Holiday bonus causing PA UC claim issue - will this delay my seasonal unemployment pay?

happened to me last year but w/ severance pay not bonus. open issue took 3 weeks to clear up on its own. super annoying!!

They might be treating your bonus as earnings that need to be reported. When I had something similar, I had to verify the exact date the bonus was paid and how much. The holiday bonus should only affect the week it was paid in, not your entire claim. Check if you can upload proof showing when the bonus was paid through your dashboard.

You NEED to call them asap! Open issues don't resolve themselves and your payments will be on hold until someone reviews it. I was in a similar situation with a retirement payout that caused an issue on my claim. Take screenshots of your paystubs showing the date of the bonus payment in December before your new benefit year started. You'll need to explain that to an agent. The problem is getting through to an actual person at PA UC. I spent 2 weeks trying to get through - busy signals, getting disconnected, or being told to call back later. Super frustrating!

I help people with UC issues, and I can tell you that the most common reason for this is that the employer reported the bonus incorrectly on their quarterly wage report. When you call PA UC (and yes, calling is the only way to fix this quickly), ask the agent to check if your employer reported the bonus as part of your January wages instead of December. This happens ALL THE TIME with seasonal workers, especially in construction. The agent can manually verify when the bonus was paid if you can provide documentation. Holiday bonuses from before your benefit year don't count against your current claim. Once they fix it, your payments should process within 2-3 business days.

Good news: After you get this fixed, your weekly claims should process normally. Bad news: It won't fix itself. My friend who works in seasonal fishing industry had an almost identical situation. His employer's HR person coded the holiday bonus as January wages instead of December. Took him calling and explaining to get it fixed, but once it was resolved, he got all his back payments at once. The agent manually recoded the bonus to the correct date. Just be ready to clearly explain that the bonus was received in December 2024, before your new benefit year started on Jan 1, 2025.

so did u get this fixed yet? im curious cuz im having similar problems with my seasonal claim