How does unemployment work in Utah?

The Unemployment Insurance Division sits inside the Utah Department of Workforce Services. It pays a weekly benefit to workers who have enough base period wages, are out of work through no fault of their own, and are able to work and available for full-time work. Employers pay all the costs.

What to do first

1. File the claim. The Department's unemployment home page says its own website and the Claims Assistance and Re-Employment Team on 801-526-4400 are the only ways to apply or to change anything on a claim. How to file covers what to have ready, and what to do with no computer.
2. Register for work with Workforce Services. Failing to register within 10 working days of your application could end in a denial.
3. File a weekly claim every week, including the weeks you wait for a decision. Weekly claims covers the job contacts that go with each one.

What arrives, and when

A Notice of Monetary Determination normally reaches you within 3 weeks. It shows the wages your base period employers reported, your weekly benefit amount, and the number of weeks the claim can pay, from 10 to 26. The first payment normally comes about 3 weeks after you apply. Utah law does not pay the first eligible week you claim, the waiting week, and you still have to file for it to get the credit.

If a decision goes against you

You have the right to appeal a decision made on your claim, and filing an appeal schedules a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge. Denials, appeals, and overpayments carries the deadline and the route. The employment centers cannot help with the claim itself, but they do have internet access and staff, and offices and phone numbers lists all of them.