What are the eligibility requirements for a person to receive unemployment benefits in Texas TWC?

So my hours being cut counts? I didn't walk off the job or anything, the warehouse just stopped scheduling me for full shifts. Does that fall under the no fault of my own part?

Yeah, a reduction in hours your employer made without you asking for it generally fits that. You'd still report whatever you do earn each week, and TWC figures out if a payment is due based on what you brought in versus your weekly benefit amount.

The 37 times thing tripped me up too when I first read it. Basically it just means you need to have earned a decent enough amount spread across more than one quarter, it's not some complicated formula you have to calculate yourself, TWC does it when you apply.

That's exactly the kind of thing I need, just someone who can look at my actual record and tell me if I qualify. I'll check that out.

My situation was similar, couldn't get anyone on the phone for weeks. Ended up using it myself to ask about a different eligibility issue. The agent I got was actually helpful once I finally had someone on the line.

Logging onto UBS and checking your wage history there first might give you a head start before the call. It shows what TWC has on file for you from your employers.

Does a second part time job disqualify you from that? Like if I'm picking up gig work while I look for something full time?

Gig work doesn't automatically disqualify you, but you have to report what you earn. The way it works is you can earn up to 25 percent of your weekly benefit amount without it affecting your payment. Anything above that starts reducing what you get dollar for dollar, and if you earn more than your weekly amount plus that 25 percent cushion, you wouldn't get a payment that week. But you're still eligible, you just report it honestly.

I didn't know gig work counted as earnings you had to report. I thought only W2 stuff mattered. Good to know before I mess something up.

Wait so I'd have to be applying to jobs every single week? Even if I'm hoping to get my hours back at the same warehouse?

Yes, you still have to meet your required weekly activities even if you think your employer might bring you back to full hours. The only way out of that requirement is if TWC specifically waives it for you, which isn't automatic.

Harris County is 5 activities a week which felt like a lot at first but once I set up a routine it wasn't bad. The letter they mail you makes it clear what counts as an activity.

I made the mistake of thinking checking job boards counted by itself. You actually have to be contacting employers or submitting applications. Keep records of everything, dates, company names, how you applied.

What counts as a good enough work-related reason though? I left a job because my schedule changed and I had to pick up my kids. Would that count?

Schedule changes and childcare are tough ones. TWC's examples of reasons connected to the work itself are things like genuinely unsafe conditions that were documented, a major change to the terms you were actually hired under, or not being paid what you were owed. A schedule change isn't listed as one of those qualifying work-related reasons, and childcare is a personal reason. Those situations often don't pay out, though the determination letter would explain the specific decision for your claim.

So basically if you quit for any personal reason it's usually a no. That's hard but I guess I understand why the rule exists.

Ugh okay. That's not what I was hoping to hear but I'd rather know now than get surprised by a denial after I already applied.

I already have a WorkInTexas account from a job search I did a couple years ago. Would that carry over or do I need to create a new one?

An existing account should work. The connection between WorkInTexas and UBS uses the same user ID and password, so if you've used it before you're likely already set. Just make sure the information in there is current.

I had a lapsed WorkInTexas profile and had to update a bunch of info on it before my claim processed. Worth logging in and checking before you apply so it's not an issue later.

That's the formula, your highest quarter wages divided by 25, and the result lands somewhere between $76 and $619 for claims filed starting in October of this year. So someone who had one really strong quarter will get more than someone whose earnings were spread more evenly, even if the totals were similar.

Exactly. I wish I'd known that before. I kept waiting for a callback about my amount and was shocked when it was lower than I'd mentally calculated.

There's also an upper limit on total benefits you can collect. The maximum is either 26 weeks of your weekly amount or 27 percent of everything you earned in the base period, whichever comes out lower. So people with lower overall wages sometimes hit that cap before they reach 26 weeks.

Oh that stings a little. I've been hesitating for a few weeks thinking I should wait until I know for sure my hours won't come back. Should I just apply now?

Apply now and report your actual earnings on each payment request. If you're earning something from the reduced hours, you report that and TWC calculates what you're owed. Waiting doesn't protect you, it just means uncollectible weeks.

This is one of the most practically important things in this thread. The Sunday the week you apply is week one. No exceptions, no backdating.

Wait I thought you filed for unemployment and then TWC tells you when you get paid. You're saying you have to actively request each payment yourself?

Yes, every two weeks you have to go into UBS or call Tele-Serv and submit a payment request. It asks you questions about each week in the period, like whether you worked and how much you earned. It's not automatic. If you don't request, you don't get paid for those weeks.

Nobody told me that when I applied. I went a whole month without requesting and had to scramble. Thankfully the rep I finally reached confirmed the weeks were still accessible.

This catches so many people. The letter they mail after you apply has the first request date on it. That letter is easy to overlook but it's important.

