Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency provides Michigan residents the option of applying, receiving a performing most of the services and benefits offered by the agency online. This article will describe and provide links to the main online services the Unemployment Insurance Agency of Michigan offers.

If you currently fill in applications or request services by mail, telephone or actually visit the physical offices of the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency, consider switching to the agency’s online portal. This can help you save money and time, as well as reduce the cost of offering these services for the State.

Online Unemployment Claims.

Filing for unemployment by using paper forms takes longer and kills trees. Use Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency’s website instead and reduce the time for your first unemployment check to arrive.

The requirements for first time applicants online are the same as applicants over the phone or using paper forms. These include:

- Have at least one and no more than 19 employers in the last 18 months.

- Have not applied for unemployment benefits in the last 12 months. In this case you may qualify for a continuation of a claim, not a new claim.

- Know your employer’s mailing address. If you do not know you employer’s mailing address you will need to apply over the phone (Toll free 1-866-500-0017)

Account Portal

Once you register as an unemployed worker you can save yourself a phone call or a trip to your unemployment office and check your account balance online. The UIA Claim Portal allows registered users to check their status and their payment balance. If it is the first time you receive unemployment benefits you will need to register and provide personal information to confirm your identity.

Employers Filed Claims Portal

Employers also can save time and resources by managing the insurance payments of their workers online. The Employer Filed Claims portal allows employers to improve their cost control, reduce fraud, improve customer service and apply for unemployment benefits for their workers when they are affected by a mass layoff. This makes insurance management more efficient and convenient for both employers and workers.

UIA Online Services for Businesses

Besides laying people off business have to perform many tasks related to employment insurance and other services provided by the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. These include filing a quarterly wage report, file a quarterly tax, make a UIA tax payment, file a protest or access their UIA account information. All of these and many more operations can be performed from the UIA Online Services for Employers.

Those who would qualify are any Michigan employees who have left or lost their jobs, but were covered by a group plan under their former employer. Any other family members who had been covered under your plan also qualify. Both your employer and health care provider are required to inform you of your elective COBRA benefits within 14 days of the qualifying event. At that point, you can elect to continue with the exact same coverage as before. The difference will be that your employer is no longer contributing, so you will pay the entire premium.

The reason why this is a worthwhile deal of course, is that under a group plan you will still end up paying less than if you were to find new insurance on your own. The benefits in most cases will last for up to 18 months. If you had a preexisting condition, then after your COBRA benefits end, you may qualify for HIPAA Conversion. This means that you can continue receiving the same benefits, regardless of medical history, when you convert to an individual plan. This may also apply if your employer has closed shop resulting in the termination of your group plan.  Contact your insurance provider for all the necessary information and forms.

If your complany has shut down, or you did not have coverage through them, Michigan Careers in Transtion (MCIT) offers help with other options http://www.michigan.gov/jobs/0,1607,7-257-52254—,00.html , as does the Michigan Department of Human Services 1-855-275-6424 .

For information about insurance providers in Michigan, including differing rules pertaining to pre existing conditions, check out this site http://www.medhealthinsurance.com/michigan.htm . Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan for example, cannot turn down applications based on health conditions, and does not impose exclusion periods if you are eligible for HIPAA.

If you have medical needs or a family to care for, health insurance is likely important to you regardless of any changing circumstances. Take a few minutes to become more informed about your current options as an unemployed Michigan resident, and you can have peace of mind knowing that you’re still taking care of your loved ones during your intermission from work.

The estate of Michigan provides unemployment compensation to those who meet the requirements. You may receive benefits for a minimum of 14 weeks and up to a maximum of 26 weeks unless the unemployment

Compensation benefit is based on family benefits. If this is your situation payments can not be received for more than 7 weeks. The actual amount that you can receive is not more than $362 and not less than $81. First you must make sure that you are eligible for benefits and the first thing to check is your wage record during the base period. If you are not sure what that is, don´t worry it is not difficult to discover your base period. Just look back to the last 5 calendar quarters before you claim for unemployment benefits. The first four of these is considered to be your base period and the quarter when you earned your highest wages is the one which decides the weekly amount that you will receive. If for some reason you find that you don´t qualify on that basis there is another way you could qualify for benefits. This is by counting the four calendar quarters immediately before you file your claim.

