[New Jersey] Got approved for NJ unemployment for only 7 weeks? Claim status says 26 weeks

[accurateengg]

I got my approval for unemployment today which is great but it looks like I am only approved for 7 weeks.

When I check my claim status, it says that I am in the 26 week program. Does anyone know if I can claim past 7 weeks? I probably won't be called back to work for more than 7 weeks so I'm not sure what is exactly happening here. Anyone run into this?

So I looked into it and I only worked 1 base week for quarters 1,2,4 and 4 base weeks quarter 3. I know for a fact I worked all the weeks during those quarters.

What’s a base week in simple and English? I simply just don’t get this. How can I only have 1 base week for 3 quarters when I know I worked all weeks in those quarters? The only exception was a 3 week family leave in the 3rd quarter which coincidently has the most base weeks of 4?

Edit: I collected for 3 weeks during my family leave in 2022. Would that affect it?

 

[vlavender]

@accurateengg You can only have one claim within a year. It's hard to understand what you're talking about but if I had to take a guess, you opened your claim in April 2022 so what you're seeing is that you have 7 weeks left of that benefit year. New Jersey claims are between 20 and 26 weeks.

 

[kaiser123]

@vlavender That is exactly what I am trying to figure out. How do you collect benefits 11 months ago and have a new claim now?

 

[accurateengg]

Thank you @angelina185 - you are a life saver!

 

[angelina185]

@accurateengg No problem...and good for you questioning it! Please keep me updated. Should be a straightforward problem to fix.

 

[angelina185]

@accurateengg Claim status says "up to 26 weeks". Not everyone qualifies for 26 payable weeks as benefits are determined by the wages earned during your base period.If you look on your monetary determination, you will see the base weeks that were used to establish your UI claim.

STANDARD BASE YEAR: https://nj.gov/labor/myunemployment/before/about/who/

If you did not have at least twenty base weeks but met the earnings requirement, then your claim was calculated using an alternative base year:

ALTERNATE BASE YEAR: https://nj.gov/labor/myunemployment/before/about/who/alternatebaseyears.shtml

The wages earned during your base year are divided by your weekly benefit rate, and those are your payable weeks. Qualifying for 7 weeks means that you only had 7 base weeks. Unless you had other unemployment during this period, the determination is correct, and you would not be eligible for additional funds (payable weeks)

You may think it's not fair, but long-term attachment to the workforce is as important as earnings. Were it not for the alternative base year, you would not have qualified at all.

 

[accurateengg]

@angelina185 I won’t be called back until most likely summer. Past the 7 weeks.. can I file for an extension or reapply? I made 55k+ during whatever base year they did which I believe was q4 2021 - q3 2022

 

[angelina185]

@accurateengg No extensions are available, and you cannot file a new claim until the end of your benefit year (one year from the file date). Maybe your monetary determination is incorrect. What is the file date on the claim, WBR, and dates of employment?

 

[accurateengg]

@angelina185 File date 3/12 wbr is 830 and I started Feb 2020

 

[accurateengg]

The whole thing is, I did take a number of vaca days off throughout the year they are basing my earnings on. Would that affect it? The only time away was April of last year (family leave) (and I collected for those 3 weeks)

 

[angelina185]

@accurateengg The standard base year for March 2023 claim is:

October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022

How many weeks did you work during your base period in which you earned more than $240 that was reported using a W-2?

 

[accurateengg]

@angelina185 All of them! Except for the 3 weeks in April 2022 which I collected unemployment for and my hourly checks averaged $800+ plus a fifth commission check per month.

 

[angelina185]

@accurateengg UI benefits cannot be used to establish a valid claim? Does your monetary determination corroborate your work history? Do all of your paystubs during this period have a deduction for SDI/TDI/FLI? Did you receive an e-adjudication questionnaire asking for wage information?

(Asking because It's possible that wages were not reported, filed under the wrong SSN, or UI taxes were not paid.)

 

[accurateengg]

@angelina185 I just checked 5 random paystubs from q4 2021 to q3 2022. SDI taxes were always taken out.

 

[angelina185]

@accurateengg But what does your monetary determination say? It's important because it lists the wages reported to NJDOL and would explain why you only have 7 base weeks. If the monetary determination is incorrect, you will need to submit paystubs for the missing quarters.