Unemployment Made Easy Blog

An unemployment compensation base year is the period of time during which your earnings are calculated to determine your weekly benefit amount, the maximum amount you will be able to collect in unemployment benefits per week.  A base year usually consists of 52 consecutive weeks.  I use the word ‘usually’ here because there are factors that can affect the amount of weeks.  For instance, because of the way quarters end, it is possible to have the same quarter in two consecutive base years.  It is not necessary to go into an explanation of how this can happen, but one quarter cannot be used more than once.  If it was used in a previous base year, it cannot be used in the next base year.

The normal base year is calculated as taking the quarter you are currently in (a quarter is a normal calendar quarter beginning January through March, etc.)  and skipping the immediate preceding one.  Thus, if you file your unemployment compensation claim in October, November or December, you would skip the quarter ending July through September.  Then your base year would be the next four quarters back.  In the case cited, the base year would normally be July of the previous year through June of the current year.  

Some states, and some in particular circumstances, allowance is made for an ‘alternate’ unemployment compensation base year.  If you are out on Workers’ Compensation for a period of nine months or more, you might not have the required quarters of wages in your base year.  You would not be eligible, under this base year, to collect unemployment compensation benefits.  Different states have a formula allowing you to use the quarters immediately preceding the date of the accident that caused you to be out of work.  In some states, at the Federal government’s urging, when you file a new claim, you can use the period immediately preceding your last day of work.  There are other reasons that can cause use of an alternate unemployment compensation  base year.

The unemployment compensation office will determine your base year when your claim is filed.  If, for some reason you are found ineligible to collect UC benefits, my ebook, ‘Appeal-Winning Strategies’, provides information that my help you qualify.