How to tell unemployment you got a job - Texas TWC process explained

So for the Friday earnings - I made $210 that day. My weekly benefit amount is $487. Does that change my payment for that week or does TWC just not pay me anything for that specific week?

With a $487 weekly amount, you can earn up to about $121 before it starts affecting your payment. Anything you earn above that gets subtracted from what TWC would pay you. So your $210 means they'd subtract the amount over $121 from your payment. The full payment only stops when your earnings go over your weekly benefit amount plus that 25% cushion - so over roughly $608 for you.

wait they let you earn some before cutting your check? I thought any work meant no payment that week. good to know

Oh I had no idea about this. So I might have a week of pay sitting there that I haven't requested yet? I've been on unemployment for about 8 weeks and have gotten several payments already.

You need both conditions to be true - you've been paid at least two times your weekly amount, AND you've now gone back to full-time work. If both of those apply, go into UBS and look for the option to request your waiting week. Don't skip this step.

I forgot to do this when I went back to work last year and that money just sat there. I eventually called TWC and they walked me through requesting it but it took a while to sort out.

Really glad you mentioned the waiting week thing was confirmed by an agent. I'm definitely going in to request that now. The orientation earnings question is what I really need to handle on this next payment request.

My last week before going back to work had partial earnings too and I wasn't sure how to report side gig income versus regular wages. If I ever need to actually talk to someone about it I'll try that service.

Calling TWC directly has been a nightmare lately. Good to know there's something that actually gets you through.

I actually got a request to show my work search log about three weeks after I'd already gone back to work. They wanted records from two months earlier. If I hadn't kept notes I would've been in trouble.

I've been keeping my log in a spreadsheet so I should be okay on that front. Each week I logged the company, position, date, and how I applied.

Thats exactly what they want to see. Date, employer, position, method of contact. Some people just write vague stuff and that can cause issues if TWC reviews it.

I did register on WorkInTexas.com when I first applied. I logged some activities there but mostly kept my own spreadsheet. Good to know the account just goes dormant.

My workforce solutions office actually told me to keep updating WorkInTexas.com even after going back to work in case the new job didn't work out. Not sure if that's standard advice or just specific to my situation.

I wish I'd known this earlier. When I went back to work I was afraid to even log in to UBS because I thought I'd accidentally start another payment period or something. Ended up missing my waiting week entirely because I didn't go back in.

Missing the waiting week is really common for exactly that reason. People feel like logging back in after getting a job is somehow wrong. But you have to go back in specifically to request that held week if you returned to full-time work.

The fear of doing something wrong in UBS is real. Most of the time just reading what each screen actually says will tell you what to do, but I understand the anxiety.

Your claim doesn't really 'close' in a formal sense - it just becomes inactive when you stop requesting payments. Your benefits are tied to your benefit year, which runs for 52 weeks from when you first applied. The claim sits there but nothing happens unless you request a payment. Your employer's payroll taxes have nothing to do with whether your claim is open or not.

Oh that's a relief. I was picturing some sort of conflict showing up. So my new employer never sees anything about my unemployment claim?

TWC doesn't notify your new employer about your claim. Benefits paid are charged to your previous employer's account, not to your new one. Your new job has no visibility into your unemployment history.

This is exactly the situation I'm in with my Friday orientation. I need to report that in the payment request for the week that Friday actually falls in, not the week I get paid for it.

Exactly right. Figure out which Sunday-to-Saturday week that Friday belongs to, report the gross earnings for that week's question on the payment request, and you're good.

i made the same mistake my first partial week and got an overpayment letter. TWC was pretty understanding when I explained it was a reporting timing error but I still had to repay the difference.

Can confirm this. I know someone who thought they'd just not report a couple weeks of part-time work figuring TWC would never check. They got an overpayment notice about nine months later with a fraud flag attached. It was not a small amount.

The fraud side of it is serious. Not reporting work and earnings is specifically what TWC lists as the most common type of unemployment fraud. That comes with a 15% penalty on top of repaying everything, and they do prosecute.

That's genuinely scary to read but it confirms I'm doing the right thing by trying to report this correctly from the start.

For self-employed or gig work the rule is you report net profit rather than gross for that category of work, whereas regular employment you report gross earnings. That's one of the few differences in how you handle the two types.

