If you’re confused about how the Texas Workforce Commission is handling your unemployment claim, you aren’t alone.
More than 3.8 million Texans have applied for unemployment benefits since March, and we’ve heard from thousands who have struggled with their unemployment claims ever since. They have endured months of problems getting in touch with the TWC, been kicked off of additional weekly benefits and tried to maneuver through a confusing appeals process.
Meanwhile, two main programs authorized by the federal CARES Act that significantly expand assistance are set to expire at the end of December. If Congress doesn’t act soon, many Texans will lose at least some of their benefits.
As people wait to learn more about the fate of their pandemic benefits, many are still struggling to navigate the TWC’s already-complicated unemployment system, made harder to understand by the changing rules and programs that came with COVID-19.
We’ve found that easily accessible, up-to-date information about unemployment benefits can be hard to find in one place.
In this guide, you’ll find answers to the following questions:
El sitio web de la TWC tiene una opción de español para cada categoría de desempleo en Tejas.
Otros sitios web útiles:
Traditional unemployment benefits in Texas are typically available to people who have been laid off from their jobs or who have lost hours or wages for reasons that aren’t tied to employee misconduct. They are funded through employer taxes and meant to provide a temporary, partial income replacement for people who meet certain qualifications.
Melissa Jacobs, an attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, says generally, “people who are separated from work through no fault of their own” qualify for some type of assistance.
State unemployment systems across the country have changed, however, during the coronavirus pandemic. The CARES Act, a federal law passed in March, has temporarily made many more workers who’ve been affected by COVID-19 eligible for unemployment assistance than would be otherwise under Texas law. Those workers include independent contractors, gig workers, people who have already used up their unemployment benefits and people who didn’t earn enough in the past to qualify for regular unemployment. TRLA offers a detailed breakdown of who can access unemployment benefits during the pandemic here.
If Congress doesn’t take action soon, unemployment programs authorized by the CARES Act will expire after Dec. 26, 2020.
Although the legislation is set to expire soon, it may still be worth filing a claim for pandemic-specific assistance if you lost work earlier during the pandemic, as you may be eligible for backdated payments. Read more about that here.
Regular unemployment benefits: This traditional unemployment program provides assistance for up to 26 weeks per year. To be eligible for regular benefits, you must:
Once you exhaust your claim, you may be eligible for one or more of the federal pandemic assistance programs, as well as a state extension program. The TWC should automatically consider you for these programs and enroll you if you qualify. Read more about extensions here.
Note: You will be screened for regular unemployment before you are screened for pandemic-related benefits. You may get a denial letter for traditional benefits but still qualify for other assistance programs.
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA): If you apply for unemployment and the workforce commission finds that you do not qualify for regular benefits, the agency should automatically consider you for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and enroll you if you are found eligible. You should not need to file a separate claim.
PUA lasts up to 39 weeks. According to Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, you should qualify if:
You had your work hours reduced because of COVID-19.
You are unable to work (whether you were employed by someone else or self-employed) because you are caring for a child whose school or child care facility closed because of COVID-19.
You are fired or leave work to comply with a mandatory order issued under a disaster declaration.
You are unable to work because of a government-ordered quarantine or a doctor advised you to self-quarantine over COVID-19 concerns.
You are unable to work because you or someone else in your household has been diagnosed with COVID-19, or you are caring for a family member who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
You are unable to work because you have COVID-19 symptoms and are seeking a diagnosis.
This program expires after Dec. 26, 2020.
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC): Texas currently provides up to 13 additional weeks of benefits to people who have exhausted their regular state benefits. This is a new program under the CARES Act. If you were already receiving unemployment assistance and used up your 26 weeks of benefits before the coronavirus pandemic, you may be eligible for more assistance under this program.
According to Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, you should qualify for PEUC if:
You do not need to reapply or file a new unemployment claim to receive this benefit if you ran out of benefits on or after July 1, 2019. Instead, you can resume requesting payments.
This program expires after Dec. 26, 2020.
WBA: Weekly benefit amount. This is what you will be paid each week you are receiving unemployment assistance.
MBA: Maximum benefit amount. This is how much assistance, at most, you can receive during your benefit year.
UBS: Unemployment Benefits Services. This is how the TWC refers to its online system you can use to do things like apply for unemployment, request payment and file appeals.
