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Unemployment Insurance - Eligibility - Massachusetts

Eligibility for UI is based upon two general criteria:

·      The individual’s recent earnings history

·      The reason for the individual’s separation from his or her employment situation

The earnings eligibility standard considers wages paid to a claimant during the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters preceding the effective claim date. This is defined as the Primary Base Period. An employee must have earned at least 30 times his or her weekly Benefit Rate, and no less than $3,000 during the Primary Base Period, to meet the earnings eligibility standard for UI.

In the vast majority of cases, there are usually enough wages paid in the Primary Base Period for the Division of Employment and Training (DET) to determine a claimant's eligibility for benefits. However, in cases when an individual is ineligible for benefits based on Primary Base Period wages, the law provides an Alternate Base Period to determine the claimant's eligibility. Individuals with insufficient wages to qualify using the Primary Base Period are the most common candidates for using the Alternate Base Period, but other circumstances may also dictate its use.

When the Alternate Base Period is used, the UI claim is established based on wages paid during the 52-weeks preceding the effective date of the claim.

For separation eligibility, the worker must be totally or partially unemployed through no fault on his or her part, able to work, and available for and actively seeking employment.

See also:

Unemployment Insurance - Application Procedures and Issuance of Benefits - Massachusetts

Unemployment Insurance - Eligibility for Partial Benefits - Massachusetts

Unemployment Insurance- Allowances and Deductions - Massachusetts

Unemployment Insurance - Overview - Massachusetts

Source

Information for this topic was drawn from the DETMA publication Simplifying the Employment and Training Law: A Guide for Employers. It is available in PDF format (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) from the Division of Career Services/Division of Unemployment Assistance (formerly Department of Education and Training) website at:
http://www.detma.org/pdf/smpbook2.pdf

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