To summarize for everyone who has questions about what to report to DEO when claiming weeks: 1. Report: Wages/earnings from work (even part-time or gig work), severance pay, vacation pay, retirement pay if you just started receiving it, self-employment income 2. Don't report: LIHEAP, SNAP/food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance, charity assistance, church help, friend/family loans or gifts The key distinction is whether you performed work to receive the money. If you didn't work for it, it's generally not reportable for unemployment purposes. However, there are exceptions like severance and vacation pay which are considered delayed compensation for work already performed.

I had a similar confusion last year about my son giving me money to help with bills while I was on unemployment. I called DEO (waited forever) and they confirmed that gifts and financial help from family members don't need to be reported when claiming weeks. They're only looking for earnings from work. LIHEAP definitely falls under assistance, not earnings.

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! Just as an update - I FINALLY got through to someone at DEO after trying for 2 days straight. Turns out it was a combination of things: 1. They initially denied my first claimed week due to "insufficient work search activities" but after review approved it ($275) 2. They found additional wages from a job I had that pushed my weekly benefit amount up by $25 per week 3. That higher amount was retroactively applied to my previous approved week ($25) 4. They also added a one-time adjustment for some technical reason the agent couldn't really explain clearly ($275) So it all adds up to $600! The agent confirmed I can keep it all, so I'm relieved. Really appreciate everyone's help here!

Don't forget to maintain your work search requirements going forward! Now that they're requiring 5 work search activities per week, they're getting really strict about verifying them. I had a week denied last month for only having 4 activities logged, and it took forever to appeal.

when did u last contact them about this? cuz i thought there was like a 1yr limit to dispute claims or something??

As a follow-up: when you contact your state representative, be sure to specifically request that they ask DEO for a "Final Determination" on your claim. This forces them to make a decision one way or another, which then gives you appeal rights if necessary. Without a determination, your claim can theoretically remain "pending" forever. Also, if you were approved for PUA but payments were never released, that's a specific technical issue that was common during the pandemic. It's called a "payment hold" status, and it requires a supervisor override in the CONNECT system. This is exactly the kind of issue a legislative office can help resolve, as they can speak directly to supervisors at DEO.

Quick question - when you submitted your backdating request, did you get an email confirmation or just the confirmation number on the screen? I'm wondering if there's a way to check if the request was actually received properly in their system.

Update from my experience: After talking with a DEO specialist yesterday about my backdating situation (similar to yours), I learned that sometimes your backdated weeks can be approved but still not show up if you have any open "fact-finding" investigations or "pending issues" on your account. The specialist I spoke with suggested checking the "Determination, Pending Issues and Decision Summary" section of CONNECT to see if there are any open items that might be holding up your backdated weeks. If there are, resolving those first can sometimes trigger the release of your backdated weeks. Hope this helps someone!

wrong forum for tax questions try r/tax

People on unemployment often have tax issues too - especially with how DEO messes up our 1099-G forms half the time! This seems like a perfectly reasonable place to ask when both systems are failing us.