TWC approved me after being fired - will I get backpay with new job starting?
I was let go from my restaurant management position in March and wasn't sure if I'd qualify for unemployment because my former boss has a history of fighting claims (and writing up employees for bogus reasons). I waited until early May to file my TWC claim because I was intimidated by the whole process. Surprisingly, after about 3 weeks of review, my claim was actually approved! My determination letter came yesterday showing a weekly benefit amount of $525. Here's my situation: I just accepted a new job starting next Monday that pays less than my previous position. I haven't received ANY unemployment payments yet even though I've been filing my payment requests every two weeks. Will TWC still pay me for those weeks I was unemployed (from when I filed in May until now)? Or does getting a new job automatically cancel everything? Also, if I report my new income on my next payment request, will I still get partial benefits since it's less than what I made before? I'm really confused about how this works and worried I might lose all those back payments I was counting on for rent.
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KhalilStar
Congrats on your new job! To answer your questions: 1. Yes, you should receive backpay for all weeks you properly requested payment and were eligible (meaning you were unemployed, available for work, and completed your work search requirements). 2. Getting a new job doesn't automatically cancel your claim. Your claim remains open for the benefit year. 3. When you start working, you need to report your earnings when you request payment. TWC will calculate if you qualify for partial benefits based on what you earn. In Texas, you can earn up to 25% of your weekly benefit amount without reduction. After that, they reduce your benefit dollar-for-dollar. So if your WBA is $525, you can earn up to $131.25 without reduction. If you earn more than that, they'll subtract the excess from your benefit. If you earn more than $525 + $131.25 = $656.25 in a week, you won't receive benefits for that week, but your claim stays open.
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Connor Murphy
•Thank you so much for the detailed explanation! That really helps. So even if I don't qualify for benefits going forward with my new job, I should still get the backpay for May and June when I was completely unemployed, right? That would be a huge relief for my finances.
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Amelia Dietrich
when do u start the new job? if its next week then u should be fine for backpay but u need to make sure ur answering the work search questions right on ur payment requests. if u didnt do the 3 work searches for each week u requested payment u might get denied for those weeks
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Connor Murphy
•I start on Monday! And yes, I've been doing at least 3 work search activities every week and documenting them. Some weeks I did 5-6 applications because I was really trying to find something. So hopefully that part will be okay.
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Kaiya Rivera
The Texas Workforce Commission is NOTORIOUS for delaying payments even after approval. I waited almost TWO MONTHS after being approved before seeing a dime! The system is designed to frustrate people into giving up. You're going to have to be persistent about calling them to check on the status of your backpay. And good luck getting through on the phone - I spent WEEKS trying to reach someone before I discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com). They got me connected to a TWC agent in under 30 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/V-IMvH88P1U?si=kNxmh025COIlIzKh that shows how it works. It was honestly the only reason I finally got my backpay situation resolved.
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Katherine Ziminski
•is that service legit? i've seen it mentioned before but was afraid it might be a scam. i've been trying to reach TWC for two weeks about my determination letter.
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Kaiya Rivera
•Yes, it's legit. I was skeptical too but it seriously works. They don't handle your claim or anything - they just connect you to an actual TWC representative so you don't have to spend hours redialing.
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Noah Irving
i had a similiar thing happen last year, got approved but didnt get paid for almost 6 weeks! when i finally got paid they did include all the back weeks tho. but u might need to talk to someone at twc to make sure ur backpay gets processed right especially since ur starting a new job. sometimes the system gets confused when u suddenly report income
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Connor Murphy
•That's exactly what I'm worried about - that the system will see my new job and somehow cancel everything. I'll try calling before I start the new job to make sure everything's in order. Thanks for sharing your experience!
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Vanessa Chang
Just to add some clarification about partial benefits since you mentioned your new job pays less: Texas uses what's called the "partial unemployment formula." If your new job pays significantly less than your previous one, you might qualify for partial benefits for a while. Example with your $525 WBA: - You can earn up to $131.25 (25% of WBA) with no reduction - If you earn $300/week, calculation would be: $525 - ($300 - $131.25) = $356.25 in benefits - If you earn $500/week, calculation would be: $525 - ($500 - $131.25) = $156.25 in benefits This can help bridge the gap while you're earning less at your new position. Make sure to accurately report your hours and earnings each time you request payment.
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Madison King
•Wait is that how it works? I thought they just cut you off completely once you get a job regardless of what it pays. The TWC website is so confusing about this.
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Vanessa Chang
•No, that's a common misconception. The unemployment system is designed to help people who are either fully unemployed OR significantly underemployed. As long as you're earning less than your WBA plus 25%, you'll qualify for at least some benefits. The system is meant to incentivize taking work even if it pays less than your previous job.
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Connor Murphy
I just checked my TWC account again and noticed something - my claim effective date is listed as May 7th (when I applied) but there's also something called a "claim date" from March 26th (around when I was fired). Does that mean they're actually calculating benefits from March even though I didn't apply until May? Has anyone seen this before?
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KhalilStar
•Yes, that's normal. The "claim date" usually refers to your last day of work or when your employment ended. The "effective date" is when your benefit year begins (usually the Sunday of the week you applied). However, TWC generally won't pay benefits for weeks before you actually filed your claim. So even though your job ended in March, your benefits would typically only be payable from May 7th forward unless you had a good cause exception for the late filing that TWC accepted.
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Madison King
omg the exact same thing happened to my sister!!! her boss was horrible and made her afraid to file then when she finally did it took foreverrrrr but she did get all her back pay eventually. just keep doing your payment requests even after u start working and report your new income honestly. good luck with the new job!!
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Connor Murphy
•Thank you! That makes me feel better knowing someone else went through something similar and it worked out.
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Kaiya Rivera
One thing to watch out for - make ABSOLUTELY SURE you report your new job income correctly. If you under-report, they'll hit you with an overpayment later that you'll have to pay back with interest. And if they think you deliberately misreported, they can disqualify you for benefits entirely and potentially pursue fraud charges. The TWC system is broken in a lot of ways, but they're VERY efficient at finding overpayments!
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Katherine Ziminski
•this happened to my cousin and they made him pay back almost $4000! he had to set up a payment plan with them.
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Connor Murphy
•Thanks for the warning. I'll be extremely careful about reporting everything accurately. My new employer pays biweekly so I'll need to figure out how to calculate the weekly amounts correctly.
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