How do you claim your weekly unemployment benefits in New Jersey?

New Jersey calls it certifying for benefits, and the Division of Unemployment Insurance pays only the weeks you claim this way. You certify even in a week when you worked a few days, and even while you are waiting on a decision or an appeal.

How to certify each week

You certify for a week once it has ended. Unemployment Insurance weeks begin on a Sunday and end at midnight on Saturday.

1. Open the Division's online certification system and enter your Social Security number and your PIN. The first time you certify you create a 4-digit PIN, and you need it to claim your benefits every week after that.
2. Answer the certification questions about the week that has ended.
3. Submit your answers. The system then emails a confirmation to the address on your account.

The certification system takes answers Sunday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Department says online is best, but you can also certify for your weekly Unemployment Insurance benefits by phone, at 732-761-2020.

What the weekly questions ask

The questions are the same every week, and each one is about the week you are claiming, not about today.

• Were you able and available for work? Yes means you were physically able to work, ready to start right away, with transportation to a job and no personal reason keeping you from one.
• Were you actively seeking work? Phone calls, internet contacts, in-person visits, and resumes you sent all count.
• Did you refuse any work? A suitable job is measured against where you live, your skills, your experience, and your past salary. The longer you stay out of work, the wider New Jersey expects you to look.
• Were you attending school or job training?
• Did you receive holiday or vacation pay for the week? Any wage paid to you while you were not working is a yes, and the Division then sends an e-Adjudication link to settle whether it counts as earnings.
• Are you receiving, or have you applied for, a pension or other retirement pay from one of the employers the question lists?
• Did you work during the week? Answer yes and report what you earned, including pay for work you finished earlier.

That first question is also where vacations count against you. If you are on vacation or traveling for a week or more, you cannot collect Unemployment Insurance benefits for that stretch, because you were not available to take a job.

When the money arrives

You choose how you are paid when you file, and if you do not sign up for direct deposit, New Jersey pays your benefits onto a prepaid Money Network/My Banking Direct debit card instead.

With direct deposit, the Division normally transfers your Unemployment Insurance payment to your checking or savings account within 2 full business days after you certify.

The card has its own rules.

• It is mailed within 10 days after the Division reviews your Unemployment Insurance application, in a plain unmarked envelope with an Omaha, NE return address, so it is easy to throw out with the junk mail.
• It reaches you before you learn whether your claim was approved, so there is no money on it at first.
• It is good for 3 years. Keep the card after your claim ends, because New Jersey can pay a later unemployment, temporary disability, or family leave claim onto the same card account.
• If it is lost, stolen, or damaged, call Money Network/My Banking Direct at 888-292-0059 straight away. One replacement a calendar year is free, and each one after that costs $10.

Keeping up your work search

Contact an employer every week, by phone, mail, internet, or in person. The Division can ask you to prove that search at any time, and it may deny benefits for any week you did not look for work.

Your certification only asks whether you searched, not who you contacted, so keep your own list: the employer, the date, how you made contact, and which job it was.

When you go back to work

Report the work on the certification for the week you did it, along with what you earned. A few days of work does not automatically end a claim. When your earnings for a week are low enough, New Jersey still pays part of your weekly rate, and the amounts page shows how that is worked out.

Once the work is steady again and you no longer want benefits, stop certifying. An Unemployment Insurance claim goes inactive when you have not certified for 28 days or more. If you reactivate it later, you have to enter your direct deposit details again, or New Jersey moves your payments to the prepaid debit card.

If that work ends before your claim's one-year anniversary, reopen the claim right away. New Jersey does not recalculate your weekly benefit rate when you reopen inside the same benefit year, so it stays what it was. What happens after the anniversary is on how long benefits last.