The alternative base period could be used to qualify you for benefits – this is called The Alternative Earnings Qualifier and you can be accepted on that basis if you had earned wages in at least two quarters and the total amount earned was above $13,564.60. It may be your case that you apply again for benefits less than six calendar quarters after your last benefit year finished.

The benefit year is 52 consecutive weeks starting when you file for benefits. If you subsequently worked before the present benefit year began and your employer paid not less than 5 times the amount you were receiving during your previous benefit year, you can be accepted as qualifying for benefits. At this moment you qualify financially for benefits – however it is also required that you are ready and willing to work if a suitable job is offered and you should be actively looking for employment.

The weekly amount you receive in benefit payments can include those who depend on you for example a spouse (husband or wife) or a child. The amount for each dependant is $6 and as many as 5 dependents may be added. As we said before, the earnings you received in your high quarter are your basis for the amount you will get each week as benefits.

To make the calculation you just multiply this high quarter amount by 4.1% (0.041) and round it down to the nearest dollar. Add to the total the amount you are due for dependents and that will be your weekly benefit amount. If you would like to calculate the number of weeks that you can claim benefits you can do so by multiplying you total base period earnings by 40% (0.4) and dividing this total by the Weekly Benefit Amount.

This is the final article in a three-article series on the resources available to unemployed workers in Michigan. These articles offer practical and up-to-date information on the resources available to Michigan citizens with financial difficulties due to unemployment.

In our final article we will discuss health insurance and foreclosure assistance programs. Finding suitable housing and healthcare are two of the biggest problems for unemployed workers who see their main source of income disappear. Tragically, in most cases families receive their health insurance through the main breadwinner’s employment. When the employment ends, so does the preferential rate of insurance. This often makes it impossible for workers to afford health insurance, only worsening the situation for them and their families.

Homeowners who lose their employment also find themselves without the income they relied on to pay for their mortgage. If they fall behind their payments it doesn’t take long for lenders to file for foreclosure. Once unemployed, finding suitable housing for a family can be a challenge with landlords requiring proof of income.

The programs we detail in this article provide practical assistance in these areas for unemployed workers in the State of Michigan.

Health Assistance

MIChild:
Insurance program for uninsured children administered by the Department of
Community Health (MDCH).
1-888-988-6300
www.michigan.gov/mdch

Medicaid Help Line:
Administered by the Department of Human Services (DHS)
1-800-642-3195
www.michigan.gov/dhs

Free Clinics of Michigan (FCOM): Network of volunteer-staffed free clinics that provide health care services to the uninsured or medically underserved.

1-888-877-6769
www.FCOMI.org

Prescription Assistance Service is also available to unemployed workers who cannot benefit from the reduced prices offered to workers with health insurance. There are several programs offering prescription assistance each with their own rules and requirements. Use the contact information below to contact them and ask for more information.

Michigan Prescription Drug Discount Card is administered by the Department of Community Health (MDCH). The MiRx card is a way for Michigan residents who do not have prescription drug coverage to get their medication for less
money at participating pharmacies.
MiRx Enrollment Hotline: 1-866-755-6479
www.michigan.gov/mdch

Rx Assist: Searchable database of prescription assistance programs.
n/a www.rxassist.org

World Medical Relief 313-866-5333 www.worldmedicalrelief.com

Partnership for Prescription Assistance 1-888-477-2669 www.pparxmi.org

Pfizer Inc. 1-866-706-2400 www.pfizerhelpfulanswers.com

Lilly Cares 1-800-545-6962 www.lillycares.com

Foreclosure

Foreclosure assistance is offered by the Foreclosure Prevention Counselors at the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. This program offers households facing foreclosure with free assistance from foreclosure prevention counselors who will help you apply for state and federal foreclosure programs. Visit www.michigan.gov/helpinghand for more information or call 1-866-946-7432.

This series of articles provides practical information on the programs available to unemployed households in the state of Michigan. Our previous article focused on programs that offered information and access to resources offered by other agencies. This article highlights programs offered directly by the government and private agencies that promote them.

