Will I and when will I get my extended unemployment benefits?

Can I get extended unemployment benefits after a year?

• I have been getting unemployment for a year and my deposit for it hits the bank today but not this time. I live in Pennsylvania and get extended benefits that I feel can last up to 99 weeks at this point. Where I was employed they still worked me an average of 15 hours per week giving my wages of over $8,000 for 2009. Online unemployment displays a message stating that they are reviewing my claim and I may have to file a new claim since it has been a year. I get $259 per week in unemployment but I am afraid it will be lowered since I earned $8,000 last year. Does it sound like my rate for unemployment will be the same after a year or will it be based on what I earned last year and result in a lower weekly rate?

• Answer:

  If I follow you correctly, you're concerned that you will enter a new "benefit year" and they will re-calculate your benefit amount based on your previous year's income (which would be much less because you were receiving UC benefits). According to what I am reading on http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=552066&mode=2 that will not happen. As long as you are qualifying for EUC extensions (tier 1, 2, 3 etc) and are transitioning from one tier to another continuously, then your compensation will continue to be based on your original weekly benefit amount. Reading the website, you will note that in each tier it states you qualify for 20 (or whatever number of weeks) times your weekly benefit amount, which means you get X weeks at whatever your regular benefit amount is. As for whether or not you qualify for the next extension, the unemployment office will of course have to determine that, which I would guess like any state is based on your meeting the filing and work search requirements. Best of luck!