PA UC approval timeline? Employer contact holding up my claim for a week!

dont worry its pretty normal. my employer took like almost 2 weeks to respond when i filed in january. PA UC has to give ur employer time to dispute ur claim if they want to. nothing u can do but wait unfortunately

The standard processing time for PA UC claims is 2-3 weeks from initial filing, assuming there are no issues. Employers have 7 calendar days to respond after being contacted, but the system doesn't automatically approve if they don't respond - a UC examiner still needs to review the claim. Your Dashboard will update once a determination is made. If it's been more than 3 weeks or your financial situation is urgent, you might want to try contacting the UC service center directly.

Just to add some practical advice - make sure you're still filing your weekly certifications even while waiting for the initial approval. Many people make the mistake of waiting until they're approved before filing weekly claims, but you should start those right away. You won't get paid for weeks you don't certify for, even after approval.

IF YOUR EMPLOYER CONTESTS YOUR CLAIM it can take FOREVER!!!! Mine said I quit but I was actually laid off and it took 6 WEEKS to resolve! The whole time I couldn't pay rent and almost got evicted. The system is completely broken and they don't care at all about people suffering!

I was in a similar situation last month and couldn't get through to anyone at PA UC. After getting disconnected for 3 days straight, I tried Claimyr (claimyr.com) and they actually got me connected to an agent within 30 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/CEPETxZdo9E?si=WL1ZzVZWG3KiHrg2. The agent was able to see that my employer hadn't responded yet and gave me a more specific timeline. Saved me a lot of anxiety!

One more thing that might help - check your Correspondence section in your PA UC portal. Sometimes they send messages there that don't trigger email notifications. There might be information about your claim status or requests for additional information that you haven't seen.

my brother got his approval in 10 days but my sister in law took almost a month for the exact same employer!! system is totally random sometimes i swear

UPDATE: My status just changed to approved! Took exactly 9 days. My employer must have responded quickly. Thanks everyone for the advice and support! For anyone else waiting - hang in there and definitely file those weekly claims while waiting like someone suggested above!

Congrats on the approval! That's such a relief when you finally see that status change. For future reference for anyone else reading - it really does vary a lot by employer. Some respond within a day or two, others take the full week they're given. The key is definitely to keep filing those weekly certifications while waiting. I made that mistake on my first claim and lost out on 2 weeks of benefits even after getting approved. The system can be frustrating but it does work eventually!

Great to see another success story! 9 days is definitely on the faster side. Just wanted to add for anyone else reading this thread - if you're approved but don't see your first payment within a few days, don't panic. Sometimes there's an additional 2-3 day processing time for the actual payment to hit your account or debit card. Also make sure your payment method is set up correctly in your profile. I've seen people get approved but then have payment delays because their banking info wasn't updated properly. Best of luck to everyone still waiting!

Reading through all these responses is really helpful! I'm currently on day 12 of waiting for my employer response and getting pretty nervous about it. @Freya Andersen congrats on getting approved so quickly! It gives me hope that mine might come through soon too. I've been filing my weekly certifications like everyone suggested, but I'm wondering - has anyone had experience with what happens if your employer just never responds at all? Do they eventually just approve it automatically or does it go to some kind of manual review? Also curious if anyone knows whether larger employers tend to respond faster than smaller ones since they probably have more HR staff to handle these requests.

This whole thread has been so informative! I'm currently on day 6 of waiting for my employer response and was starting to worry, but seeing @Freya Andersen get approved in 9 days gives me hope. I've been checking my dashboard obsessively but it still just says "contacting employer." One thing I'm curious about - has anyone noticed if the time of year affects processing times? I filed right after the holidays and wondering if that might slow things down with people being out of office. Also really appreciate everyone mentioning the weekly certifications - I almost made that mistake of waiting! Filing my second one this week just to be safe.

Just wanted to share my recent experience to help others who might be waiting! I filed my PA UC claim about 3 weeks ago and it took exactly 14 days to get approved. My employer is a mid-sized company and they responded on day 6, but then it took another week for the UC examiner to review everything. The waiting was brutal - I was checking my dashboard multiple times a day! But like everyone said, make sure you file those weekly certifications right away. I almost didn't because I thought I had to wait for approval first, but thankfully I read similar advice in another thread. Now I'm just waiting for my first payment to hit my account. Hang in there everyone - the system does work, it's just slow! And definitely try that correspondence section tip someone mentioned - I found a message there I had missed that explained the delay.

