How do you file a UC claim in Pennsylvania?

If you were laid off before the week you file, or you set up a Pennsylvania claim within the past year, check backdating, reopening, and other special cases before you start.

What to have ready

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) lists what you need before you start. About you:

• Your Social Security number
• Your home address, and your mailing address if it is different
• Your phone number and a valid email address
• Your UC System username and password, if you already set them up
• For direct deposit, which is optional: your bank's name and address, and your account and routing numbers

About the job that ended:

• Your employer's name, address, and phone number
• Your employer's PA UC account number, if you know it
• Your first and last days of work
• Why you left
• Details of any pension or severance package

When you file, you must report every pension, including retirement pay, annuities, and lump-sum pension payments. How much unemployment pays explains how severance pay can reduce your weekly payment.

Filing by phone, videophone, or TTY

The toll-free line, 1-888-313-7284, takes calls Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you use American Sign Language, you can file by videophone at 717-704-8474 on Wednesdays and Fridays, noon to 4 p.m.; the videophone line offers sign language only. If you use a TTY device, text 888-334-4046.

If your hours were cut

You start the same way when your hours are cut: file an initial claim online or by phone, then file a certification for each week you are partially unemployed. Not every week of cut hours pays, since it turns on what you earned that week. Who qualifies gives the pay test for a week of part-time work, and how much unemployment pays shows how that week's payment is figured.

Backdating, reopening, and other special cases

• If you were laid off in an earlier week, ask the UC Service Center to backdate your application to the week of your layoff, at 888-313-7284 or by email to uchelp@pa.gov. The service center decides whether to backdate your application and your claims for the missed weeks.
• If you set up a claim within the past year and stopped filing when you went back to work, or stopped filing because you were ill or unable to work, reopen that claim on L&I's site instead of starting a new one.
• If you were paid wages in more than one state during your base year, you must file a Combined Wage Claim by contacting one of the states where you worked and were paid in that base year.
• If your benefit year has ended, how long benefits last explains when you need a new claim.
• If you left a job or missed work because of domestic violence, you can verify it on your initial application. Who qualifies lists what the law accepts as proof.

Signing in after you file

You manage your claim from your UC dashboard at benefits.uc.pa.gov, signing in with your UC System username and password. If you have trouble signing in, call the UC In-Person Scheduling and Log In support line at 1-855-284-8545.

Your first weeks

1. If you filed online, watch for an email confirming your claim.
2. During your first week, the mail brings your Notice of Financial Determination (UC-44F), your UC Claim Confirmation Letter (UC-360), and the PA UC Handbook (UCP-1).
3. Check the wages on your UC-44F. If any are missing or wrong, you can file a wage protest within 21 days of the date on the notice; denials, appeals, and overpayments explains how.
4. File a weekly certification for each Sunday-to-Saturday week you are totally or partially unemployed. Weekly claims explains how, and when your first payment should arrive.
5. Register with PA CareerLink within 30 days of filing, unless you are exempt. PA CareerLink offers free help finding a new job.

When you upload a document to your claimant dashboard, send a secure message to UCHelp@pa.gov so staff know it is there. L&I says you will get a response within 24 hours.