Illinois Improves Unemployment Insurance Eligibility Guidelines to Count Most Recent Earnings


Unemployment Insurance (UI) is a time-honored and effective strategy for keeping workers connected to the workforce when they are between jobs due to layoffs and other good cause. Since 1935, UI has provided weekly benefits to eligible unemployed workers. UI temporarily replaces their wages so that such workers and their families do not suffer; at the same time UI requires them to secure their next jobs quickly and helps them do so.

Eligibility for UI benefits requires workers to be “attached to the labor force.” This means that a worker must earn a minimum of $1,600 during a “base period” consisting of four calendar quarters, with at least $440 earned in the worker’s second-highest-earning quarter. Prior to January 1, 2008, UI eligibility disregarded all workers’ most recent wages. Illinois defined its base period as only the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters. This meant that wages for the quarter in which the worker filed for UI were not counted (since the quarter was not completed), nor were wages from the previous quarter (the fifth quarter). This method of counting wages is a holdover from the pre–computer age when wages were recorded manually and getting more recent data was technologically infeasible. But this method denies many workers UI benefits, particularly those workers who are more recent entrants into the workforce; this method affects disproportionately low-wage workers.

Here is an example of how the traditional base period works. A UI claim is filed in June 2008. Wages earned in that quarter (April–June 2008) do not count because that quarter is the “filing quarter.” Wages from the previously completed quarter (January–March 2008) do not count because this quarter is the fifth of the five completed quarters prior to the filing quarter. The base period therefore is the previous four quarters (January–December 2007), the “first four of the five completed quarters” prior to June 2008. The worker must meet wage requirements during this period.

For workers who do not have enough wages earned during the traditional base period but have worked in more recent months prior to filing a UI claim, Illinois now uses the alternate base period (ABP). Illinois defines the ABP as the last four completed quarters immediately preceding the quarter when the worker files for UI. Wages for the quarter when the worker files for UI are still not counted (since that quarter is not a completed quarter), but wages from the previous quarter are counted. Adopting the ABP shortens the base period lag time by a quarter.

Here is an example of how the ABP works. A UI claim is filed in early May 2008 by a worker who worked for six months prior to her layoff. Although she did work during the traditional base period (January–December 2007), she did not earn $1,600 during that time and does not meet the earnings requirement using that base period. But under the ABP, moving the base period forward to include the last three quarters of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 (April 2007–March 2008), she easily meets the earnings requirements with sufficient earnings in the fourth quarter of 2007 and in the first quarter of 2008.

Workers can apply for UI benefits online (at http://www.ides.state.il.us/) or in person at a local Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) office. To find the nearest IDES office call 888.337.7234. Information needed to file for UI benefits include the following:

  • Social Security number
  • Names and addresses of past employers and the number of days worked for each
  • Records showing wages earned, including dismissal wages and vacation pay
  • Records of any pension payments, including Social Security
  • Any odd-job or part-time earnings while unemployed
  • Spouse’s employment status and Social Security number
  • Names and birth dates of children, including stepchildren, adopted children under 18, disabled children regardless of age, and any child involved in court-ordered custody (bring a copy of the court order)

IDES will process all applications first to see if the traditional base period makes the worker eligible for UI benefits. Being eligible under the traditional base period is advantageous in case a worker experiences a second period of unemployment at a later date since earnings used in a quarter to determine eligibility are not allowed to be used again to determine eligibility for another spell of unemployment. If the IDES computer system does not show that there are enough earnings during the traditional base period, the ABP is used to determine eligibility. If the ABP still does not show that the worker had enough earnings to be eligible for UI benefits (usually due to the lag time in employers reporting wages to IDES), but the worker did actually work and earn enough to be eligible by using the ABP, then IDES takes from the worker an affidavit along with proof (such as pay stubs) of earnings and approves UI benefits to the worker based on the affidavit and evidence. Eligibility is verified either through the IDES computer system (the wages now appear in the IDES computer system after more time has passed and the employer has reported more recent wages) or by contacting the employer directly. While this process sounds complicated, it should appear seamless to workers applying for benefits.

Unemployment Insurance Benefits Handbook can be found online at http://www.ides.state.il.us/uidocs/bis/handbook.pdf. The Shriver Center and a group of allies were instrumental in getting this change in Illinois UI law. For more information, contact Wendy Pollack, director, Women’s Law and Policy Project, at the Shriver Center, 312.263.3830 ext. 238 or wendypollack@povertylaw.org.