Job Assistance

The state of Michigan has two main job assistance programs: Michigan Works! and Talent Bank Help Line. The Michigan Works! program is an employment database which links workers and employers and provides workers with access to educational and training programs. This includes assistance with preparing resumes, recommendation letters and to prepare for job interviews.

The Talent Bank Help line is also managed by Michigan Works! but allows citizens to access job assistance services over the phone instead of the internet.  To access this program call 1-888-253-6855 or visit www.michworks.com.

Unemployment Insurance Agency

The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency is Michigan’s primary source of financial assistance for unemployed workers. However, this service is not for everyone. You must meet financial and legal requirements to qualify for unemployment benefits. For instance, to qualify for benefits you must have received a minimum amount of income set by the Unemployment Insurance Agency, have lost your job due to no fault of your own and be willing and able to work.

Utility Assistance Programs

The state of Michigan offers low-income citizens help with their utility bills through four main programs: Consumers Energy (1-800-477-5050), DTE Energy (1-800-477-4747), SEMCO Energy (1-800-624-2019) and the Michigan Energy Assistance Directory. The Michigan Energy Assistance Directory  is an online directory which offers information on both private and public energy assistance programs. Visit www.dleg.state.mi.us/mpsc/winterwise/energy_assistance.htm for more information.

The services offered by these programs include financial assistance to cover energy expenses, grants and low-cost loans for home improvements to save on energy consumption, such as insulation, solar and wind energy. Other programs allow Michigan workers to average out their energy bills throughout the year as a type of saving plan for the higher energy costs of the winter months.

These programs are not available to everyone. You must meet certain financial requirements, such as your income level, and the assets available to you. Visit the official websites of these programs (links above) and find out how much you could get in help for you and your family.

Are you in a situation where working is costing you money? Where having a job is actually maybe worse than not having one at all? This seems to be the situation of one of our readers’ son. We received the question below from Tammy Nelson and thought it was such a good question we should publish the answer for others in similar situations to read also.

I just have a question. My son receives unemployment but also has a job. He worked 2 jobs and lost 1, that’s why he receives unemployment. His job has been scheduling him only 1 day a week and it’s hurting him financially. Can he get denied his unemployment if he quits that other job? Also, what if he gets a part time job in another state, can he transfer his unemployment benefits, or how does that work?

Although we would need more information on the specific circumstances of Tammy’s son, the quick answer is he can get denied unemployment benefits if he quits his job. The Michigan unemployment insurance program is for workers who lose their job out of no fault of their own and quitting because you feel you will get more money from unemployment benefits qualifies as “your fault”. However, this doesn’t mean Tammy’s son does not have options.

First, you could apply for unemployment benefits based on the loss of your first job. Of course, you will need to meet the eligibility requirements set by the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. These include financial and legal requirements such as the reason you left your first job and how much income you earned during your base period. Click here for more information.

Second, you can ask your current employer to join the state shared work program. This is a program for companies who are forced to reduce the work hours they can offer their employees. From what you mentioned in your comment, this seems to be what is happening in this case. The employer can then apply for financial assistance for their workers and bring their wages to the equivalent of unemployment benefits.

About the part time job in another state, the same rules apply as if he worked in the same state. If he is on unemployment benefits and is working, he will need to declare his income. Each unemployed worker on benefits has an amount of income he can make while on benefits without any deductions taking place, but whatever you make over this amount is deducted from your benefits dollar for dollar.

Unemployment benefits in the State of Michigan are not for all workers who lose their jobs. It is not even for all workers who lose their jobs due to no fault of their own, although that is a qualifying requirement. There are financial requirements besides the legal requirements that restrict unemployment benefits to workers who have been fired, resign or who do not wish to actively search for work. This article will look at these financial requirements as they stand in 2011. These requirements change on a regular basis, so it is important to have the latest information.

Standard Base Period

This is the period of time used to assess the financial requirements of the unemployment program. It includes the first four quarters of the last five completed quarters. Attention must be paid to include only completed quarters. A year’s quarters are January to March, April to June, July to September and October to December. For example, if you lose your job in August, the first quarter of the five used to measure your standard base period is April to June.

