Illinois Unemployment Benefits, Amount, Services & Filing

Illinoisans who have been laid off or seen a substantial reduction in hours are likely to be eligible for unemployment insurance (UI). After their UI benefits are exhausted, they will be eligible for the federal government's Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). A self-employed person or independent contractor will be eligible for PUA. Illinois has waived the unpaid waiting week for unemployment insurance due to the pandemic.

The minimum weekly benefit amount (WBA) for Illinois is $51, and the maximum weekly benefit amount is $505. There may be an additional $100 payment for certain people who qualify for Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC). Claimants are paid their WBA through direct deposit or a KeyBank debit card.

In June 2020, the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) switched the debit card on which payments are made. The prior debit card was a MasterCard from Chase. Money will not be transferred from the MasterCard to the KeyBank card. IDES advises spending the MasterCard balance down to zero. The new card can be used at an AllPoint or KeyBank ATM.

An Illinoisan can claim 26 full weeks of unemployment insurance in a one-year period. An individual should certify for UI and PEUC every two weeks on Mondays through Fridays between 3 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. They should certify for PUA weekly. Claimants have an assigned day on which to certify, which is Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. They can also certify on Thursday and Friday open call days.

A claimant can certify online or via Tele-Serve by calling 312-338-4337. An individual can provide additional documentation to IDES regarding their unemployment through IDES’s document upload portal. IDES’ Customer Service Center at 800-244-5631 can answer questions about UI.

An Illinoisan can claim 53 weeks of PEUC, or until PEUC expires on September 4, 2021. A claimant whose UI amount is exhausted will automatically start receiving funds from PEUC. The PEUC program is a federal extension of benefits for those who exhaust their UI benefits.

The federal American Rescue Plan Act increased the number of weeks of PUA to 79 weeks, or until the program expires the week of September 4, 2021. A person who does not have sufficient earnings in their base period to qualify for regular unemployment benefits can apply for PUA. A claimant will need to supply the tax forms for the year in which they file their claim.

If the individual is being asked to renew or extend their claim, they will need to share their tax forms for that year. If they had any wages reported on a W-2 form, they should first file a regular UI claim. Acceptable proof of wages includes a Form 1040, Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ, a Form 1040-SR, Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ, a Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) or other forms to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. A claimant who does not upload the tax form on the day they file will be required to do so within 21 days of filing.

A claimant can find more information about their eligibility for unemployment benefits of different types at IDES’ website, an Illinois.gov website. To qualify for unemployment benefits, a claimant must be able and available for work, registered with Illinois Job Link (IJL) and actively seeking work even from the confines of their home. Registering with IJL fulfills the employment service registration requirement.

There are exceptions to the requirement to register with IJL. Where local labor market conditions indicate that employment service registration would not increase the claimant’s likelihood of returning to work, the claimant may not be required to register with IJL. If the claimant does not know whether they are exempt from registering for IJL, they should ask an IDES representative.

If a worker is temporarily laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the registration requirement is waived for them. IDES will consider the claimant as actively seeking work as long as the claimant is prepared to return to their job as soon as the employer reopens. The employer must not indicate that the employee will not be returning, the employer is closing the business or something similar that would lead to the claimant not being able to return to that position.

A person is considered able and available for work if there is work they can do from home, such as virtual assistant services. There must be a labor market for that work. Use of IJL alone is not a sufficient work search. A claimant can look for more jobs on Get Hired Illinois.

A claimant may be receiving wages from an employer and also have a side business for which they are an independent contractor. When they lose all of their independent contractor work, but are still receiving wages from their employer, the amount of their regular UI benefits will be based only on the wages they received from their employer. The claimant should not include income from self-employment activities when applying for UI benefits.

An individual can file a claim online through the IDES website. They can also file a claim over the phone by calling 800-244-5631 and following the prompts. An individual can file a claim online every day of the week at any time, except from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. A claimant should not re-apply for regular unemployment benefits if they have applied and been denied within 12 months of the date they want to re-apply; the applicant should file for PUA instead.

