• Make a claim for benefits in accordance with the regulations.1
• Be unemployed through no fault of their own.2
• Meet eligibility requirements for each week that they claims benefits.
• Have earned $1,300 in one quarter or must have earned high quarter wages of $900 and total base period earnings of 1.25 times that amount.3
• Be able to work and be available for work.4
• Be actively looking for work.5
• Have registered for work and conducted a search for suitable work.6

To learn more about when a claimant is not eligible for UI, see Responding to Unemployment Insurance Claims.

This topic contains the following information:

• Part-Time Availability and Unemployment Insurance Benefits
• Reduction in Hours
• Establishing Good Cause
• Unemployment Insurance Benefit Amounts
• Unemployment Insurance Benefits Coverage Period
• The Unemployment Insurance Base Period
• Taxes on Unemployment Insurance Benefits
• Applying for Unemployment Insurance Benefits

Part-Time Availability and Unemployment Insurance Benefits

Claimants may be eligible for UI benefits even though they are only available for part-time work.7 A claimant who restricts their availability to part-time work may be eligible for benefits, if:

• The claim is based on part-time employment.
• The claimant is actively seeking and is willing to accept work under essentially the same conditions.
• The claimant imposes no other restrictions and is in a labor market in which a reasonable demand exists for the part-time services the claimant offers.

UI benefits are not denied solely on the basis of the applicant’s student status if school attendance does not eliminate a substantial portion of the claimant’s full-time availability. The claimant must impose no other restrictions on availability and be working in a labor market with a reasonable demand for part-time employment. If the claimant restricts availability to part-time due to school attendance, UI benefits are paid as they would be to any other part-time employee.8

Reduction in Hours

UI benefits may be payable when a full-time employee works less than full-time if the weekly wage payable to the individual, when reduced by $25 or 25 percent of the wages payable (whichever is greater), do not exceed their weekly UI benefit amount.9 The employee must be working fewer hours because of lack of work through no fault of their own.

If there is a short-term reduction in hours due to a lack of work, employers may wish to issue Form DE 2063 - Notice of Reduced Earnings to affected employees. This certifies that the employee is expected to return to work, which means the employee is not required to look for new work and is considered “partially unemployed.”

If you have a reduction of force and know that there will be no work for an employee for more than two weeks, do not issue a DE 2063. Similarly, if you terminate an employee for any reason, do not issue a DE 2063.

Establishing Good Cause

An individual can receive UI benefits if they voluntarily left employment for good cause. Good cause occurs when a substantial motivating factor causes the claimant to leave work. The factor need not relate to work. It must be a real, substantial and compelling reason that would cause a reasonable person who wants to remain employed to leave work under the same circumstances.10

Depending on the circumstances, leaving work for good cause might include the following reasons:

• Going to school
• Change in travel time or distance
• Moving beyond reasonable commuting distance with a spouse or registered domestic partner
• Being required to care for a seriously ill child
• Leaving an employer who does not address serious harassment or safety issues
• Choosing to be laid off in place of an employee with less seniority, if a collective bargaining agreement allows this practice
• Protecting themself or their family from domestic violence

The following examples do not generally constitute good cause:

• Increased child care costs
• Moving beyond reasonable commuting distance with a significant other who is not one’s spouse or registered domestic partner
• Looking for another job
• Change in job duties or demotion

Relocating With a Spouse or Domestic Partner

A person quits with good cause and is eligible for UI benefits if they leave to accompany a spouse or registered domestic partner to a place from which it is impractical to commute and to which a job transfer is not available.11

California law defines “domestic partners” as “two adults who have chosen to share one another’s lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring” and who file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State.12

Protection From Domestic Violence

A change to UI law expanded the scope of good cause to include circumstances in which an employee leaves employment to protect their family or themself from domestic violence. Prior law limited good cause to leaving employment to protect themself or their children. This change brings California into compliance with federal eligibility requirements.

The employee is eligible for UI benefits if all other eligibility requirements are met. However, the UI benefits paid are not chargeable to your account.13

Leaving for a Substantially Better Job

UI benefits paid to an employee who leaves a job for a substantially better job and who later becomes eligible for UI will not be charged to the account of the first employer.14 For example, if a former employee lost their new job or had their hours reduced, the UI benefits would not be charged to the first employer.

Unemployment Insurance Benefit Amounts

The maximum amount of state UI benefits during each benefit year is 26 times the weekly benefit amount or one-half of the total earnings in the base period, whichever is less. A benefit year is the 52-week period beginning on the date a new claim is filed.

Eligible individuals can receive a minimum of $40 to a maximum of $450 per week for up to 26 weeks, depending on past quarterly earnings. After eligibility is determined, claimants receive a benefit check every two weeks.

For more information, visit the EDD’s website.

Unemployment Insurance Benefits Coverage Period

Benefits start with the effective date of the claim, which is the Sunday prior to the date an individual contacts the EDD to file a claim. All claims have a one-week waiting period. The one-week waiting period is not a paid week and does not begin until the claim is filed.15

The Unemployment Insurance Base Period

The EDD calculates UI benefits using a person’s earnings during a specific 12-month period, called a “base period.” The base period is relative to the beginning date of a new claim. The base period begins approximately 15 to 17 months prior to the date the claim is filed. The amount paid each week is calculated based on the calendar quarter with the highest earnings during the base period.

The base period is determined as follows:16

Taxes on Unemployment Insurance Benefits

The Federal Tax Reform Act of 1986 provides for federal taxation on UI benefits. Claimants can voluntarily request that the EDD withhold 15 percent of weekly benefits for federal taxation of UI benefits.

Applying for UI Benefits

To apply for benefits, individuals will need to provide their personal information and:

• Last employer information including company name, supervisor's name, address (mailing and physical location) and phone number.
• Last date worked and the reason they're no longer working.
• Gross earnings in the last week they worked, beginning with Sunday and ending with their last day of work.
• Information on all employers they worked for during the past 18 months, including name, address (mailing and physical location), dates of employment, gross wages earned, hours worked per week, hourly rate of pay and the reason they're no longer working.
• Notice to Federal Employees About Unemployment Insurance, Standard Form 8 (former federal employees only).
• DD 214 Member 4 copy (ex-military only).
• Citizenship status, and, if they're not U.S. citizens, information from their employment authorization documents.

Displaced workers can file UI claims:

Online: This is the fastest way to have a claim accepted and begin receiving benefits. Displaced workers can visit the EDD's UI Online page and apply during the following times:

• Sunday: 5 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
• Monday: 4 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Tuesday through Friday: 2 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Saturday: 2 a.m. through 8 p.m.

By phone: Individuals can reach an EDD representative Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., though wait times may be long due to extremely high traffic.

• English: 800-300-5616
• Spanish: 800-326-8937
• Cantonese: 800-547-3506
• Mandarin: 866-303-0706
• Vietnamese: 800-547-2058
• TTY: 800-815-9387

1. UI Code sec. 1253