Welcome to UI Online – your fast, convenient, and secure way to certify for continuing unemployment
benefits and manage your claim.
In this video, we will demonstrate how to answer Question #6 on the claim certification
in order to properly report regular earnings while collecting Unemployment Insurance (UI)
benefits. In addition, if you work for the film industry,
are self employed, or have earnings from a past employer, you will want to look for
other instructional videos specific to these situations.
In order to certify for continuing benefits using UI Online, you first need to register
in Benefit Programs Online and create a UI Online account.
If you haven’t created an account yet, or you need information on how to certify, please
see our other instructional videos for help with these topics.
Unemployment Insurance benefits are designed to provide partial wage replacement to unemployed
workers. So, if you're working less than full-time,
you may also be eligible for UI benefits. Therefore, it’s important to properly report
all work and gross wages to the EDD to ensure that you receive the benefits you are eligible
for. How is your benefit payment calculated?
The EDD uses the information that you provide during the certification process to determine
the amount and type of income that is deductible from your Weekly Benefit Amount.
When you report earnings, the EDD will use the criteria shown on this chart to calculate
your payment. Most customers certify for continuing benefits
two weeks at a time. If you have multiple weeks that need to be certified, you will
start with the oldest week first. You must report your earnings on your certification
for the week in which the work was performed, regardless of when you actually got paid.
Later on, we'll talk about other incomes which will be reported when received.
Our benefit weeks are usually Sunday through Saturday, so you must report the earnings
during that week only. For example, on August 21st, you received
a paycheck in the amount of $300. This was for $200 of work performed during the first
week, August 2nd through August 8th, and $100 for work performed the second week, August
9th through August 15th. Even though the paycheck is not received until
August 21st, these earnings must be reported on the claim certification for the weeks in
which the work was actually performed. In this example, the $200 would be reported
on the claim certification for the first week, and the $100 would be reported on the claim
certification for the second week, even though you were not actually paid until the third
week. Also, don't wait for your paycheck to report
your earnings. Calculate your earnings by multiplying your hours worked by your hourly
pay rate. Remember, if you work and get paid, you need
to report it when you do the work. Now that you understand how work and wages
can affect a UI claim, let's focus on the certification process and how to fill out
UI Online when asked about wages and income. This video focuses specifically on how to
answer Question #6 on UI Online to correctly report regular earnings.
Question #6 asks, "Did you work or earn any money, whether you were paid or not?"
You should answer "Yes" to Question #6 when you receive at least one of these types of
income. Depending on the answer you will be sent to
the next screen where you will answer follow-up questions.
By selecting "Yes" to Question #6, you have indicated that you need to report income such
as regular wages, self employment or commissions. Review the different types of income and then
select “Yes” to confirm that you've received any of the income listed.
The second question refers to other types of income, like the ones listed below it.
These types should always be reported whenever they are received.
Select "Yes" or "No" to indicate whether or not you've received any of the income listed.
If you've received a type of income that doesn't appear on either list, go ahead and select
"Yes" for this question. On another screen, you'll be given a list with of other options
that may apply to you. After making your selections, select "Next"
to continue. When you select "Yes" to Question #6, "Did
you work or earn any money, whether you were paid or not?," and "Yes" to the first follow-up
question, you will be asked additional questions on
the Work Details screen, as shown here. Complete the required fields indicated with
an asterisk (*). In this demonstration, we will show how to
properly report regular earnings
for continuing employment. For example, you've earned $120 for 12 hours worked.
To begin, enter your employer's name and address. Next, enter the last day you worked for this
employer during the week listed above. For Week 1, you report that you worked 12
hours during the week. To calculate your earnings, multiply the number
of hours you worked during the week by your hourly pay rate.
Or, if you get paid by piece rate, multiply the number of pieces you completed by your
piece rate. Assuming you get paid at an hourly rate of
$10 per hour, you would report $120 of gross earnings for this week.
Remember, you must report your gross wages (before your taxes are taken out) for each
week you work and certify for benefits, even if you don’t get paid until later.
Be sure to accurately report all earnings during your weekly claim certification
– even those from part-time or temporary work including in-home support services.
Select your Wage Type.
The most common wage type is: Regular earnings including In Home Support Services.
Select your Employer Type.
See the help text for more examples if you're confused about what to choose.
Answer the question, "Are you still going to work for this employer?"
In this example, you'll select "Yes" since you are still working part-time.
The next question asks, "What is your employment status?"
In this example you'll select "Still working part time or on-call."
Enter additional details about your employment status.
This question only applies if you're working self-employment wages.
In our example we did not report any self-employment wages, so we will skip this question.
In this example, this box is left unchecked since you are not working full-time
and you would like to continue to receive benefits.
Select "Yes" or "No" to answer the question, "Do you have
any additional employers to report for this week?"
Selecting "Yes" will direct you to a similar screen for each employer you worked for.
Be careful to only provide the amount of earnings you received for the week indicated.
After completing this screen, select "Next" to continue.
You’re almost done. Once you have answered all the certification questions, it’s time
to review your answers for accuracy.
Please read the Acknowledgement section below. If everything is correct, select the Acknowledgement
check box, at the bottom of the page, and enter your ZIP code.
Checking the box and entering your ZIP code also serves as your electronic signature which
indicates that you have read and understood the Acknowledgement statement. Customers who
make false statements or withhold information are punishable by law and could be subject
to penalties, including being denied UI benefits, in addition to having to pay back any amount
that you were not entitled to receive with a 30% monetary penalty.
If you need to make changes to any of the answers, simply select the “Previous”
button to go back to any of the previous screens. When you are ready, select “Submit." Selecting
“Submit” finalizes and completes the certification process for those weeks.
That's it. You're done. You have successfully submitted your certification to the EDD when
you see this screen with your confirmation number.
You should save this number for your reference or you can select the “Confirmation” link
to print a copy for your records. If you have additional weeks that are available
to be certified, click the “Return to Certify for Benefits” button
to repeat the process. If you feel that you have reported incorrect
information on the claim certification, just send a message to the EDD through your UI
Online account by selecting the “Contact Us” link at the top of the screen.
Be sure to specify the week, amount reported, and correct amount.
We hope that you have found this video helpful on how to properly report your work and wages
in a fast, convenient, and secure way online.
Additional information about this topic is available on our EDD website.
We also invite you to view other instructional videos that are available to learn more about
the many different benefits and conveniences of UI Online.