What happens if i collect unemployment while working

Equal opportunity is the law. Skip to main navigation Skip to content Skip to Virtual Assistant. Employers Job Seekers Child Care. File Viewing Information. What Work to Report If you are working and requesting unemployment benefits, you must report your earnings and the hours you worked for each week you request benefit payments. You must report your earnings during the week you work, even if you have not yet been paid.

If we determine that you have committed fraud , you may face prosecution and, if convicted, you will face fines, jail time, or both. Partial unemployment benefits are more complicated and rules vary significantly between states, experts said. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. To be eligible, workers must generally make less money per week from a job than they'd otherwise be receiving in state jobless benefits while fully unemployed, said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project.

Eligibility for partial unemployment benefits would generally mean making less than that from a job. Benefit formulas for eligible workers also aren't prorated as they are with work-sharing programs and are typically less generous, Houseman said. Workers must apply for partial benefits, unlike with a work-sharing program, where the employer applies on the employee's behalf.

Skip Navigation. Key Points. There are two ways an individual can receive unemployment benefits while working: through work-sharing programs or partial unemployment insurance benefits.

During the last recession, a temporary fix was adopted that would allow workers in subsequent years of employment to use their original benefit year. If Congress doesn't extend relief efforts into , you may no longer qualify for unemployment if you've already exhausted the amount provided by your state, which ranges from 12 weeks to 28 weeks , though many states also extend benefits during times of high unemployment. Skip Navigation. Jennifer Liu. The biggest mistakes people make when filing for unemployment—and how to avoid them Does having a side hustle impact your unemployment benefits?

VIDEO Millennial Money. Your state's rules for calculating what's called partial unemployment will outline how much you can earn, and in some cases how many days you can work, while still remaining eligible for unemployment payments. If you do pick up part-time work, keep careful records of how much you work and be sure you report that to your state's unemployment office during your weekly or biweekly unemployment certification, experts say.

If you don't and the state finds out, they're likely going to make you repay the unemployment money and there are sometimes penalties, says Edgar Ndjatou, executive director of Workplace Fairness, a non-profit advocacy group for workers. In some states, like Maryland, it's as simple as subtracting whatever you earn working part-time from whatever the state is paying you in unemployment insurance, Ndjatou says. In that case, for each day you work, your weekly benefit will drop by one quarter. So if you take a position to make a little more money, but then you quit, you may forfeit your unemployment insurance eligibility.

The one exception is if you have to quit for a justifiable reason, Ndjatou says. Those reasons, too, will vary by state, but if, for example, your spouse gets a new job and you must move, that's justifiable.