Re-opening PA UC claim after benefit year ended - approved after 6 weeks of anxiety!
So my benefit year ended in January and I needed to re-open my PA unemployment claim. Honestly I was freaking out because I'd heard horror stories about being denied the second time around! My original claim was pretty straightforward (laid off from warehouse work after 2 years), but this time I only worked for about 7 months at a landscaping job that ended seasonally. I filed online to re-open after benefit year expired, answered all those verification questions, uploaded my last paystub as requested, and then...nothing happened. The system just showed "pending" for like 6 weeks! I called probably 30+ times and always got busy signals. Then yesterday I FINALLY got the approval email and saw my claim is active again! The calculator shows I'm eligible for $386/week (less than before but still helps). Has anyone else had a similar experience re-opening after the benefit year ended? How long did it take for your claim to get approved? I'm curious if 6 weeks of waiting is normal or if I just got unlucky.
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Zainab Omar
Congrats on getting approved! Yes, re-opening claims after the benefit year end is pretty common and usually works if you've earned enough wages in your base year. The 6-week wait is longer than usual though - typically PA UC processes re-opened claims in 2-3 weeks if there aren't any issues. For anyone else reading this who needs to re-open after their benefit year: make sure you have all your employment information for the past 18 months ready, including employer names, addresses, and dates worked. The system will calculate if you've earned enough in your new base year to qualify. Also remember you need to have earned at least 6x your weekly benefit amount since your previous claim started.
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Miguel Ortiz
•Thanks for explaining! I didn't realize 6 weeks was longer than normal. Do you know if I'll get back pay for those 6 weeks since I was filing my weekly claims that whole time?
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Connor Murphy
congrats!! my claim just hit the year mark too and im freaking out about reapplying. did u have to do the ID.me verification again? i lost my phone since last time and not sure if ill need to redo all that security stuff
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Miguel Ortiz
•I didn't have to redo ID.me verification since I had already done it with my original claim. But I did have to answer all those security questions again and verify my identity through the PA site (not ID.me). If you lost your phone you might need to update your contact info in the system before you reapply!
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Yara Sayegh
Re-opening after benefit year end always requires a new financial determination. The system has to verify you earned enough wages in your new base year (usually the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters). That $386 weekly benefit tells me you did qualify with sufficient earnings! The 6-week wait is definitely longer than normal. Try completing your weekly certifications for those weeks you were pending - you should receive backpay for any weeks you certified while waiting for approval, as long as you met all eligibility requirements during those weeks (available for work, job searching, etc.). The process is completely separate from filing a continued claim. It's essentially a brand new claim that has to go through the full review process.
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NebulaNova
•wait i thought after ur benefit year ends u can't file again unless u worked somewhere new? my neighbor got denied because she didn't have a new job after her first claim
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Yara Sayegh
To clarify for everyone: Yes, you MUST have worked and earned wages after establishing your previous UC claim to qualify for a new benefit year. Pennsylvania requires you to have earned at least 6x your weekly benefit amount in covered employment since filing your previous claim. So if your previous weekly benefit was $300, you needed to earn at least $1,800 in new covered employment before you can establish a new benefit year. The original poster mentioned working at a landscaping job for 7 months, which is why they qualified.
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Miguel Ortiz
•Yes exactly! I worked at the landscaping company from May to December 2024, so I had enough new wages to qualify. If I hadn't found that job after my first layoff, I definitely wouldn't have qualified for this second benefit year.
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Keisha Williams
THE SYSTEM IS COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED RIGHT NOW!!! I'm not surprised it took 6 weeks! My sister-in-law has been waiting 8 WEEKS after her benefit year expired and still nothing but "pending" on her account. She's called literally HUNDREDS of times and can't get through. PA UC phone lines are a JOKE! They're probably rejecting half the claims without even reviewing them properly just to clear the backlog!!!
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Paolo Conti
•I had the same issue trying to reach PA UC about my reapplied claim. Busy signals for weeks! I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an agent. They have a system that keeps dialing for you until it connects. Totally worth it for me since I had an issue with missing wages on my new benefit year calculation. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/CEPETxZdo9E?si=WL1ZzVZWG3KiHrg2 - saved me weeks of frustration.
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Amina Diallo
i reopened mine last month and it only took 3 days to get approved but i think i just got lucky lol. my benefit amount dropped from $450 to $320 though which sucks. did u have to do the work search activities during those 6 weeks while u were waiting??
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Miguel Ortiz
•Yes, I kept doing the job search activities the whole time! Applied to at least 2 jobs each week and did one of the other activities (like updating my resume or attending a workshop). I didn't want to risk losing benefits if they eventually approved me. Plus I actually need a job anyway so might as well be looking!
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Connor Murphy
do u get paid for the weeks when u were waiting for approval??
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Yara Sayegh
•Yes, you should receive payment for any weeks you properly certified while waiting for approval, assuming you meet all eligibility requirements during those weeks. The technical term is "backdate payments" and they should be processed automatically once your claim is approved. If you don't see them within 5-7 business days of approval, you may need to contact UC to inquire about those weeks.
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NebulaNova
my husband tried reopening after benefit year and got denied because they said he didnt make enough at his new job even though he worked there for 4 months full time which makes NO SENSE! now were appealing but who knows how long that will take smh
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Zainab Omar
•That's frustrating! For an appeal, make sure you have documentation of all his earnings. The issue might be timing rather than total amount - PA looks at specific quarters for the base year calculation. If most of his work fell in the most recent completed quarter, it might not count toward the base year formula. The appeal form should specify exactly why he was denied, and that will tell you what documentation you need to provide. Appeals typically take 3-4 weeks to be scheduled.
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Miguel Ortiz
Quick update: Got my first payment today! It included backpay for all 6 weeks I was waiting, so I received a lump sum for those weeks plus the current week. Such a relief! Going to keep job searching but this definitely takes some pressure off while I'm looking.
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Connor Murphy
•thats awesome!! gives me hope mine will work out too!!
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Finnegan Gunn
That's such a relief to hear you got approved and received all your backpay! I'm in a similar situation - my benefit year ended in February and I just submitted my reopening application last week. Reading about your 6-week wait is making me nervous, but it's encouraging to know that it worked out in the end. Quick question - when you say you uploaded your last paystub, was that from the landscaping job or did you need to provide paystubs from the entire 7 months you worked there? I'm wondering how much documentation I should prepare just in case they ask for more info. Also, did your new weekly benefit amount get calculated automatically once approved, or did you have to do anything else to get that $386 figure? Thanks for sharing your experience!
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Lucas Bey
•I only uploaded my very last paystub from the landscaping job - they didn't ask for all 7 months worth, just the most recent one to verify my employment ended. The system already had access to my wage records through their database, so they could see all my earnings automatically. The $386 weekly benefit was calculated automatically once they approved my claim! It showed up right in my account dashboard along with the approval notification. You don't need to do anything extra - PA's system runs the calculations based on your reported wages in their system. Hope your application goes through faster than mine did!
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