly. A payable claim is when you have earnings in at least 6 of the 12 months, your wages are 37 times more than your benefit amount, and if you filed a claim before, you have to have earned 6 times more than the last time. If you were sick or there was a medical emergency, these stipulations may be changed in your case. If you qualify so far, the next consideration is how you separated from work.

What the state of Texas looks at when it comes to separation from work is how it happened. To qualify for benefits, you must have been unemployed or partially unemployed due to something that you could not control and no fault of your own. When you apply, you most likely will have to present evidence of this so make sure you have your outbound paperwork. Some examples of qualifying reasons of separation are that you were laid off, you are still working but your hours were cut, or you quit for a documented work or medical reason. Each reason will be considered by your caseworker because there are special situations.

Once you’ve made it through the wage and separation requirements, you are probably ready to receive benefits. At this point, you will have to make weekly claims for payment. Each week you will have to actively search for work and keep documentation of the places you applied to. You also have to be physically able to take a job and be able to take a full time job. When you apply for jobs, you have to accept any suitable job that is offered to you and register with www.workintexas.org for work search.

I have gone through this process myself and know how it works. All the information and documentation you need, as well as updates are available online from the Work in Texas website. As of right now, when you receive benefits, an extra $25 is being added to your payment and nothing needs to be done on your end. If you are hesitant in applying for benefits but can’t find a job, keep in mind that you worked to pay for this type of benefit so you might as well use it. It will help you make it through until you are able to find suitable work. Good luck in your work search!