Introduction
Job Service North Dakota administers the unemployment insurance benefits program in North Dakota. It is designed to help workers who are unemployed through no fault of their own by providing temporary income until they are able to find work. Employers pay all program costs. There are no deductions made from employee paychecks to fund program costs.
How Unemployment Benefits work in North Dakota
Here’s an overview of how the unemployment insurance process works in North Dakota.
- Before you apply for benefits, you must all requirements. These include being unemployed through no fault of your own, being able and available to go to work, conducting an active and ongoing job search, and several others.
- Apply for unemployment insurance. To assure that you begin receiving benefits in a timely manner, you should start your claims process as soon as possible. You can apply online at the North Dakota Job Service website.
- Determine the amount and duration of your benefit. North Dakota pays benefits for 12 to 26 weeks depending on a number of factors. The amount you are entitled to will be mailed to you in a Determination Letter after you file an initial claim.
- Know how and when you will be paid. North Dakota unemployment benefit recipients can receive benefits electronically through the use of a debit card or they can have benefits direct deposited into their bank account.
- Conduct an ongoing job search. You must conduct an ongoing job search and you must document your efforts and report them to collect benefits. You must also register with the Employ Florida Marketplace before claiming weeks of unemployment. If you are offered a suitable job, but turn it down, you could lose your benefits. In addition, when you go back to work, you must report that information to the Reemployment Assistance Program immediately.
- You can file an appeal if you are denied benefits. If you are denied unemployment benefits, Florida allows you to file an online appeal, by mail, or by fax. You will have 20 days to do so from the time you receive your determination notice. After receiving your appeal, the agency will schedule a telephone hearing and an appeals referee will rule on your case. A decision will then be mailed to you.
Eligibility requirements
You must meet several eligibility requirements to receive unemployment insurance benefits in North Dakota:
- You must have worked for an employer who is liable under the North Dakota Unemployment Insurance program. Not all employers are considered liable or covered employers. Liable employers are required to pay Unemployment Insurance taxes on the wages that they pay out.
- You must be unemployed or partially unemployed for the week(s) you are claiming benefits. You can receive some benefits if you are working part-time and earn less that your weekly benefit amount.
- You must be physically able to work when you file your claim.
- You must be available for work when you file your claim. If such things as lack of transportation or lack of child care prevent you from being able to take a job, you are not considered available for work and you will not be eligible to receive benefits. If you are out of the area for vacation or personal business other than job seeking, you are not eligible to receive benefits for the time you are gone.
- You must be willing to accept suitable employment for which you are qualified.
- If you are not returning to the employer that laid you off, you are required to search for work and make job contacts. You must register for work by completing at least one online resume at www.jobsnd.com within 10 days of filing or reopening your claim.
- If you reside in another state and do not normally commute to work in North Dakota, you must register for employment at the nearest public employment office in your state of residence.
- You must complete weekly certifications in a timely manner to continue to receive benefits.
- You must respond to all requests for information by designated deadlines.
- You must complete your online Eligibility Reviews and online Reemployment Activities on UI ICE.
- If you have been selected to participate in Case Management activities, contact your Case Manager on the date and time scheduled.
- Your online resume expires after 90 days. You must log on and update it before it expires to keep claiming benefits.
- Notify Job Service North Dakota before you leave the state. You will be instructed how to continue your claim once you are living out of state.
- When you certify a week of unemployment, you must report all of your earnings for the week. If in doubt about when to report earnings, you should report the earnings and then contact Job Service North Dakota at 701-328-4995.
- You must report gross earnings, not net earnings unless otherwise specified. Gross earnings are earnings prior to payroll deductions. To report your earnings, take the number of hours worked and multiply them by your hourly wage. Earnings should be reported in the week earned, not the week paid. The types of earnings you should report, include:
- Regular pay
- Holiday pay
- Sick Leave pay
- Vacation pay
- Bonus pay
- Severance
- Disability Insurance payments
- Commissions
- Income from self-employment
Why you might be disqualified from receiving benefits
There are many reasons why you may be disqualified from receiving benefits. Some of those include:
- You quit voluntarily without good cause
- Misconduct, such as for the violation of a posted or known company rule, insubordination, theft, or destruction of company property.
