Learn How To Apply For Unemployment Claims With Our Guide

Learn How To Apply For Unemployment Claims With Our Guide

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If you are an unemployment insurance claimant wondering how to extend your unemployment benefits, you can check the Department of Labor’s statistics on Utah unemployment rates.

At times, the federal or state governments establish an unemployment benefits extension program. These programs are responses to periods of high unemployment in the country. But they are not intended to address individuals’ chronic unemployment.

Utah has specific regulations regarding the unemployment benefits extension program. To learn more about extending unemployment insurance benefits, we’ve provided helpful information below.

  • Learn About Requesting an Unemployment Benefits Extension in Utah
  • How to Get an Unemployment Benefits Extension in Utah
  • Past Federal Unemployment Insurance Extensions

Utah Unemployment Resources

Learn About Requesting an Unemployment Benefits Extension in Utah

The government can activate the Extended Benefits (EB) or another unemployment insurance extension program when Utah’s unemployment reaches a certain percentage for three months or more. It is activated by the federal government and is half-funded by the state.

If the state is in a period of dispersing extended benefits, individuals must meet additional requirements in order to qualify.

First, applicants will be required to loosen their standards about the type of work they are willing to accept and may be required to accept other forms of work than those performed previously. Candidates may need to accept a job with a reduced wage compared to the previous unemployment insurance benefit

Additionally, they may need to demonstrate an increased number of work searches per week. In order to qualify as pursuing a “systematic and sustained” search for work, you must contact at least four prospective employers every week, and not all on the same day.

Each of these employers must not have been contacted previously in the last 90 days. Failure to do so results in the denial of benefits unless there is some extenuating circumstance, such as jury duty or illness.

There is an exception that lets petitioners stay with the standard number of four contacts as long as they have approval from Workforce Services to attend school or training.

How to Get an Unemployment Benefits Extension in Utah

When extended benefits are activated in Utah, qualified recipients will receive a notice stating the date to file, the qualification criteria, and instructions on how to proceed.

Applicants can always check with the Department of Workforce Services or Claims Center if they believe they are eligible for an available extension.

Federal unemployment extension benefits can be denied if Workforce Services determines that the claimant did not accept the work offered or in some other way refused to search for suitable work.

However, if the work was not offered to the applicant in writing or was not listed with the Department of Workforce Services, unemployment extension benefits cannot be denied on the basis of not accepting work.

Past Federal Unemployment Insurance Extensions

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program temporarily gave qualified workers additional weeks of unemployment payment in 2008, but it expired in 2013. And in 2020, the federal government initiated the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, which ended in 2021.

Last Updated: October 17, 2022