This thread is incredibly helpful for anyone navigating the PA UC system! I'm currently on day 8 of waiting for my employer response and was getting really anxious, but reading everyone's experiences here has helped calm my nerves. It sounds like anywhere from 9-14 days is pretty normal for the whole process. I've been filing my weekly certifications from the start thanks to similar advice I found online - that seems to be the most important thing people can do while waiting. One thing I'd add for anyone else going through this: I set up text alerts in my UC portal so I get notified immediately when there's a status change. Beats obsessively checking the dashboard! Also seconding the advice about checking the correspondence section regularly - easy to miss important updates there.

Just want to echo everyone's experiences here - I went through this exact same process about 6 months ago and the waiting is absolutely the worst part! My timeline was similar to others mentioned: filed on a Monday, employer responded by the following Wednesday (8 days), and got approved 3 days after that for a total of 11 days. The key things that helped me stay sane during the wait: 1) Filed weekly certifications immediately (cannot stress this enough!), 2) Set up those text notifications in the portal, and 3) Checked correspondence daily since important updates don't always trigger emails. For anyone currently waiting - I know it feels like forever when you have bills due, but based on all the timelines shared here, most people are getting approved within 2 weeks. The system is slow but it does work! And @Freya Andersen congrats on your approval - 9 days is great timing!

This thread has been incredibly helpful for me as someone who just filed my PA UC claim 3 days ago! Reading all these real timelines (9-14 days seems typical) has really helped manage my expectations. I was already getting anxious but seeing @Freya Andersen get approved in 9 days and others sharing similar experiences is reassuring. I've taken notes on all the key advice here: filing weekly certifications immediately (doing my first one today!), setting up text alerts in the portal, and checking the correspondence section daily. It's so much better getting real experiences from actual people than trying to decode the vague official PA UC information. Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories and creating what's basically become the unofficial PA UC waiting guide! Hopefully I'll have good news to share in a week or so.

This entire thread has been such a lifesaver! I'm on day 4 of waiting for my employer response and was already spiraling with anxiety about bills, but seeing all these real timelines has really helped put things in perspective. The 9-14 day range seems pretty consistent across everyone's experiences. I've already filed my first weekly certification (thank goodness for that advice being repeated so much here!) and just set up the text notifications. One question for anyone who's been through this - did your dashboard give you any indication when your employer actually responded, or did it just stay on "contacting employer" until the final approval? Also wondering if there's any correlation between how quickly employers respond and whether they're planning to contest the claim. Thanks to everyone for sharing such detailed experiences - this thread should be pinned as the unofficial PA UC survival guide!

I'm currently on day 11 of waiting for my employer response and this thread has been incredibly reassuring! Reading everyone's timelines (especially @Freya Andersen getting approved in 9 days) helps so much when you're in the middle of the anxiety-inducing wait. I've been following all the advice here - filing weekly certifications from day 1, set up text alerts, checking correspondence daily. It's amazing how much more helpful real people's experiences are compared to the vague official PA UC information. For anyone else waiting, this thread really shows that 9-14 days seems to be the normal range, so we just need to be patient. The weekly certification tip alone probably saved me from losing benefits - I had no idea you needed to start those right away! Fingers crossed I see a status change in the next few days. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and creating what's basically become the best PA UC resource online!

Just wanted to add my recent experience to this incredibly helpful thread! I filed my PA UC claim about 2 weeks ago and got approved yesterday after exactly 13 days - right in that typical 9-14 day range everyone's been mentioning. My employer (a large retail chain) took 8 days to respond, then it was another 5 days for the UC examiner to process everything. The waiting was absolutely brutal, especially around day 10-11 when you start wondering if something went wrong. But like everyone has emphasized here - filing those weekly certifications from day 1 was crucial! I also set up the text alerts which saved my sanity from constantly checking the dashboard. For anyone currently in the waiting phase, this thread really does have all the best advice. The correspondence section tip helped me catch an important message I would have missed otherwise. Thanks to everyone who shared their timelines - it really helps knowing you're not alone in this stressful process!