PA UC confusion with pension offset - state retirement vs. last employer causing claim delay

omg the exact same thing happened to my husband in January!!! took FOREVER to get it straightened out. They kept thinking his county pension was from his last job but he only worked there for 2 years. Make sure you keep calling them and explaining it over and over, they are so confusing with the pension offset rules.

This is actually a common issue with pension offset calculations in PA. The key is understanding that only pensions from BASE PERIOD employers should affect your UC benefits. If you earned the pension from employment before your base period, it shouldn't be counted against your UC benefits. You need to make sure you clarify with UC that the pension is not from a base period employer. Submit documentation showing when you earned the pension and when you worked for your most recent employer. Also, request a Relief from Charges determination if you haven't already.

my mom had the same problem with her school pension but she gave up trying to fix it becuz they kept saying she needed to prove it was from before her base period. Too much stress so she just took the reduced amount.

I had EXACTLY this situation in 2025 with my state pension being incorrectly attributed to my last employer. Here's what worked for me: 1. Get a letter from your pension administrator stating EXACTLY when the pension was earned and which employers contributed 2. File an appeal (you have 15 days from the determination date) 3. In your appeal, cite PA UC Law Section 401(f) which covers pension offsets 4. Specifically mention that the pension is not from a "base-period employer" as defined in Section 401(f)(3)(i) It took about 3 weeks after I submitted these documents, but they reversed the decision and I got full benefits plus backpay for the weeks they had reduced my benefits.

Have you tried contacting PA UC by phone? I know it's practically impossible to get through to them, but I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) a few weeks ago when I had a similar issue with my claim. They got me connected to an actual UC rep in about 20 minutes instead of spending days hitting redial. Check out their demo video to see how it works: https://youtu.be/CEPETxZdo9E?si=WL1ZzVZWG3KiHrg2 The agent I spoke with was able to see exactly what was going on with my claim and told me what documentation they needed to resolve it. Saved me weeks of waiting for letters.

THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS RIGGED AGAINST US!!! They DELIBERATELY make these "mistakes" to deny benefits hoping people will just give up!!! I had THREE different "issues" with my claim and each time it was THEIR ERROR but took WEEKS to fix!!! DISGRACEFUL how they treat hard-working people who paid into the system for YEARS!!!

One more thing - make sure you keep filing your weekly claims while all this is being sorted out! Even with the determination being questioned, you need to maintain your claim status by filing every week. If they eventually rule in your favor, they'll pay you for all those weeks at once, but if you stop filing, you'll lose those weeks permanently.

i think you need to be really careful about how you explain this. my sister-in-law had a similar thing with her teacher pension and they kept misunderstanding it. she had to go to her hearing with a printout of her entire work history showing the dates of all her different teaching jobs to prove that the pension wasnt from her last employer. it was such a headache but she finally got it fixed.

To follow up on the process: After you gather your documentation, you should file an appeal through the PA UC portal and request a hearing. At the hearing, you'll need to clearly explain: 1. Your base period (typically the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters before filing) 2. When you earned your pension (showing it's from employment outside that base period) 3. The specific employers who contributed to your pension Bring multiple copies of all documentation so the hearing officer and any employer representatives can have copies. Make your case calmly and stick to the facts about when and where the pension was earned.

I went through something very similar last year with my PSERS pension from teaching in multiple districts. The key thing that finally got mine resolved was getting a detailed letter from PSERS that specifically stated: 1. The exact dates of all my teaching employment that contributed to the pension 2. A clear statement that the pension was based on employment from [specific years] 3. Confirmation that my most recent employer (the one I filed UC against) was NOT a contributing employer to this pension Once I had that documentation, I also called and spoke to a supervisor (took multiple attempts) and explained that this was a "non-base period pension" under PA UC guidelines. The supervisor was able to see that their system had incorrectly flagged it as being from my most recent employer. It took about 5 weeks total from when I first got the documentation to when they corrected it and released my back pay. Don't give up - you have the law on your side if the pension truly isn't from your base period employer!