Am I eligible for unemployment benefits?

Will I be eligible for an extension of California unemployment benefits in November?

• I filed for unemployment benefits in California the second week of May, 2010, and I'm currently collecting my initial 6-months of benefits. Will I be eligible for a federal extension of benefits when my 6 months run out in November? Does it depend on whether CA has an unemployment rate above 8.5% (which it very likely will have)? I know people who have collected benefits since the end of 2008 but I don't know if my filing is too late to qualify for any of those. Anyone know for sure?

• Answer:

  The cut off date is November 30, 2010. As long as your initial 26 weeks end prior to that, CA will automatically transition you to Tier I which is 20 weeks. If, however, you were to get a part-time job and only receive a portion of your normal UI weekly benefits, be aware that your 26 weeks will stretch out longer than that -- basically until the money in your account runs out. That could easily put you past the November deadline and you would not be eligible to get Tier I.