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Questions? We will spend 5-10 minutes with you discussing your current work situation, your disability/FMLA leave, your non-compete agreement, your wage claim, your unemployment claim or your potential lawsuit at no charge to you. Feel free to send us an e-mail via our Contact Form or give us a call at 610-647-5027. We are always glad to spend some time with people via a free telephone consultation.
I Got a Notice of Financial Determination ("NFD") from Pennsylvania, Along With a Debit Card - Does That Mean I am Qualified for Unemployment Benefits?
NO, it does not. The NFD and the card are computer generated when one files his/her application for benefits - they are AUTOMOATICALLY sent out to everyone that applies, regardless of eventual eligibility.
The NFD does state whether one is financially eligible, i.e. whether one has enough w-2 wages during the requisite time period to qualify for UC benefits. However, if you were fired because you punched your boss and set fire to the workplace on your way out the door, you will not ultimately be entitled to benefits because you would have been guilty of what is known as willful misconduct! That decision, delivered in what is known as a Notice of Determination, will not come for weeks or perhaps months after your application date.
If you worked as an independent contractor, you will be determined ineligible for benefits on the NFD. However, you can appeal that determination (within 15 days!!!), and win at a Referee Appeal hearing if you can prove you were misclassified.
HERE ARE SOME OTHER ARTICLES YOU MAY FIND
WORTHWHILE:
Should I Hire a Lawyer for My Unemployment Appeal Hearing
in Pennsylvania?
How Can I Figure
Out My Financial Eligibility for Benefits Under the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation
Law?
If you have been in the workforce
as a w-2 employee for more than a few years, you probably will have an easy
time figuring out your weekly benefit rate if you are determined to be eligible
for unemployment compensation.
I Was Quit,
Resigned, Was Terminated or Was Laid Off from My First Full-Time Job in
Pennsylvania – How Can I Figure Out if I am Financially Eligible for Unemployment
Benefits?
However, if you are being separated
from the full-time job you have ever had in Pennsylvania – or the first such
job you have had in years (maybe you took time off for the family, moved back
home after years out West or decided that the great American Dream of
self-employment was not for you), calculating your financial eligibility for
benefits is a bit more challenging...
And They Sais There'd Be No Math!
How Does
Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor Determine Whether I Have Earned Enough Money
Over a Long Enough Time-Period When Determining My Financial Eligibility for
Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Benefits?
Immediately upon receipt of an
application for unemployment benefits filed by a recently separated employee
(i.e. a “claimant”), the Pennsylvania
Department of Labor’s Unemployment Service Center does two things: a)
it sends the employer a “Notice of Application” wherein it informs the employer
of the application and asks the employer to provide information concerning why
the employee was separated; and, b) it calculates the claimant’s financial
eligibility for benefits.
NOTE: Once the
financial eligibility calculations are complete, which usually takes a week or
so, the Service Center mails the claimant a Notice
of Financial Determination.
In calculating the claimant’s “Weekly
Benefit Rate,” the Service Center determines the claimant’s "Benefit
Year,” the claimant's “Base Year,” and the claimant’s “Base Year Wages,” and
the claimant’s “Credit Weeks.” We will
explain these terms below.
What is My “Benefit
Year” Under the Pennsylvania Unemployment Law?
The 52 weeks following an
application for benefits – 43 P.S. §753(b).
EXAMPLE: Sally is terminated on December 24, 2016, and
files an application for benefits on December 31 2016.
Sally’s Benefit
Year will be December 31 2016 through December 31 2017.
Once the Benefit Year is
established, the claimant’s “Base Year” is determined.
What is My “Base Year”
Under the Pennsylvania Unemployment Law?
A claimant’s "base year"
is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters.
43 P.S. §753(a). I find this a little
confusing, but applying the statute as follows makes it a little eerier to
figure out the claimant’s Base Year:
·
Go
back 5-quarters (i.e. 15-months) from the first day of the Benefit Year;
·
Eliminate
the quarter (i.e. 3-months) immediately preceding the date of application (i.e.
the start of claimant’s Benefit Year);
·
The
12-months that are left are the first four of the last five completed
calendar quarters, i.e. the claimant’s Base Year.
EXAMPLE: Sally is terminated on December 24, 2016, and
files an application for benefits on December 31, 2016. Sally’s Benefit Year starts December 31,
2016.
Counting
back 5 quarters from December 31, 2016 brings us to September 30, 2015 - which
will be the start of Sally’s Base Year.