Correspondence inbox: The mailbox attached to your online account where the TWC sends documents and communications.
Claim and payment status page: The webpage where you can locate your claim start date, claim type, weekly benefits, deposits and payment requests online.
UI Portal: Where you can submit documents online.
See also: the TWC’s glossary for unemployment benefits.
The TWC offers instructions on how to:
Possibly. You are eligible to receive unemployment benefits starting from the time you lost your job, but if you aren’t able to immediately reach the TWC, you can request “backdated benefits” to ensure you receive benefits beginning with the week you lost your job.
As of Nov. 1, the TWC has reinstated work search requirements. This means most people must take steps to return to work while receiving unemployment benefits.
Your local workforce area gets to determine the number of searches required where you live based on local COVID-19 numbers and hospitalizations. You can check how many searches are required in your county here.
What counts as a work search?
It depends what kind of unemployment claim you are on. Read more about how to tell here.
If you are on regular unemployment, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) or Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC):
If you are on Extended Benefits (EB):
How do I do a work search if I’m self-employed?
If you intend to reopen your business, you do not need to search for new employment. Instead, you should take steps to reopen and report to the TWC how many hours per week you’ve spent trying to rebuild your business. The TWC has not specified a minimum number of required hours.
Steps to reopen that are accepted by the TWC include activities like contacting past clients, submitting a bid on a contract or posting on social media about your reopening plans. Read more about this on TWC’s website.
If you do not plan to reopen your business, you must perform work searches as outlined here.
Is anyone exempt from work searches?
You may be exempt from work searches if you meet any of the following criteria. You must also have your exemption approved by the Unemployment Insurance Division of the TWC.
You are on a temporary layoff or furlough with a definite return-to-work date.
You are an active member in good standing of a union with a nondiscriminatory hiring hall.
You are in a TWC-approved training program that includes work search exemption.
You are in Trade Act training.
You are in a Shared-Work program.
You are not exempt from work searches if you contract COVID-19 or are awaiting a diagnosis. “Work search can be done in most cases safely from home,” TWC spokesperson James Bernsen said.
You can log on to your online account with the TWC and visit your claim and payment status page. Here, under the claim information section, you will see your claim type listed as:
If you are on an extension, it can be difficult to know which program you are enrolled in. Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits are two active extension programs that are both referred to as Temporary Unemployment Benefits on your claim and payment status page.
If you disagree with a decision the TWC has made about your unemployment claim, you can file an appeal.
Attorneys with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid recommend to their clients that they continue to request benefits while appealing a denial. That way, if they win, they get payments for the weeks they requested during that time.
How do I file an appeal?
According to the TWC, you must appeal in writing within 14 calendar days of when the agency sent your determination letter. You can send your appeal by mail, by fax or online, or submit it in person at your local workforce commission office. The letter should include the reason for your appeal. If you submit online, it’s a good idea to print out or take a screenshot of the confirmation page as proof you sent it.
The TWC says on its website that you should include the following in your appeal letter:
Attorneys with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid also encourage their clients to include:
(If you need to have your appeal hearing in a language other than English, or if one of your witnesses needs an interpreter, you should say so in the appeal and state which language you or your witness speaks.)
Important: If you miss the appeal deadline, your appeal letter must explain in detail why you submitted late.
What happens during the appeals hearing?
Upon receiving the appeal, the agency sends a notice of a telephone hearing. That lists your hearing officer — who amounts to the judge in the case. Legal representation is optional. You can have someone represent you, but the TWC does not provide a lawyer. You also may call witnesses, and your most recent employer may also appeal and participate in the hearing. The hearing officer has your documents in front of them and asks a series of questions, and you are provided an opportunity to lay out your case. Ahead of your hearing, the TWC recommends gathering the following materials to have on hand:
Angeline Stevens, the welding teacher in Dallas, appealed a TWC finding. She recommends having on hand a history of your pay stubs, termination letters and/or any written correspondence you’ve had with your previous employer.
Any of the relevant documents you want to present during the hearing must be provided to the hearing officer listed on your appeal hearing notice. The agency recommends sending relevant documents as far in advance as possible. You should not include documents already included in the hearing information packet.
If I disagree with the decision TWC makes about my appeal, do I have any other options?
Yes. You can read more about next steps here.
