Kansas Unemployment Benefits, Amount, Services, Filing & More

A current or former employee who had sufficient earnings within the last 18 months may be eligible for unemployment insurance (UI). The individual may require UI benefits because they were laid off or saw a significant reduction in hours. After their UI runs out, they may have extended benefits available. UI is available for up to 26 weeks.

After the extended benefits run out, the claimant will likely be eligible for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC). This federal government benefit is available for 24 weeks. The claimant will then be able to apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) for 50 weeks. A self -employed person or an independent contractor will not be eligible for UI or PEUC, but may be eligible for PUA.

Many people who were not eligible for unemployment insurance benefits before the pandemic are eligible for PUA, including gig workers like Uber and Lyft drivers. Employees of small farms or religious organizations whose employment has been impacted by COVID-19 are eligible for PUA. An individual who lacks a sufficient work history to file a UI claim or who has been disqualified for state benefits but has been impacted directly by COVID-19 may be eligible for PUA. An individual who was offered a job and had definite plans to join the labor force may be eligible for PUA if their job or availability to work was directly impacted by COVID-19.

An individual who is providing care for a family or a household member who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 is eligible for PUA. A person who is the primary caregiver for a child who cannot attend school because the school has been closed because of COVID-19 is eligible for PUA. A person who has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 is eligible for PUA.

The Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) determines a claimant's eligibility for unemployment benefits in part on the number of hours they work, why they separated from their employment, if they saw a reduction in hours from their prior position or positions, and whether they are attending school. An individual is ineligible for UI if they quit a position, and the position was a safe workplace that was following COVID-19-related protocols. An individual who is enrolled in school is determined eligible if their schoolwork does not affect their availability to work. Under certain circumstances, classes can be considered approved training that will not make the claimant ineligible for UI. An individual is eligible for UI if their workplace is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An individual is considered unemployed if they work less than full time and their gross weekly wages or their income before taxes and other deductions are less than their weekly benefit amount. When an individual receives paid leave, sick leave, vacation leave or another paid benefit while they are not working, the leave is considered wages. If paid-leave wages exceed their weekly benefit amount, the claimant is not eligible for benefits that week.

An individual who is not a U.S. citizen must complete an Alien Statement within seven days after they file their claim for unemployment benefits. They must attach a copy of their alien card to show their immigration status. A claimant must be in the U.S. legally to receive unemployment benefits.

A person’s weekly benefit amount (WBA) for UI is 4.25 percent of their wages in the highest paid quarter of their base period. The maximum weekly benefit amount for 2021 is $125, while the minimum WBA is $503. A claimant will normally be paid two to three business days after they file their claim and the Kansas Department of Labor accepts it.

A claimant’s payment may not always arrive on the same day each week. A holiday or temporary hold pending an agency investigation of outstanding issues can delay payments. A claimant should continue to file their weekly claim while an investigation is in progress. A self-employed person or independent contractor may be eligible to receive an additional $100 weekly benefit on top of their weekly benefit amount through the Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation program.

A claimant should file their application for unemployment benefits first, then file their first weekly claim starting the Sunday afternoon in the week after they filed the application. An individual can file any day of the week, Sunday through Saturday. If they do not file within 14 days, their claim will become inactive.

A claimant can file an application for unemployment insurance online or by toll-free phone. They must first register with KDOL to create an account and complete email verification. Kansans have experienced technical issues with KDOL’s unemployment benefits system when using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, so KDOL suggests using Safari, Internet Explorer or Firefox.

In addition, in the winter of 2020 to 2021, certain portions of Kansas experienced controlled power blackouts that were related to extremely cold temperatures. When a claimant experiences a power outage, they should file when they are able to do so. They should consider calling KDOL to explain why they filed late. It is always a good idea to keep a record of the date, time, content and name or ID number of the employee who handled the call.

There have been other concerns with KDOL’s filing system, including website security upgrades that delay payment and server migrations that do not allow claimants to certify. At times, payments have been over a month late. Claimants should keep certifying weekly even if KDOL has not paid them in a timely manner. This avoids unemployment claims from being closed because claimants have not filed.