Sally’s
Base Year will be September 30, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
What Are “Credit
Weeks” Under the Pennsylvania Unemployment Law?
A credit week is any calendar week during
the Base Year in which the claimant earns
remuneration of $50 or more. 43
P.S. §753(g)(1).
EXAMPLE:
Sally Recentcollegegrad secured her
first full-time job ever on August 1, 2016, receiving a salary of $800 per
week. Unfortunately, Sally is laid-off on
December 24, 2016.
Sally files
an application for benefits on December 31, 2016. Sally’s Benefit Year starts December
31, 2016. Sally’s Base Year starts
September 30, 2015 and ends on September 30, 2016.
Sally’s
Credit Weeks are determined by figuring out the number of weeks during Sally’s
Base Year that she worked full-time and earned more than $50 per week.
Sally
therefore has 8 Credit Weeks, i.e. every week she worked beginning when she
took the job on August 1, 2016 through the last week of her Base Year, September
30, 2016.
How Many “Credit
Weeks” Do I Need to Work During My Base Year in Order to Be Financially
Eligible for Benefits Under the Pennsylvania Unemployment Law?
A claimant with less than 16 Credit
Weeks during his/her Base Year is ineligible for any unemployment
benefits. 43 P.S. §804(e).
If claimant has 16 or 17 credit weeks,
then he/she will be eligible for 16-weeks of benefits. If claimant has 18 or
more credit weeks, then he/she will be eligible for the full 26-weeks of
benefits provided for under the law.
NOTE: In the final EXAMPLE
above, Sally would have to work to until at least February 21, 2017 in order to
be potentially eligible for up to 16-weeks of benefits, and to at least March 7
to secure the maximum allotted 26-weeks.
What Are My “Base
Year Wages” Under the Pennsylvania Unemployment Law? Can I Win Unemployment Benefits if I am
Misclassified as an Independent Contractor?
How
Do I Calculate My Weekly Benefits Under Pennsylvania’s Unemployment
Compensation Law?
How Can I Appeal
and Incorrect Notice of Financial Determination?
Determining financial eligibility
is in most cases a matter of simple math completed by a computer; consequently,
most claimants do not have reason to dispute or appeal an NFD.
There are, however, two situations
of common dispute where NSFs are concerned: a) situations where the claimant
has no reported earnings because he/she was misclassified
as an independent contractor; and, b) where a large, lump sum payment
(a bonus, large commission, etc.) skewers the Base Year calculation. See e.g. 43 P.S. §801(a) (if 20% or
more of claimant’s base year earnings were earned during a single quarter
claimant may be deemed financially ineligible in whole or in part).
Does a Notice of
Financial Determination Mean That I am Eligible for Benefits Under the
Pennsylvania Unemployment Law?
No.
Everyone gets a Notice of Financial Determination, even if they were
fired after being caught on camera stealing money from the cash register, and
admitted to the deed in a sworn statement moments before being escorted out of
work. That is so because one’s financial eligibility is calculated by a
computer without regard to the circumstances relating to the employee’s separation
from employment.
What is a Notice
of Determination, and How Long Does it Take for Unemployment to Send Me Notice
as to Whether I am Eligible for Unemployment Benefits in Pennsylvania?
While financial eligibility issues
are only infrequently the subject of dispute, the determination of whether an
employee was terminated through no fault of her/her own (i.e. did not engage in
willful
misconduct or quit
without a necessitous and compelling reason) is often far more
contentious.
The Service’s Center’s decision on
that issue is made after an investigation by the Service Center Representative,
who will often take a statement over the phone from each party, along with
sending out a Claimant Questionnaire and an Employer Questionnaire.
The Service Center’s findings are set
forth in a Notice
of Determination, which is often issued at months after the Notice
of Financial Determination.
Appealing from the
Notice of Determination, the Unemployment Referee Hearing in Pennsylvania
The party who is “aggrieved” by the
Notice of Determination (i.e. the claimant if benefits are denied, and
vice-versa) has 15-days to appeal. Late
appeals will not be allowed absent extraordinary circumstances.
When asked to set forth the basis
for the appeal, it is wise to simply state “I disagree with the Determination.” That is so because, no matter what is said on
the appeal, a Referee Hearing will be scheduled. You
do not want to unwittingly write something that can be used against you at the
Hearing!
Employers are of course far more
familiar with such Hearings than the average claimant, and frequently consult
with counsel in order to prepare for same (and sometimes bring counsel to the Hearing. Hence, it is wise to consider retaining
counsel for representation at the Hearing.
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