After a claimant files their initial claim, they will receive a blank debit card within seven to 10 days. The card will be accompanied by a UI decision. The claimant will receive money on the card two to three days after certifying for regular unemployment insurance benefits.

An individual who is working part time must declare their earnings when certifying. In order to qualify for UI benefits, their earnings for the week must be less than their weekly benefit amount. This amount does not include a dependent allowance. If the partial benefit amount does not come to an even dollar, it is raised to the next highest dollar, provided it will not exceed the claimant’s WBA. The individual’s weekly benefit amount will be reduced by the amount they earned that week.

Sick pay, vacation pay and payment for a furlough all count as earnings, and a worker must report these monies when certifying. If the claimant included a return to work date in their initial claim, they cannot receive benefits after this date. The exception is if the date is updated in their account.

In the event that a claimant returns to work but is then separated from work again, they must file an Additional Claim. They cannot continue certifying under their previous claim. An Additional Claim is used to re-apply for UI benefits. It helps a claimant re-establish eligibility in an active benefit year.

A claimant should file an Additional Claim for a second or subsequent break in employment in the same benefit year. When a claimant files an Additional Claim, they should update information about the last day they worked and their last employer. A claimant can file an Additional Claim by logging in to their IDES account, selecting File My Unemployment Claim under the Individual Home menu, and filing the additional claim. The claimant may also be prompted to file an additional claim at the end of the certification process, if needed.

An undocumented person is not lawfully permitted to work in the U.S. so they are not considered able and available to work. As such, they do not meet eligibility requirements for regular state unemployment benefits. They are also not eligible for benefits under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act and subsequent legislation related to the CARES Act, including the American Rescue Plan Act.

An individual with a green card is generally able and available to work. They may have established eligibility for unemployment benefits.

IDES offices are closed to the public until further notice. IDES is offering workshops and assistance with job searches and résumés online. Illinois Job Link provides information about different career options as well as job alerts. In addition, the State of Illinois Workforce Portal is hosting virtual job fairs and virtual trainings.

Illinois has not implemented a WorkShare program to allow an employer to retain a group of employees by reducing all of their hours. Legislation for the WorkShare program was signed into law in 2014, but the program was never implemented. When the pandemic hit, IDES was so busy that it waited to consider implementing the program. However, there is a chance IDES may implement the program at a later point.

Public and private Illinois schools remain closed through April 30, 2021, by order of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. Many districts are planning to reopen for some measure of in-person learning. A parent or guardian of a child who will return to a district where in-person learning will be available, but who chooses to keep their child virtually learning at home, may not claim unemployment for the week they made this choice.

A claimant who disagrees with the amount, or a denial, of their unemployment benefits should write a letter or complete a Request for Reconsideration of Claims Adjudicator’s Determination form within 30 days. The letter or form should outline why the claimant disagrees with the finding or determination. The claimant should mail or fax this to their local IDES office. They should not deliver the appeal in person, as local offices are closed because of the pandemic.

If the reconsideration is denied, an appeal will automatically be sent to the Appeals Division, and the claimant will receive a Notice of Hearing with the date and time of the hearing. All appeal hearings are scheduled over the phone. After the hearing, the claimant will receive a decision. A claimant should continue to certify benefits while waiting for their hearing to take place or to receive the decision. They may not receive benefits until the appeal is decided.

If a claimant underreports wages when they certify, IDES will notify the claimant with a Notice of Overpayment. The state has the ability to waive the recovery of an overpayment if the overpayment was established through no fault of the claimant, and the recovery of the overpayment would be against equity and good conscience.

A claimant who has been overpaid will receive a Request for Waiver of Recovery of PUA Overpayment Questionnaire by email or mail. They must complete and return the questionnaire in full. If IDES needs additional information to make a determination, it will contact the claimant. If IDES denies the overpayment waiver request, the claimant has the right to appeal the determination.

A claimant may have repaid part or all of the overpayment. Alternatively, IDES may have taken the amount owed by recouping it from the claimant’s unemployment benefits. If the claimant is successfully granted a waiver, IDES will return the amount of the overpayment.