DEO payments when you have a job offer with 5-week delayed start date - can I still claim?

congrats on the new job!! you only report income when you actually START working and earning money. keep claiming like normal until your first paycheck, just make sure to do all your work searches in the meantime

You should continue claiming weeks as normal until you actually start working. The DEO only cares about employment that produces income, not future job offers. Keep answering "no" to the question about whether you worked during the claim week. However, you absolutely must continue completing your 5 work search activities each week until your actual start date. If you don't, and you get audited, you could face an overpayment situation. When you start your job, you'll report any earnings for that claim week, and if you earn over your weekly benefit amount, you won't receive benefits for that week.

I had the exact same thing happen last year! Got a job but had to wait 6 weeks before starting. DEO paid me the whole time until I actually started working. The only thing that confused me was that I kept answering YES to the question about if I had looked for work during the waiting period since technically I had already found work lol. But my job coach said that was wrong and I needed to keep doing the searches.

When answering the bi-weekly claim questions, you'll need to be careful about how you answer. For the question "Did you refuse any work offered to you during this week?" - the answer should be "no" (since you've accepted the job). For "Did you work or earn any income during the week?" - answer "no" until you actually start working. And for "Were you able and available for work?" - answer "yes" since you are technically still available until your start date. I've been through this exact scenario when I had a job lined up with a multi-week gap before starting. DEO continued to pay my benefits until I reported my first week of actual work. Just make sure you're documenting your 5 work search contacts each week - this is still required despite having a job lined up.

DONT LISTEN TO THESE PEOPLE!!!! If you have a job offer you MUST report it to DEO!!!! They will find out and then you'll get hit with fraud!!! I know someone who this happened to and they made them pay back THOUSANDS!!!!

My cousin had this exact same situation back in January. DEO kept paying him for the 3 weeks before his job started. He just kept doing all the stupid work searches even though he already had a job lined up lol. The system is so dumb sometimes.

If you're struggling to get clear information from DEO about this situation, I'd recommend trying Claimyr. I used them when I had a similar issue with delayed employment and couldn't reach anyone for weeks. Claimyr connected me to a DEO agent in about 20 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/UzW_hbUy-ss?si=zORd51jeq1GX5Ldj that shows how it works. Definitely worth it for getting a definitive answer directly from DEO.

btw when you DO start working make sure you report the EXACT amount you earned in the week not what your paycheck says. DEO goes by when you WORKED not when you got paid. that tripped me up.

my start date got pushed back twice when i was in your situation! keep claiming until you ACTUALLY start. you never know what might happen.

When your first day of work arrives, here's how to handle it correctly: 1. Keep track of your hours worked that week 2. Calculate your gross earnings (before taxes/deductions) 3. Report those earnings on your next bi-weekly claim 4. If you earned less than your weekly benefit amount, you'll receive partial benefits 5. If you earned more than your weekly benefit amount, you'll receive no benefits for that week 6. After two consecutive weeks of reporting earnings that exceed your benefit amount, your claim will automatically close This is the proper procedure according to DEO guidelines. Until then, continue claiming as normal and completing all required work searches.