Helpful Hints for Unemployment Insurance and the Employment Security Commission
- Employment Security Commission
- The Employment Security Commission gives a presentation at Right Management at least once a month. These are extremely informative discussions, and well worth attending, especially if you are unfamiliar with their services and procedures.
- Locations for County Offices
- North Carolina Employment Security Commission web site
- Registering for unemployment
- You can register for unemployment in person at any NC ESC office, or online. If you register in person, you should bring your layoff paperwork with you.
- You can register while you are still on severance pay, but there will be an "issue" attached to your claim, and you will not receive payments. The amount of your payment is based on the date that you register and your recent employment history; if you have questions about whether to register earlier or later, you should discuss this with an ESC office.
- How to start unemployment while you're still on severance
- Normally, unemployment payments will not start until your severance period has ended, plus time for any accrued vacation which was paid to you. However, if you start a training program, you can also start your unemployment payments. Once you have started receiving payments, they will continue after your training course is complete.
- To start receiving unemployment while still on severance, you will need to register for a career-related course. This can include any number of courses at Wake Tech or other community colleges, any university in the area, or private training program.
- Once you have registered for a course, contact the ESC support center at 866-278-3822, and tell them:
- You have an issue attached to your unemployment claim
- You have registered for a career-related training course
- You would like to have the issue removed from your claim, based on your course registration
- They will give you a fax number where you can send a copy of your registration form. Your issue should be lifted in a few days (you can check on your claim status online). As soon as the issue is lifted, you should begin filing your weekly claims.
- There is often confusion about this, related to WIA-funded training. Here's the basic information you need:
- ESC requires course registration before you can start unemployment based on training.
- WIA requires that you do not register for a course until your grant is approved. WIA rules also state that you must be receiving unemployment payments to be eligible for a WIA grant.
- While this seems like a Catch-22, there are two ways out.
- WIA allows a waiver for unemployment eligibility if you are receiving severance pay. You don't have to wait out your severance to apply for and receive a WIA training grant.
- You can use a different training course to start your unemployment claim. This way, there's no confusion between ESC rules and WIA rules.
- Wake Tech provides many inexpensive, career-related courses, and their schedules are often more flexible than university-based courses. Some Wake Tech courses, such as Dick Hart's resume writing course, are free to people who are unemployeed, and are taught once or twice a month. These courses are ideal for starting your unemployment payments, even including the free courses. All you need is a copy of your course registration to send to ESC.
- Filing your weekly claim
- You can file your weekly claim starting at noon on Sunday, either online or by phone. You will need to answer a short series of questions, such as whether you have worked, looked for work, received severance, started training, etc.
- If you have used the above information to start your unemployment based on training, while your severance is continuing, you should be aware of some issues with ESC's claim software. At present, it is not smart enough to match your answers with any special handling for training, severance waivers, etc. Based on advice from the ESC, you should answer as follows:
- "No" to the question about receiving severance or vacation pay
- "No" to the question about starting training
- Answering "yes" to either of these questions will stop your unemployment payments, and will require you to contact ESC to straighten out the problem.
- Remember that you must have at least two job search activities each week to remain eligible for unemployment. You do not need to provide proof of these at the time you file your weekly claim, but you will be audited periodically by the ESC to review your job search history. Keep good records!
- Financial tips
- Wake Tech provides a (free for unemployed people) course on stretching your money while you are unemployed. It is usually available through the Wake Tech business information center in Cary.