PA UC benefits while traveling: Do I answer 'no' to able/available & will payments resume automatically?

Yes, you should definitely answer 'no' to the able and available question for the weeks you're traveling. PA UC requires you to be able and available for suitable work, and being out of town means you're not available to accept work or attend interviews. When you return and start answering 'yes' again, your benefits should resume without any special steps needed. Just make sure you keep filing your weekly claims even for the weeks you're away - you'll get $0 for those weeks, but it keeps your claim active.

i did this last summer when i went to my cousins wedding for 10 days. just answer no for the able and available question and you wont get paid for those weeks but its fine when u come back. dont forget to do the work search stuff when u get back tho

BE CAREFUL!! I did this and ended up with a huge mess! When I got back and started answering YES again, my account got flagged for an 'issue' and my payments stopped for almost a month! Had to call them like 50 times before I finally got through to fix it. The system sometimes thinks there's something suspicious when you switch from NO to YES on the able/available question.

Yeah it was awful. When I finally got through to someone, they had to manually remove the "issue" flag from my account. The rep told me it happens sometimes when your answers change suddenly. I wish I'd known ahead of time I could've avoided the whole thing.

If your going to be away for two weeks and answer No to being able an available, I think it will cause your claim to go inactive. My sister did this last month and when she came back she had to call to get it reactivated which was a NIGHTMARE. You could be waiting weeks to get thru to someone at UC.

If you're really worried about having issues when you get back, you might want to try Claimyr to reach a UC representative before you leave. They helped me get through to someone at PA UC in about 25 minutes when I was dealing with an able and available issue last month. The service connects you with a PA UC agent so you can explain your situation and ask what to do. They have a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/CEPETxZdo9E?si=WL1ZzVZWG3KiHrg2. Their website is claimyr.com - much better than spending days hitting redial.

My cousin had a similar situation when he went to Florida for his honeymoon and when he came back and started answering yes again everything was fine and his payments started again right away. But I think it really depends on your specific claim situation and whether you have had any issues before. Everyone's experience seems different with the unemployment system lol

One important thing to remember: You still need to complete your work search activities for any week you want to receive benefits. So the week you return, make sure you complete your required work search activities if you want to get paid for that week. And yes, definitely continue filing your weekly claims even when you answer 'no' to able and available. This keeps your claim active and prevents any gaps that could cause administrative issues.

Hey did anyone tell you about the 40% rule? If you're available at least 40% of the week, you can technically still answer YES to being able and available. So depending on which days you're gone exactly, you might still qualify for those weeks!