New Claim

• Claims are effective for 1 year (from the BYB date of your claim – Benefit Year Begin date).
• Say no to being a seasonal worker. A “seasonal worker” is a very specific agricultural job in unemployment law. 
• When choosing your union from a drop-down list, if it is not listed, there is a box to check where you can enter it manually.
• Non-union employees must register with the CareerLink and complete the work search requirements if you do not have an exact recall date in writing.

Reopening Your Claim

• This process is the same for opening a new claim and reopening a claim. The system will know which it is after you submit the application.
• THIS IS A CHANGE: If reopening a claim, you must reopen during the week of unemployment, then file the weekly benefit starting Sunday.
• If your work schedule is “on and off,” meaning you work some weeks but not others, you must reopen your claim in situations where you work less than you did the prior week: 
  • You worked part-time and claimed partial benefits, but the next week you worked very little or not at all.
  • You worked full time but are at least partially unemployed the next week.
• Your employer information needs to be reentered for every period of employment even if it is the same employer. 

Filing Weekly and Payments

• You need to file weekly claims to receive payments.
• If you are unable to claim a week, your claim may need to be reopened. 

Work Registration and Work Search

• Union employees who receive jobs through a union hiring hall are not exempt from registration with the CareerLink, you are exempt from work search requirements and the work search question should not appear when you file weekly claims. If the question does appear, you should indicate “yes,” you have met your requirements.

Victim of Fraud

• If you were unable to open a claim because a fraudster opened one using your information, you must file a fraud report.
• If your claim has been hijacked by a third party, you MUST create a new Keystone ID and password following the guidelines in the Keystone ID section.

Dashboard

• The dashboard section of your claim is where you can find communication from the UC program, including monetary determinations, determinations regarding a separation from employment, or a message from a UC representative. 

Keystone ID

• If you are attempting to use a Keystone ID and password that was created with PA CareerLink and you cannot log in to your claim with the existing password, you will not be able to use the password reset function within PA Unemployment. The security questions used to create the password for that Keystone ID reside on the PA CareerLink website. You must visit the PA CareerLink website to update your security questions and change the password to one that meets PA Unemployment’s password requirements shown below. Once that has been done, you will be able to log in to PA Unemployment with your existing Keystone ID. 
• Keystone ID usernames, passwords, and answers to security questions should not contain:
  • Any part of your name, social security number, address, phone number, or email address.
  • Double letters such as: mm, tt, nn, oo, etc.
  • Do not include any part of your new username within your password or answers to security questions.

If you are experiencing a looping issue creating your Keystone ID:

• Carefully review your Keystone ID, password, and answers to security questions to ensure the above guidelines were followed. 
• Once you have identified the error(s), begin the process again by creating a new username that has not been attempted. Change any information that was in conflict and continue until you can successfully access your claim.
  • Examples of information that would be conflicting within a profile: 
    • Name: John Doe
    • Username: company@1999
    • Password: Mickey#12
    • Address: 12 Main St, Anytown, PA 98765
    • Phone number: 123-456-7890
    • DOB: 01/02/1999
    • Answers to security questions:
      • What is your mother’s maiden name? Stowe 
      • Where were you born? Maine 
      • Where did you first meet your spouse? Johnstown 
  • Conflicting information with above profile: 
    • Username: company@1999 (any is included in Anytown 1999 is in DOB)
    • Password: Mickey#12 (12 is included in street address)
    • Answers to security questions:
      • What is your mother’s maiden name? Stowe (tow is included in the city)
      • Where were you born? Maine – (Main is included in street address)
      • Where did you first meet your spouse? Johnstown (John is included in name)

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Labor