In order to be eligible For UI in South Carolina, you must meet all the requirements stated below.
Non Monetary Eligibility
- You must be unemployed through no fault of your own
- You must be seeking full-time employment, able to work, and available for work
- You must register for work with DEW (Department of Employment and Workforce)
- You must regularly report to your local SC Works center. You could lose benefits if you fail to report. Failure to report jeopardizes your benefits
- You must quit or get fired for “good cause” connected with employment
Monetary Eligibility
To be monetarily eligible, you must:
- Have at least $1,092 in covered employment during the base period’s highest quarter
- Have earned at least $4,455 from covered employment during the base period
- Have total base period wages that equal or exceed 1.5 times the high quarter wages’ total
Base Period wages typically establish monetary eligibility for unemployment benefits. The “standard base period” comprises the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters preceding a claim’s starting date.
Alternate base period helps claimants who don’t qualify for unemployment compensation using the standard base period. The alternate base period includes the four most recently completed calendar quarters, including “lag quarter” wages—the most recently completed quarter preceding a new claim’s effective date.
Note: To use the alternate base period, no wages from federal, military, or out-of-state employment can be missing.
Eligibility Questions
What happens if I am fired in South Carolina?
Even when sufficient wages qualify you for benefits, you can be ineligible for benefits if you are discharged for misconduct connected with employment. This might include chronic lateness, insubordination or theft.
If you are found to have been discharged from your most recent work for misconduct connected with employment, you will be disqualified from receiving benefits for full 20weeks.
When you file your claim, you’ll have to disclose your job separation reason to the state labor office. Then they’ll contact your former employer for their side of events. The process varies depending on the state, but you’ll often be given the opportunity to present your evidence that your termination was against labor laws during an investigation process. If your claim is denied, you have the right to request an appeal hearing. There you can present your evidence in depth in front of an administrative law judge who will make a determination based on it.
Can I draw benefits if I am laid off?
Usually, in South Carolina you have to lose your job through no fault of your own in order to collect unemployment. When you get laid-off, it is not your fault.
In almost all cases, this means that if you get laid-off, you are eligible to collect unemployment benefits.
Getting laid-off doesn’t mean that you were fired or you did something wrong. It simply means that the company in which you worked doesn’t have enough work and could no longer afford to pay you for the job.
Once you get laid-off from your job, you should immediately apply for unemployment benefits.
Am I eligible for unemployment benefits if I quit?
It is possible to collect unemployment benefits if you quit your job, but these benefits are not guaranteed. You must be able to demonstrate that you made a genuine effort to preserve your job and the conditions at the job interfered with your physical or emotional well-being. As the party who initiated the change, you are faced with the burden of proof for demonstrating that your unemployment claim is legitimate.
If you voluntarily quit your job, without good cause connected with your employment, you will be disqualified for the duration of your unemployment until you have returned to work, earned at least eight (8) times your weekly benefit amount in employment, and become unemployed again through no fault of your own.
If you apply for unemployment benefits when you quit your job, your state unemployment agency will conduct a fact-finding interview. They will ask you questions over the phone, and they will also contact your former employer to hear their side of the story. The agency will issue a decision as promptly as possible and, if they find in your favor, you will be eligible to collect unemployment benefits.
If DEW finds out that I failed to properly report my earnings, what will happen to me?
You will be held overpaid and be required to repay the amount to DEW. If it is determined that the act was deliberate, you could be take into court and fined a maximum of $100 or sentenced to 30 days in jail for each week you fail to properly report your earnings. You could also be disqualified from receiving future benefits for a minimum of 10 weeks up to a maximum of 52 weeks.
If I go back to work with my former employer but work fewer hours, am I eligible for benefits, and do I have to report my earnings?
YES. You may be eligible for benefits if you do not earn more than your weekly benefit amount and accept all available work. You must report your gross earnings so that your claim can be adjusted accordingly. You must also continue to make an active search for work.
More Questions?? —-> Read Eligibility Q & A Section
Want to know about how much you will receive?? —–>Calculate your benefits here
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