Overpayments happen when the workforce commission pays you unemployment benefits that you were not actually entitled to.
In some circumstances, you may be overpaid if you under-report your earnings or fail to include income like severance or time-off payouts. In others, you may be overpaid if you gave incorrect information about your job loss that results in your eligibility for a certain program being overturned. Read more about reasons for overpayment here.
If you disagree that you were overpaid, as many Texans have, you can submit an appeal with the TWC.
If you are working fewer hours than you were prior to losing employment and applying for benefits, you may still qualify for partial unemployment. Attorneys with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid tell clients in this situation to continue requesting payments like normal, including their income and hours worked.
According to the workforce commission, if three weeks or less have passed since you last requested payment, you should go ahead and request payment again as normal. You should report any hours you worked or income you received during the time period for which you request unemployment benefits.
If it has been more than three weeks since you last requested payment, you should reapply for benefits. To help the TWC activate your claim quickly, the agency says, select layoff as the reason you lost your job. Choose layoff even if you were furloughed or the business where you were most recently working closed.
You may not qualify for more benefits. However, there are a few places to check.
If you have exhausted your regular unemployment claim, the TWC should automatically consider you for an extension — you don’t need to file an additional claim. (However, if you believe you qualify for an extension and you are not enrolled within three to four days of exhausting your claim, you can contact the workforce commission.) There are two temporary extension programs currently active in Texas that most people on regular unemployment qualify for: Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or PEUC, and Extended Benefits, or EB.
If you are eligible for unemployment in another state because you also earned wages there, you may have to exhaust your regular benefits in that state before qualifying for EB in Texas.
If you have exhausted your Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and have not recently been on regular unemployment, you don’t qualify for any kind of extension.
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
Under the CARES Act, Texas provides up to 13 additional weeks of federally funded PEUC benefits to people who exhaust their regular state benefits. This program expires after Dec. 26, 2020.
Extended Benefits (EB)
EB is a state program that was triggered by Texas’ high unemployment rate in June. It also extends your benefits for up to 13 additional weeks. Before being considered for EB, you must first exhaust the standard 26 weeks of regular unemployment, plus the additional 13-week extension under PEUC.
While on an extension, will I get the same amount of money each week as I did while on regular benefits?
Yes. The extension extends the amount of time you can receive the benefit. It does not affect the amount you receive.
How do I know if I’m on an extension?
If you’re currently on an extension, your online account will indicate that you claim “Temporary Unemployment Benefits.” To check, visit your claim and payment status page and look directly beneath the Claim Information header. If your claim type is still listed as “Regular Unemployment Benefits,” click the link directly above the Claim Information header that says “Select another claim to view.” This should bring up any other claims you have, including any possible extensions.
If you don’t have access to the internet, check the documentation sent to you in the mail by the TWC.
Unless Congress takes action to extend the pandemic unemployment benefits in the CARES Act, two programs will expire after Dec. 26: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or PEUC.
If you are receiving benefits through either of these programs, you will stop receiving them at the end of December. You may then become eligible for other benefits.
If you are on regular unemployment, you will continue receiving your benefits until you exhaust your claim or find other work.
If you are on Extended Benefits (EB), you will continue receiving your benefits until you exhaust your claim or find other work, or until the unemployment rate in Texas improves and brings the EB program to an end.
If you are appealing a decision from the TWC related to your PUA or PEUC claim and you have an appeals hearing after Dec. 26, the agency says if you win, you will be paid for any weeks for which you are found eligible.
If all else fails: Ask again, but louder. Houston resident Kimberly Lantz suggests calling your local representative’s office. After she was laid off from her job as a hotel sales manager in March, she filed for unemployment right away, but the TWC denied her claim for regular benefits because of an issue with her recent work history. For the next seven months, she would try in bursts to get in touch with the workforce commission to find out whether she qualified for pandemic assistance. But she could never get through. It wasn’t until she called state Rep. Ed Thompson’s office in October to discuss her situation that she got an answer from the TWC. Within a week, $20,000 of backpay was deposited into her account.
Here are other places Texans have gone to get their questions answered throughout the process of applying for assistance during the pandemic:
FAQ from the office of Julian Alvarez, Texas workforce commissioner representing labor.
FAQ from the U.S. Department of Labor.