Right, that's exactly what happened with my cousin. She had to figure out her net from the contract and report that. It took a couple calls to get clear on it but once she understood the difference it made sense.

This applies to side gigs too, not just formal contract work. If you're doing any kind of gig work or selling things for profit while claiming, you're supposed to report the net earnings from it.

Part-time is handled the same way on the payment request - you answer yes to whether you worked, enter your gross earnings for that week, and TWC calculates the adjustment. As long as your earnings don't go over your weekly benefit amount plus 25%, you'll still get a reduced payment.

And do I still need to do work search activities every week even though I'm technically employed part-time?

Yes, unless TWC specifically waives the requirement for you, you still have to do the required number of activities each week that you're claiming partial benefits. You're still required to be able and available for full-time work.

So you're saying even if the payment is going to be small because of the earnings, it's still worth filing that last request rather than just letting it go?

Absolutely worth it. Even a reduced payment is money you're entitled to. And you want the record showing you properly reported the earnings anyway.

I skipped my last payment request when I went back to work because it felt pointless. Turns out I would've gotten like $180 for that partial week. Lesson learned.

I got caught by this my first time on unemployment. Got a 1099-G for about $6,000 and hadn't withheld anything. Owed a decent chunk come April.

The 10% withholding option is there in UBS if you want to set it up. Even starting it partway through your claim reduces the tax surprise. For someone who was only on benefits for two months it might not matter much but good habit to know about.

That's correct. The claim stays open for the benefit year. If a new job ends and you need to restart, you'd go back in and start requesting payments again, though TWC would look at your situation at that point to confirm eligibility.

My benefit year ended like two weeks before I got laid off from the job I'd gotten. Had to apply all over again from the start. Brutal timing.

Timing really matters with that. If it had been two weeks earlier you would've been able to just pick back up.

This is reassuring. I kept imagining some glitch where I'd click through and accidentally get a payment for a week I shouldn't have, then get an overpayment letter.

The overpayment risk comes from reporting errors or false info, not from honest mistakes about which buttons you clicked. If you're trying to report accurately you're very unlikely to end up with an overpayment.

And if you do accidentally report something wrong, calling TWC to correct it before they catch it on their end is way better than waiting for them to send you a notice.

An hour and then getting disconnected is infuriating. At least it worked out for you.

Good to know that service works for status checks too, not just appeals or complicated issues.

I was in Travis County and had to do five a week. Some weeks that was genuinely difficult. Applying to actual jobs I was qualified for mattered too - TWC expects real applications, not just random submissions to meet a number.

Exactly. The activities have to be legitimate. Submitting the same application to the same employer multiple times in one week, or applying to jobs you have zero qualifications for just to hit the number - those things can cause problems if your log gets reviewed.

There are other qualifying activities beyond just submitting applications too - attending a job fair, registering with a staffing agency, things like that. Worth knowing what counts in your county.

That review window is real. I had the same thing happen. Keep your log and any related documentation for at least a year after your claim ends, honestly longer.

She kept hers in an email folder which made it easy to pull up. Screenshots of WorkInTexas.com applications, emails from employers, that kind of thing.

Screenshots are smart because they have timestamps. Pure memory or a handwritten log without details can be harder to defend if TWC questions something specific.

This is a good summary. I feel a lot more confident about handling the transition now. The waiting week request is the step I definitely would have missed without this thread.

The waiting week being something you have to actively request rather than something TWC just sends you is counterintuitive. You'd think finishing your claim successfully would trigger an automatic payment but that's not how it works.

Used claimyr.com to call TWC specifically about my waiting week situation when I wasn't sure if I'd qualified for it yet. The agent confirmed I'd been paid enough to satisfy the first condition and that going back to work full-time meant I could request it. Went into UBS right after and did it.

14 days from the mailing date goes fast. I'd recommend setting a calendar reminder the day any determination letter arrives so you don't miss the window.

And keep requesting payments on schedule during an appeal if you're still claiming. Missing a payment request window during an appeal means that week doesn't get paid even if you win.

Both of those points are really important. The appeal clock starts from when they mailed it, not when you got it, so you might have fewer days than you think by the time it arrives in your mailbox.