Restarting Benefits

Restarting Benefits after Temporary Work

When you take a temporary job and earn more than your weekly benefit amount, your benefits will stop. When your temporary assignment ends, you need to re-file for unemployment. The same rules for leaving this new employer apply; if you voluntarily quit or you are fired for just cause, you may not be eligible for benefits.

Refiling for Benefits

When you apply for unemployment benefits, you establish an active unemployment account for 52 weeks. This is referred to as a benefit year. When your benefit year ends and you still require unemployment assistance, your claim will stop and require you to file a new claim. To be approved for benefits in a new benefit year, you must have earned five times your weekly benefit amount.

Example: Sue filed for benefits on January 1, 2014, and stopped in May (5 months). She was laid off again in the middle of December so she filed a new claim. Since her benefit year ended after 52 weeks, her benefit stopped and she had to apply again. Because Sue’s benefit was $100 a week, she had to have earned at least $500 during the last year to qualify for a new claim.

Unemployment Benefit Extensions

With the new Indexing policy, Tennesseans are only eligible for a maximum currently of 12 weeks of unemployment insurance in a year. If you exhaust your benefits, no extensions are available. To be eligible for unemployment again, you will have to meet several requirements:

1. You must have additional earnings from a "covered employer."
2. You must be laid off by no fault of your own.
3. And, you must apply after your benefit year has ended.