PA UC claim reopening confusion - no payment showing & possible waiting week issue?
My husband was receiving UC benefits from June through August, then got back to work. Now his job shut down again this week and he only worked 4 hours total. I went online to try and reopen his claim today, but the system isn't showing any payment info like it normally does when we've filed in the past. It's just giving me a message saying we can't do anything until tomorrow. I'm confused - is there a waiting week when you're reopening an existing claim? I thought that was only for brand new claims. Anyone deal with this recently? We were counting on that UC payment to cover bills next week.
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Vanessa Figueroa
ya gotta wait till after u certify for the week, the payment won't show up right away when reopen. system needs time to process everything
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Diez Ellis
•Thanks for responding! So are you saying we DO have to serve a waiting week again even though it's the same benefit year? That doesn't seem right since he already did a waiting week when he first filed back in June.
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Abby Marshall
There's no new waiting week when reopening a claim within the same benefit year. The system is probably just updating. You need to: 1. Complete the reopening process 2. Wait for it to process (usually overnight) 3. File the weekly certification for the week with only 4 hours 4. Then payment should be calculated and show in the system Make sure he reports those 4 hours worked accurately when filing the weekly certification. Payment will be reduced based on part-time earnings but he should still receive partial benefits.
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Sadie Benitez
•THIS!! happened to me in January. Exactly what practical_solution said - no waiting week when reopening, just gotta wait for system to update overnight!
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Drew Hathaway
Omg the reopening process is SO FRUSTRATING!!!! When my job cut hours in Feb I tried for THREE DAYS to reopen my claim and kept getting errors!!!! I couldn't file my weekly claim and panicked about missing the window. I swear PA UC system is designed to make ppl give up!!!!!
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Diez Ellis
•That's exactly what I'm worried about! Did you end up getting it figured out? I'm stressing because rent is due next week.
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Drew Hathaway
•Yeah eventually but only bc I finally got thru to an actual human at UC who fixed something on their end. The website kept saying I could reopen but then would error out at the last step. Took me calling 67 TIMES to get through!!!!
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Laila Prince
To clarify what everyone is saying - no, there is NOT a waiting week when reopening an existing UC claim in PA within the same benefit year. The waiting week is only served once per benefit year. What you're experiencing is just the system processing the reopened claim. Once your husband's claim is reopened, he'll be able to file for the week with partial hours (reporting the 4 hours worked). His payment will be calculated as his weekly benefit amount minus a portion of what he earned for those 4 hours. Also important: make sure he continues filing weekly claims every week, even if only working partial hours. As long as he earns less than his weekly benefit amount plus 30%, he should qualify for at least some partial benefits each week.
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Diez Ellis
•Thank you for explaining this so clearly! We'll try again tomorrow. So basically he claims the 4 hours worked and reports the earnings, and then should get a reduced payment? That makes sense. Really appreciate the help!
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Isabel Vega
my cousin had the exact same thing happen back in November when construction shut down for winter. he reopened and had to wait like 3 days before seeing anything about payment. just be patient and keep checking your acct
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Dominique Adams
I had so much trouble reopening my claim in January - couldn't get through online or by phone for almost 2 weeks! After trying to call literally hundreds of times, I tried Claimyr (claimyr.com) and got connected to a UC rep in 20 minutes. They fixed everything right away. Check out their demo video: https://youtu.be/CEPETxZdo9E?si=WL1ZzVZWG3KiHrg2 - totally worth it when you're worried about getting benefits restarted quickly.
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Sadie Benitez
•does this actually work?? im sick of getting busy signals
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Dominique Adams
•Yes, worked perfectly for me. Instead of busy signals for days, I got to talk to someone on my lunch break. The rep said they'd been getting slammed with reopening issues because of seasonal layoffs.
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Vanessa Figueroa
btw make sure ur husband files on the right day. my last name starts with M so i have to file on wednesdays. they r strict about it
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Laila Prince
•That filing schedule is only for the initial application. For weekly certifications, anyone can file Sunday through Friday regardless of last name. The alphabetical schedule only applies when initially opening or reopening a claim.
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Vanessa Figueroa
•oh for real?? been filing on wednesdays for months now lol
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Diez Ellis
Update: We were able to get through this morning! The system is now showing the reopened claim and we filed for last week (with the 4 hours reported). It's saying payment will be processed in 2-3 business days. Thanks everyone for your help!
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Abby Marshall
•Great news! Just make sure he continues filing every week, even if he starts working more hours. As long as he earns less than his weekly benefit amount + 30%, he'll still qualify for at least some partial benefits.
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Isabella Russo
Glad to hear you got it sorted out! For anyone else reading this thread - the key takeaway is that when reopening a UC claim in PA within the same benefit year, there's NO waiting week required. The system just needs time to process (usually overnight). Always report partial hours worked accurately when filing weekly certifications, and you'll get reduced benefits based on earnings. Don't panic if the payment info doesn't show immediately after reopening - that's totally normal!
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Isaiah Thompson
•This is such helpful info! I'm new to this community and dealing with a similar situation. My employer just reduced my hours from full-time to part-time starting this week. I filed for UC back in September but then went back to full-time work in October. Now I'm wondering if I need to reopen my claim or file a new one? And will I need to serve another waiting week? Reading through this thread it sounds like no waiting week for reopening, but I want to make sure I understand correctly before I mess anything up!
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