Can PA UC benefits apply to school employee snow days? Not getting paid for weather closures

Unfortunately, in most cases, school employees can't claim unemployment for snow days specifically. PA UC considers this a temporary layoff with a reasonable assurance of returning to work. However, if your pay has dropped by 35% or more in a given week compared to your normal wages, you might qualify for partial benefits. The best approach is to file anyway and let UC determine your eligibility. They'll specifically evaluate if you meet the criteria under PA's 'partial unemployment' provisions.

my aunt works @ a school in harrisburg and tried to file for snow days last yr. they denied her claim said it was expected seasonal work??? didnt make sense to me cuz snow days arent exactly predictable but thats what PA UC told her

I went through this EXACT situation in 2023 and let me tell you the UC system is IMPOSSIBLE to navigate for school workers!!! I tried filing for 3 weeks with multiple snow days and got denied because they said I was "not unemployed" even though I LITERALLY WASN'T GETTING PAID!!! The system is rigged against hourly school workers while the salaried teachers get paid no matter what. It's INFURIATING!!! 😡

Have you tried talking to your union rep? Some school districts have provisions for makeup days or alternate work for hourly employees.

When I was trying to reach someone at PA UC about a similar situation (I'm a school bus driver), I kept getting busy signals for weeks. A coworker told me about this service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual person at UC in less than an hour. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/CEPETxZdo9E?si=WL1ZzVZWG3KiHrg2. The agent I spoke with explained that while most snow days don't qualify, if you have a week with significant hour reduction, it's worth applying for that specific week. The website is claimyr.com if you want to check it out.

i work as a janitor at a school and we had the same issue last year. what we found out is that its all about how many hours you lose in the BENEFIT WEEK (sunday-saturday), not just if you miss a day or two. so if you miss enuff hours in a single week to hit their threshold (i think its 35% or 40% less than normal) then you might qualify for partial benefits just for that week. but its suuuuper complicated and honestly even the UC people gave me different answers when i finally got thru 🤷‍♂️

PA school employee here with some clarification. For snow days, the key factors UC considers are: 1. Whether you have "reasonable assurance" of returning to work (most school employees do) 2. If your hours/pay were reduced by at least 35% during a benefit week 3. Whether your work agreement specifically addresses snow days If you're an hourly employee with no contractual protection for snow days, AND your weekly earnings dropped significantly, file a claim for just those specific weeks. You'll need to report any earnings from days you did work that week. Many school districts have alternate policies for hourly staff during snow days - some offer makeup hours, some provide alternative duties, and some might have a limited number of paid snow days. Check your employee handbook or speak with HR before filing.

I'm in a similar situation as a substitute teacher in PA. What I've learned from my experience is that you should definitely keep detailed records of your lost hours and wages for each week. Take screenshots of your pay stubs showing the reduced hours, and document which specific days were snow days. When you file, be very clear that you're filing for "partial unemployment" due to reduced hours, not regular unemployment. Also, don't be discouraged if your first claim gets denied - you can appeal and provide more documentation. The appeals process sometimes results in different outcomes than the initial review. Good luck!