KDOL pays claimants through a debit card from Bank of America or direct deposit, depending on which option the claimant selects during the application process. KDOL calls the card the Unemployment Debit Card, while Bank of America calls it the Kansas Unemployment Benefit Card. The debit card will be mailed to the claimant’s home address when their first payable week is processed. It can take over a week after processing the first payable week for the claimant to receive their debit card.

An individual must file an unemployment claim by phone if they worked in a state other than Kansas in the past 18 months. They must also file by phone if they filed an unemployment claim with another state in the past 12 months or they were in the military service or were a federal employee in the past 18 months. Generally, the individual can use the automated system to file a claim.

The individual’s claim will be filed as a “quick claim” and completed without the requirement to speak to a claims specialist if the person was laid off due to lack of work, there are no other issues with their claim, their last employer is the same employer as when they filed before, their address has not changed and they answered all the required questions.

A claimant with a query not answered in KDOL’s Frequently Asked Questions should reach out to the appropriate Unemployment Contact Center for their area. Most other information can be found online, including the date the most recent payment was issued and the amount of the three most recent weekly payments.

The number for the Kansas City Contact Center is 913- 596-3500, Topeka 785-575-1460, Wichita 316-383-9947 and other areas 800-292-6333. Customer service representatives are available from 8:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Monday through Friday except on state holidays. A representative can discuss only an unemployment claim with the claimant, and family members or spouse cannot call on their behalf.

An individual can return to part-time work without losing their unemployment benefits. They may earn up to 25 percent of their weekly benefit without seeing a reduction to their unemployment benefits. The individual should continue to certify weekly as they work. If a claimant returns to full-time work, they will no longer be eligible for unemployment benefits, including PEUC and PUA.

Kansans who engage in sporadic and infrequent work like mowing a neighbor’s lawn or selling personal items do not need to report the monies they receive as income. KDOL advises that if a claimant decides to do these tasks frequently as a form of self-employment, they must report their earnings. The claimant must also report the self-employment to the Contact Center.

KDOL has waived the work search requirement if a claimant separated from their job because of COVID-19. When a claimant is asked if they searched for work, they should answer yes. The nonpayable waiting week for UI has been waived for COVID-19 related claimants. It has also been waived if the employer terminated business operations in Kansas, declared bankruptcy or indicated a layoff subject to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

PEUC and PUA are programs funded by the federal government, initially through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law in March 2020. The federal government funded the programs again in December 2020 through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 contained the Continued Assistance Act, which related to unemployment benefits. The federal government then funded the programs a third time in March 2021 through the American Rescue Plan of 2021.

An individual applying for PUA should be ready to provide documentation to prove their prior income. The claimant has 21 days from applying to submit the documentation. Acceptable documentation includes 2019 tax returns and 1099 forms, paycheck stubs, bank receipts, ledgers, contracts, invoices and billing statements.

An individual who is found to have filed fraudulent claims will be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits for five years. They can be prosecuted for making false statements or withholding material to obtain benefits not due to them. It is fraud when a claimant receives benefits but refused suitable work and fails to report their earnings.

It is also fraud when a claimant receives benefits while working and does not report the correct amount of earnings. It is fraud if an individual receives benefits and operates their own full-time business, but it is not fraud if the individual receives benefits and operates a part-time business, such as selling vitamin supplements.

The Shared Work Program helps employers avoid layoffs by reducing the total number of hours an employee works. The employee is then eligible for partial unemployment benefits for the number of hours their workweek was reduced. In order to participate in the program, the employer must have reduced the normal weekly work hours and corresponding wages by between 20 and 40 percent. The employer must have a reduction that affects a business unit of two or more employees. They must apply the plan for reduced hours to at least 10 percent of employees in the affected unit.

An employee participating in the Shared Work Program must be able to work and be available for full-time work with the participating employer. They must be eligible for regular unemployment benefits in Kansas and must accept all work offered by the participating employer for the claim period they filed. They must work at least eight hours a week, but not more than the reduced hours specified in the plan. The Shared Work Program does not cover seasonal employees, those that typically work a period of six months or less, with the period of employment beginning in approximately the same part of the year, such as summer.