Does TWC automatically know when you return to work or do you have to report it?

TWC does NOT automatically know when you return to work. You MUST report it when you request your payment for the period where you worked. Make sure to report ANY work and earnings during your payment request, even if it's just one day or a few hours. Eventually they'll find out through employer tax reporting, but that could be months later, resulting in an overpayment notice.

Congrats on the new job!! 🎉

You need to report that you're working when you make your payment request. There will be questions asking if you worked during the period and if you're still unemployed. Answer honestly that you worked and report your earnings. If you're fully employed and no longer need benefits, you can simply stop requesting payments after properly reporting your work. TWC will eventually close your claim after a few missed payment requests. Don't wait for TWC to "automatically" discover it through tax records - that's how people end up with overpayment notices and potential fraud investigations.

I had a similar question last year. TWC does not know automatically when you go back to work. When you do your payment request, you'll need to report your work and earnings. The system will ask if you worked during each week of the claim period and how much you earned (before taxes). Be super careful to report accurate earnings for the specific claim weeks. For example, if you worked April 1-7 but won't get paid until April 15, you still report those hours for the April 1-7 period. It's when you WORKED, not when you got PAID that matters to TWC. After that, you can just stop requesting payments. Your claim stays open for a year from when you filed, but if you don't request payments, you won't receive any benefits.

UGH the TWC system is such a mess! I went back to work part-time and reported everything correctly on my payment requests. They STILL overpaid me somehow and sent me a bill six months later!!! Had to spend HOURS on the phone trying to get it fixed. The whole system is set up to fail regular people.

Quick tip - I know it can be nearly impossible to reach TWC by phone if you do end up with any issues. When I had questions about reporting my return to work, I used Claimyr to get through to TWC in about 15 minutes instead of spending days calling. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/V-IMvH88P1U?si=kNxmh025COIlIzKh and their website is claimyr.com. It was super helpful for getting a quick answer about how to properly report my earnings.

Make sure u dont just ghost ur unemployment! My sister did that when she got hired and TWC flagged her account for fraud review! Always report ur work on ur last payment request. But after that u can just stop requesting payments and ur good.

One more important thing - if for some reason your new job doesn't work out during the first few weeks, you may be able to reopen your existing claim without filing a whole new application. You'd just start requesting payments again (assuming you're still within your benefit year). Just make sure you accurately report any work and earnings during those weeks.