Alabama Unemployment Benefits

Unemployment Resource

Phone: (866) 234-5382

Website: Alabama Unemployment Website

Eligibility

Generally, you must meet certain requirements to be eligible for unemployment benefits. You must be able to work, available for work, willing to accept suitable work, actively seeking full time work, and be out of work due to no fault of your own. If you voluntarily quit your job, the burden of proof is on you to show that you quit for a good work-connected reason. If you are terminated or discharged, your employer must show that you were terminated for a work-connected cause as stated in the Alabama UC Law.

State of Alabama Unemployment Benefits

Filing a claim

You can file your claim from any touch-tone telephone by calling the Initial Claims Line (toll free) at 1-866-234-5382. Your call will be answered by an electronic Interactive Voice Response system, which will ask you some initial questions. You will then be automatically connected to a customer service representative who will complete your claim. We recommend that you do not use a cellular telephone for this process because calls may be dropped by your service prior to our system saving the information.

If you are on a temporary lay-off and will be going back to work for the same employer, your employer may have arranged to file your claim at your place of employment. Check with your employer if you think this has been arranged.

In order to file your unemployment benefits claim by phone, you will need your social security number and the name, correct address, and dates of employment for your most recent employer. In order to verify your identity, the state requires a driver's license or state-issued ID card number and your mother's maiden name. If you are separating from the military, you will also need the member 4 copy of your DD214. If you are not a citizen of the United States, you must provide us with your work authorization number.

You should file immediately upon losing your job. Alabama does not have a waiting week. Your claim will be effective the Sunday preceding the day that you file for benefits by calling 1-866-234-5382. Your claim is good for 365 days from that Sunday.

Generally, you have as many as 26 weeks of eligibility depending on how much you have earned in your base period. If you return to work of if you have deductible income for any week, you may draw more or less than 26 weeks. The total amount that you can draw for the year is the maximum benefit amount shown on your monetary determination.

When you contact the call center, a representative can file your claim against another state (unless that state operates their own call center) or determine if you need to combine all of your wages from several states to file a claim. You will need to be prepared to discuss the last 18 months of work history for this information to be correct. The call center representative is trained to help you decided what type of claim will benefit you the most. In some cases, you will be given an option on which claims you decide to file.

No benefit year is established on ineligible claims. This allows you to file again when your base period changes. Be sure to ask for a specific date as to when the quarters will change so that you can file again as soon as possible if you are still unemployed.

If your monetary determination has missing or incorrect wages, telephone your local UC inquiry line immediately. A request for a re-determination may be needed, in order for us to locate missing or incorrect wages.

When you file your weekly certification for benefits, you should report any wages you earn for any work performed during the week you are claiming. Remember---you report your gross earnings during the week in which they are earned, not when they are paid. This is a mistake that could result in an overpayment of benefits.

You must be available to accept full time work and be able to perform work in which you have prior training or experience in order to be eligible for any week of benefits.

You should receive your benefits weekly and very quickly, if you have followed all of the procedures provided to you, there are no issues to be resolved, and your claim has been cleared for payment.

Occasionally, mail gets delayed or we have computer problems on our end, but normally if you certify before 5:00 pm your check is printed on the next business day after you call in your weekly certification. If your check seems unusually delayed, contact your Call Center Inquiry Line. Your check may be lost, incorrectly delivered, or even stolen. In these cases, a call center representative will assist you in completing an affidavit for a lost or stolen check.

UC Telephone Numbers for Claimants

Source: Alabama Department of Industrial Relations