Wyoming Unemployment Eligibility Calculator
Wyoming Unemployment Insurance benefits are available for workers who are in between jobs. To collect benefits, however, a claimant must meet the eligibility requirements set forth by the Wyoming Division of Workforce Services.
How to qualify for Wyoming unemployment benefits
Monetary Eligibility Requirements
In order to qualify for benefits, the employee must have earned enough money during their base period.
Your base period is one year of your work and pay. It’s divided into four parts, each lasting three months. The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services uses the money you made during this time to calculate how much you will receive in unemployment compensation.
Your base period is made up of the first four of the past five completed three-month periods before you apply for benefits. If you made enough money during this time, the Wyoming Unemployment Insurance Claims Center will use it to figure out how much you will get.
Wage Credits
A wage credit is any money you earned while working for an employer. In Wyoming, you must have earned at least $4,000 during at least two quarters of your base period to qualify for unemployment benefits. Your total base period earnings must also be at least 1.4 times your great-earning quarter.
Non-Monetary UI Benefit Eligibility Requirements
You also must meet the non-monetary eligibility requirements, as determined by the Wyoming Unemployment Insurance Division. These requirements include:
- You must have lost your job through no fault of your own, and
- You must be ready and able to work while actively looking for a job to meet benefit work search requirements. This means each week you are:
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- Contacting at least 2 different employers to find a job
- Physically and mentally fit to work
- Ready to start a job right away if one is offered to you
Maintaining Eligibility
You must file a weekly claim to maintain eligibility and collect payments. When filing each week, you will have to report any hours you may have worked and any money you earned from that work, even if it is only one dollar.
You must also fill out and send back any requests for audit information you may receive. Do this even if you have gone back to work or stopped receiving benefits, as failure to do so could impact your chances of getting Wyoming Unemployment Insurance benefits in the future. Learn more about Wyoming unemployment fraud.
What is considered suitable work?
If you’re looking for a job, it’s important to be open to different job opportunities that might be a good fit for you. Some things that might be considered when figuring out if a job is a good fit include: how much you’ll get paid, what kind of experience you have, and how long you’ve been without a job.
After being without a job for four weeks, you should be willing to look for work that might be different from what you’ve done before, and be okay with making either half of what you used to make per hour, the minimum wage, or the average starting wage for that type of job (whichever is higher).
Can I work part-time and receive benefits?
You can work part-time jobs (not more than 35 hours a week) while you receive unemployment benefits. Report the money you earned, including tips, the same week you worked, not when you get paid. You need to report all of your hours, even if it’s just one hour. Holiday pay counts as earnings for the week of the holiday.
It’s important to know the difference between gross pay and net pay. Gross pay is your earnings before taxes. You can find this by multiplying your hourly wage by the hours you worked. Net pay is what you take home after deductions. To find out how much you’ll receive for a week, subtract half of your weekly benefit amount from your gross pay. If you earn the same or more as your weekly benefit amount, you won’t receive any benefits.
Can I receive benefits while self employed?
If you are self employed, you have to report any income you receive to the WY unemployment office. This must be reported the week you worked, not when you got paid.
Write down your hours, money made, and money spent on business expenses. Then, subtract your expenses from what you made to accurately report your self-employment earnings.
The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services may ask for proof of your earnings and expenses. When you apply for unemployment benefits, the amount of money you made from your self-employment will be subtracted from your weekly benefit amount. The rest will be what you would normally receive for that week.
If you worked at your own business for more than three days or 24 hours in one week, you will not be eligible for unemployment benefits for that week.
What would disqualify me from the Wyoming Unemployment Insurance program?
There are a few reasons why you might not qualify for unemployment benefits. A few examples include:
- You quit your last job without a good reason
- You were fired from your last job because you did something wrong at work
- You didn’t look for or accept a suitable job offer
- After getting unemployment benefits for four weeks, you didn’t try to look for or take a job that was different from what you used to do and paid at least 50% of what you used to make
- You received compensation by lying or giving false information.
If you believe that you were disqualified from receiving benefits in error, you can challenge the decision by going through the Wyoming Unemployment Insurance appeals process.
When do I no longer qualify for Wyoming unemployment benefits?
You can collect UI benefits in Wyoming for up to 26 weeks per year. There are currently no unemployment extensions available. Extended benefits are only available when there is a natural disaster, pandemic, or severe economic recession that causes unemployment rates to skyrocket. If you made more money from working than you get from unemployment assistance, you are officially considered employed. If you lose your job again after that week, you will have to start a new unemployment claim.
You will need to tell the Wyoming Division of Workforce Services about your new last job and why you no longer work there. This new claim will still be part of the same time period you already got unemployment for. You can do this by calling the unemployment office at (307) 473-3789 or by logging into your WYUI account.
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