How do I know if I need to do that? Is it something everyone goes through or just some people?

TWC sends a notice when it's required. Not everyone gets it but enough people do that it's worth watching for. Check your UBS account and your mail after you apply. If you get a notice and ignore it, that's when claims get stuck.

Mine came in a letter, not an email, so I nearly missed it. Keep checking your physical mail in the weeks after you apply, not just your online account.

Good clarification. Same goes for pensions. A pension only gets deducted from your benefits if it's coming from an employer in your base period. Social Security retirement doesn't count against you at all. People assume all income disqualifies them and that's not how it works.

Right, it's very fact specific. That's why getting on the phone with an actual TWC agent is worth it for complicated situations. The general rules online only get you so far when your situation has layers to it.

Four weeks from application to determination is about what I've seen mentioned. That feels like forever when you're waiting on income but good to know it's normal.

It really does feel long. And the first payment takes a while too. The first payable week is actually held by TWC as a waiting week until you've been paid two times your weekly amount and you either go back to full time work or run out of benefits. So your first actual payment usually only covers one week even though you've been waiting longer.

The waiting week thing makes more sense once someone explains it that way. I kept asking why my first payment was smaller than I expected.

Work search waiver is something I hadn't even thought about. So you can potentially get out of the weekly job hunting requirement under certain conditions?

The agent told me it's not automatic, there are specific situations where TWC can waive it, but you have to actually request it. I was asking because my employer had indicated they might bring me back and I wanted to know where I stood. Worth a call if you're in a similar in-between situation.

That's good to know. I've been doing the work search activities anyway just to be safe but it's useful to know that door exists.

Tell him to apply and let TWC make the determination. Being fired doesn't automatically disqualify someone. TWC looks at whether the reason rises to what they consider misconduct, things like violating company policy, breaking the law, or deliberately neglecting the job. Performance on its own, depending on the circumstances, may or may not reach that level. Only TWC can make that call after hearing from both him and the employer.

That's what I figured. I told him not to assume the worst before he even tries. The worst they can do is say no.

The 14 day appeal window matters if he does get denied. The determination letter has a date printed at the top, and he'd have 14 days from that date to file a written appeal if he wants to challenge it. Just making sure that's on people's radar since a lot of folks miss that window.

The terminology confusion is real. I also kept saying I was applying when I meant I was submitting a payment request. Those are totally different steps and mixing them up caused me to miss a request window because I thought applying for the first time was the same as requesting payment.

The application is the one-time thing you do at the start to open the claim. Payment requests are the ongoing thing you do every two weeks after that to actually get paid. Completely separate steps, easy to blur together when you're new to it.

Exactly. And Tele-Serv for payment requests is option 1, that's the automated phone system. The agent line is a different number. Keep those straight too.

Part time work absolutely can count toward eligibility. The wages still build up in the base period even if each paycheck was smaller. The issue is if someone worked so few hours or made so little that the quarterly totals don't add up. But a lot of part time workers are surprised to find they do qualify.

That's what I found out. And honestly even a lower weekly benefit amount is better than nothing while you're searching. Mine wasn't huge but it covered basics.

This is reassuring. I've been at this warehouse for almost two years even though the shifts have been inconsistent lately. Hopefully my earlier months of full time hours are enough to clear the threshold.

That's a correction I'm glad someone made. A few forums I visited made it sound like the alternate base period was just there for anyone who came up short, like a second chance calculation. That's not how it works at all.

Right, and it has to go through the Tele-Center, not something you can just select online. The standard base period is what applies for the overwhelming majority of people filing.

That's accurate. And even when misconduct is the stated reason, TWC gathers information from both the claimant and the employer before deciding. The determination letter explains what they found and why they ruled the way they did.

Exactly. The appeal process exists for situations where someone disagrees with that finding. First level is a telephone hearing with a Hearing Officer. That determination can also be appealed further. The key is acting within 14 days of when the determination was mailed.

Self-employment income reporting is something I hadn't even thought about. Good to know the difference between how that gets reported versus regular paycheck income.

Yeah it matters. Regular wages you report gross, everything before taxes. Self-employment, side jobs, gig work where you're not an employee, you report what you actually netted. Getting that wrong could cause issues later.

And all of it, every week's work, gets reported for the Sunday to Saturday week in which the work happened, not when you got paid. Timing of the report is based on when you did the work.

I completely forgot about this my first year collecting. Got a 1099-G in January and had to scramble to account for it. Definitely elect the withholding upfront if you can afford the smaller payments, it's less painful than owing later.

The withholding option is right there in your UBS account settings. Easy to set up and easy to forget it exists. Worth doing early.

For anyone who had benefits collected in their name due to identity theft, they have a different process to handle the 1099-G situation. That involves TWC's fraud portal and not completing any verification for a claim you didn't actually file.