TWC payment requests after resuming work - do I stop requesting after approved waiting week?

You should ALWAYS report your work and earnings when requesting payment, even if it was just for a few days. If you earned enough during those days to not qualify for benefits that week, TWC will just not pay you for that week, but your claim stays open. Don't just stop requesting - that's actually the wrong way to handle it.

Thanks for responding! So you're saying I should keep requesting payments and just report the days I worked? Even though the job didn't work out, do I need to report that I'm not working there anymore on my next payment request?

went thru this last month... keep requesting payments and report the exact days u worked and what u earned. TWC keeps ur claim active for a full year from when u first applied so u dont need to \

That makes sense, thank you! I wasn't sure if stopping requests automatically closed my claim or if I needed to do something specific.

The correct procedure is to continue requesting payments every two weeks and accurately report any work and earnings. Your claim remains open for the benefit year (52 weeks from when you first applied), even if you don't receive payments for some weeks.\n\nWhen you request payment, you'll need to:\n1. Report the days you worked\n2. Report the gross earnings (before taxes) for the work period\n3. Indicate whether you're still working at that job\n4. Continue doing your three work search activities per week\n\nIf you earned too much during a particular week, you won't receive benefits for that week, but your claim stays active. Just be completely honest about your work situation - TWC tracks employment through employer tax records, so they'll know if you worked somewhere.

This is super helpful information, thank you! I'll definitely report everything accurately on my next payment request. One last question - since I'm not at that job anymore, do I need to add it to my work search log as a place I applied to, or is that totally separate?

The work search log and reporting work/earnings are separate things. You wouldn't add your previous employer to your work search log since you already worked there. \n\nYour work search activities should be new contacts with potential employers (applications, interviews, networking, etc.) that you're doing each week to find new employment. You still need to complete three work search activities each week to remain eligible for benefits, even in weeks where you worked a few days.

If you don't request payment for three consecutive periods, your claim becomes inactive and you'd have to reapply. I've used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to TWC agents when I had a similar situation - they got me connected to a real person in about 15 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/V-IMvH88P1U?si=kNxmh025COIlIzKh. Clearing things up directly with an agent gave me peace of mind I was doing everything right.

does that claimyr thing actually work? ive been trying to get someone on the phone for like a week now and just get busy signals everytime

Yes it worked for me! I was skeptical too but I was desperate after trying for days. Got connected to an agent who explained exactly what I needed to do in my situation. Worth it when you need to talk to someone right away about your claim.

I made this EXACT mistake last year and it was a nightmare to fix! Don't stop requesting payments - that's not how the system works. Keep requesting every two weeks and report your earnings accurately.\n\nIf you just stop requesting, TWC doesn't know if you're working full-time, forgot to request, or what happened. Then if you need benefits again soon (which sounds possible in your case), you might have to reapply and go through the waiting week again. Just keep requesting and be truthful about what you earned.

Oh wow, I'm so glad I asked here first! Definitely don't want to deal with a nightmare situation. I'll keep making my requests and report everything correctly.

Question - does anyone know if the 4 days of work would reset the waiting week requirement if the person has to reapply later? Or does the waiting week stay satisfied as long as it's within the benefit year?

Great question. As long as it's within the same benefit year (52 weeks from initial claim filing), you don't have to serve another waiting week if you've already satisfied that requirement. Brief employment doesn't reset the waiting week requirement within the same benefit year.\n\nHowever, if your benefit year expires and you need to file a new claim, you would need to serve a new waiting week.

also make sure ur doing ur 3 work search activities every week even for the weeks u worked a few days. TWC can audit that stuff and if u dont have proof u did them they can make u pay back benefits

I've been keeping detailed records of all my work search activities, so I should be good there. Thanks for the reminder though!