PA UC application confusion: Report last workday or final severance payment date?

Your last day of work would be 10/25 when you physically stopped performing work duties. The severance pay will need to be reported separately on your application. PA UC considers severance payments as deductible income, meaning it could affect your weekly benefit amount during the weeks you received it. Make sure to have documentation of your severance arrangement ready - the UC office might request it during their review.

I went through this exact situation last year. Put your ACTUAL last day of physical work (10/25) as your last day. There's a specific section in the application where they'll ask about severance pay - that's where you'll enter all the severance payment details. Just a heads up though - they'll likely delay your benefits until your severance period is over. In PA, severance is deducted from your weekly benefit amount, so depending on how much you got paid, you might not be eligible for payment until those severance weeks are exhausted. The important thing is to be 100% accurate on your application.

when i applied i put the wrong date and it took FOREVER to fix!!!! be super careful 4 real

Listen, the UC system in PA is a NIGHTMARE to deal with. They make these applications intentionally confusing so they can deny people. Put your actual last working day (10/25) and then DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. Take screenshots of every page of your application because they'll claim they never received something or that you entered information incorrectly. I had a somewhat similar situation and they put an "open issue" on my claim for EIGHT WEEKS while they "investigated" my severance. Meanwhile bills were piling up and I couldn't get ANYONE on the phone!!! The system is designed to wear you down.

Im confused by the other responses. When i filed earlier this year the UC rep told me that your last day of work is considered your last day on payroll NOT your last physical day. My company laid me off but i got paid for another month and i had to put the end date of my severance as my last day. Maybe it depends on your specific situation? Anyone else hear this?

Just to follow up on the confusion here - I double-checked the PA UC handbook to make sure I wasn't giving bad info. It specifically states: "Your last day of work is the last day you physically performed work duties." Then severance is handled separately in the deductible income section. The key thing is that you'll need to report your severance pay amount, and the time period it covers (from your last day of work to the end of the severance). They'll calculate how that affects your benefits. You can still open your claim now even though you just received severance - just be prepared that you might not receive actual payment until after your severance period.

make sure u do ur weekly claims even if ur not gettin paid yet!!! i messed that up and lost weeks

my brother works for a pa unemployment call center and he says they get this question all the time. def put ur actual last day of work (10/25), then report the severance honestly when it asks. also if they send u any questionnaires about the severance respond to them asap or ur claim will get delayed forever

Just a final tip - when you're doing your weekly certifications during the severance period, make sure you accurately report any severance amounts received during each week. If you report it all upfront correctly, the system should calculate everything properly, but sometimes there are glitches. If your claim shows "open issues" for more than 2-3 weeks, that's when you should try to get someone on the phone to review your case. Also, start documenting your work search activities immediately. Even during weeks you're receiving severance, you need to complete and document your work search requirements (applying to jobs, attending workshops, etc) to remain eligible.

Good luck with your claim! One more thing to keep in mind - if you run into any issues or delays, you can also try contacting your local CareerLink office. They sometimes have direct contacts at the UC office and can help escalate stuck claims. I had to use this route when my claim got flagged for a "fact-finding interview" that never got scheduled. The CareerLink counselor was able to get it moving again within a week. Also, keep all your severance documentation handy (offer letter, severance agreement, pay stubs) because they might request it even months later during an audit.

Just wanted to add another perspective as someone who recently went through this process - make sure you also understand how they calculate your weekly benefit amount with severance. PA divides your total severance by your normal weekly wage to determine how many "weeks" of severance you received. So if you got $10,000 in severance and your weekly wage was $1,000, they consider that 10 weeks of severance regardless of how long you were actually on payroll. This matters because it affects when your UC benefits will actually start paying out. Also, if you had any unused vacation or PTO that was paid out with your severance, that counts toward the total severance amount too. The whole system is pretty complex but being thorough upfront will save you headaches later!