- Labor dispute
- Failure to respond to requests for information from Job Service North Dakota
- Failure to properly claim benefits
- Alien status. If you are not a citizen of the United States or not legally authorized to work in the country, you could be denied benefits.
- Not available or actively looking for work
- You did not meet monetary qualifications
- You refused to accept suitable work
- You started to attend schooling or training that has not been approved by Job Service North Dakota.
How to apply for benefits
Before you apply
Before you file a claim for unemployment insurance benefits in North Dakota, you will need to gather some information that will be used to process your claim. You will need:
- Your Social Security number
- Your current mailing address
- Your phone number
- The names, addresses and phone number for all your employers for the past 18 months
- The dates you worked at those employers
- The reason you left each employer
- An alien registration number of Visa number if you are not a U.S. citizen
Filing an initial claim
You can file your claim, complete weekly certifications and check the status of your claim by telephone or on the Internet.
Access Unemployment Insurance services by going to the Unemployment Insurance Internet Claim Entry (UI ICE) system link.
You can also call the Unemployment Insurance Claims Center at 701-328- 4995.
Both the UI ICE Internet system and the telephone system are unavailable from 10 p.m. until midnight Central Time Monday through Friday and periodically between midnight and 6 a.m. Central Time.
The Unemployment Insurance Claims Center is staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.
If you call outside of normal business hours, you can complete the questions over the telephone, but will need to call back during regular business hours to speak with a Claims Representative to complete your claim.
The last page of the Internet application will be your confirmation page. It will show that your claim or certification has been completed and give you a confirmation number. Make sure to print a copy of the confirmation page.
Your claim is effective the Sunday of the week you file your claim. You cannot backdate your claim.
Your claim has a 52-week period called your benefit year. Once your benefits are exhausted for your benefit year, you will have to wait until the benefit year is over to file a new claim in North Dakota.
If you worked in North Dakota and in more than one state, you may be able to combine your wages and file a North Dakota claim.
If you are a former member of the Armed Forces, you may be entitled to Unemployment Insurance depending upon the length of your service and the nature of your discharge. If you separated from the Armed Forces within the last two years, have your DD-214 available when filing your claim.
If your Unemployment Insurance is based on your federal civilian wages, Job Service will receive reports from the federal agency verifying your status, wage records and official duty station. To ensure that the proper federal agency was contacted, please provide a copy of your SF-8.
The first week that you establish a claim for benefits is generally your waiting week. No benefits are paid for that week. However, you must still certify that week and meet all other eligibility requirements to be eligible for future benefits. A waiting week is required based on state law and enables Job Service the opportunity to obtain the necessary information to ensure the proper payment of benefits.
After you file an initial claim, you will receive a Determination Letter within five days This letter will outline wages reported for you by your employer(s) during your "base period."
If you have earned enough wages, you are considered "monetarily eligible." The letter will reflect your weekly benefit amount and how many weeks you are eligible to receive payments.
If your wages include military wages, federal civilian wages or wages earned in another state, you will receive another monetary determination when your wages are received.
Filing weekly claims
After you file your initial Unemployment Insurance claim, you must complete weekly certifications and meet all eligibility requirements to receive benefits for each week.
You can complete your weekly certification online or by phone. If you complete your certification online, you will find the link to certify under My To Do List on the Main Menu of UI ICE.
You must complete your certifications within 13 days of the Saturday of the week in which you started your claim; or certify within 13 days of the Saturday of the last week you had previously certified.
If you do not complete your certification by these timeframes, you will not be able to receive benefits for the week and you will be required to reopen your claim prior to receiving any further benefits.
All weeks must be certified in order, without a break. Even if you know that you were not eligible during a specific week, you should certify the week if you plan on certifying the following week.
After your certification, if you are eligible, your payment is processed the following business day. If you certify on a weekend, your payment is processed on Tuesday.
You can earn up to 60% of your weekly benefit amount without affecting the weekly benefit you receive. Every dollar over 60% is deducted dollar for dollar, until you earn your weekly benefit amount. If you earn wages equal to or greater than your weekly benefit amount, no payments will be issued for the week.