Can my daughter qualify for TWC unemployment with reduced hours (4 hrs/week)?

Yes, she absolutely can apply for what's called 'partial unemployment' in Texas. When your hours are reduced significantly through no fault of your own, you can qualify for benefits. She should apply online through the TWC portal ASAP and make sure to report the reduced hours accurately. The system will calculate if the reduction meets their threshold for benefits. They typically look at whether you're earning less than your weekly benefit amount would be. With only 4 hours a week, she'll likely qualify, especially coming down from 25-30 hours. Make sure she keeps documentation showing her previous work schedule compared to now.

I went through something similar last year, and yes, she can definitely apply for partial unemployment. The technical term TWC uses is 'underemployment' - it's for people who are still employed but have had hours reduced significantly. She'll need to complete a regular unemployment application and then in the section about why she's applying, select the option that indicates reduced hours. TWC will determine her weekly benefit amount based on her previous earnings, and then each week she'll need to request payment and report exactly how many hours she worked and what she earned. As long as she earns less than her weekly benefit amount plus 25%, she should receive some benefits. Just be aware that she'll still need to complete the work search requirements (3 work search activities per week in Texas) even though she's technically still employed. This trips up a lot of people with partial unemployment claims.

She BETTER apply ASAP!! 4 hours is basically NOTHING and they're just trying to make her quit so they don't have to pay unemployment!!! This is a CLASSIC retail move - they don't want to fire people outright so they just cut hours until people leave. I've seen this happen SO MANY TIMES. She should apply for benefits TODAY and make sure she documents EVERYTHING including texts or emails where she asked for more hours. TWC can be a pain but they usually approve these cases!!!

Make sure she applies right away. My daughter waited a few weeks when this happened to her and TWC only paid benefits from the date of application, not from when her hours were cut. Every week matters!

Hey, just wanted to share what worked for me when I was having a hard time reaching TWC about my reduced hours claim. After getting busy signals for days, I used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual TWC agent within about 30 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/V-IMvH88P1U?si=kNxmh025COIlIzKh It was super helpful because the agent was able to explain exactly how the partial unemployment works in my situation and confirmed I was eligible with my reduced schedule. Definitely worth it because I had specific questions about my situation that weren't clear from the website.

dont forget she has to request payment every 2 weeks even with partial unemployment! my roommate messed this up and lost a week of benefits bc he thought he didnt have to do it since he was still working some hours. and yeah the 3 job search activities are required no matter what

To answer your earlier question about work search requirements - unfortunately, asking for more hours at her current job doesn't count as a work search activity according to TWC guidelines. She'll need to apply for other jobs, attend job fairs, create accounts on job search websites, etc. The TWC website has a full list of what counts toward the requirement. Make sure she documents everything carefully because they do sometimes audit these.

When my hours got cut I had to deal with the work search requirement too which seemed silly since I was trying to get more hours at my main job. I ended up getting a second part-time job because of it. Just tell her to be prepared that TWC might contact her employer to verify the reduction in hours. My manager tried to claim I was "just on a temporary reduction" even though it had been over a month, so documentation of her old schedules vs new ones could be helpful.

One last thing to remember: if your daughter gets approved for partial unemployment and then her employer suddenly gives her more hours again, she needs to report that accurately when requesting payment. If she earns more than her weekly benefit amount plus 25% in any given week, she won't receive benefits for that week, but her claim stays open in case hours get reduced again. Also, make sure she creates an account on WorkInTexas.com as part of her application process. It's required, and TWC uses this to track some of the work search activities.