Alternate Base Period

Michigan’s unemployment insurance program can choose to apply an alternative base period for workers who do not qualify under the standard base period. This alternative period includes the four most recent completed quarters. Workers who have received higher wages in their last quarter will benefit from this alternative base period, which will either allow them to qualify for benefits or even increase the payment they would receive under the standard base period.

Qualifying Requirements

There are two main financial qualifying requirements: the total income earned during the base period (standard or alternative, whichever is applied) and the income in the highest earning quarter.

To qualify for benefits the wages in the highest earning quarter of a worker must amount to at least $2,871 and the total wages during the entire base period must be at least $4,306.50. This total amount is calculated by multiplying the minimum amount of the highest earning quarter by 1.5.

Alternate Financial Requirements

There are also alternative financial requirements for workers who do not qualify under the standard requirements. Under these requirements, workers must have earned wages in at least two of the quarters in their base period and the total income during the base period must be at least 20 times the average weekly wage of the State of Michigan. In 2011 that amounts to 20 times $823.35, or $16,467. This alternative earnings qualifier does not really help workers to qualify for benefits.

The rules that govern the extended benefits program are designed to allow access to it only to states which have a high-unemployment rate. However, that is only part of it. As we mentioned in our previous post, the rule states the insured unemployment rate must be 20 percent higher during the current 13-week average than the equivalent period of the last two years. This means the program is set to only work for states which have a high-unemployment rate that is also getting worse through time. If a state’s insured unemployment is high but not any worse than previous years it will, under this rule, lose its right to extended benefits.

Fortunately for states like Michigan, which has had a high-unemployment rate for over three years and only seen modest improvements, there are alternative rules the state legislature can apply if it wishes. This article will look at the two alternatives open to states to stretch their eligibility for extended benefits.

Alternative Automatic Trigger

Instead of the insured unemployment rate, IUR, states can opt for a different automatic trigger for extended benefits. The alternative trigger also uses the insured unemployment rate but the trigger point is set at 6 percent not 5 percent. However, eligibility is not linked to the unemployment rate worsening, as long as the unemployment rate is 6 percent or higher the state qualifies for extended benefits.

Alternative Option

In addition to the two automatic triggers available to states there is an alternative method that uses a different type of unemployment rate to determine eligibility: the total unemployment rate, or TUR. This option must be chosen by the Michigan legislature before it can be used to determine eligibility. Some states have chosen not to opt in to this alternative trigger method while others, such as Michigan and South Carolina, have already chosen it.

This trigger determines any state with a total unemployment rate of 6.5 percent or higher with at least 10 percent higher unemployment rate than the previous 2 years qualifies for 13 weeks of extended benefits. The same rule determines that states with an 8 percent total unemployment rate which is 10 percent higher than the two previous years may also qualify for an extra seven weeks, which brings the the total to 20 week of extended benefits. 

This program is funded as a 50-50 partnership between the federal and local state governments. Some states such as North Carolina have decided not to choose option 2, while others, such as Michigan, have chosen to extend their eligibility to extended benefits.

As we discussed in the previous article of this series on extended benefits, not all states receive the federal extended benefits program. It is restricted to states with especially high-unemployment rates. But what is considered high-unemployment in the United States, which has an average unemployment rate (May 2011) of 9.1 percent?

The rules governing the extended benefits in Michigan  apply to all states, so you will benefit from this article whether you have worked in Michigan or Florida. However, as we will see there are measures at the state level the legislature can take to extend unemployment benefits.

The Rules

The trigger point for the extended benefits program in Michigan is determined by the state’s insured unemployment rate, or IUR. Notice the IUR is NOT the same as the total unemployment rate, or TUR. The total unemployment rate tells us how many unemployed workers there are in a state or country’s workforce. The insured unemployment rate, however, gives us a 13-week average of the number of workers on benefits divided by the total number of workers (unemployed and employed) covered by unemployment insurance. The IUR ignores workers who have exhausted their benefits and are no longer under unemployment insurance program and provides a 13-week average that helps iron-out seasonal employment cycles.

For a state to receive extended benefits its insured unemployment rate must meet to requirements. First it must be 5 percent or higher and second it must be 20 percent higher than the insured unemployment rate of the last two years. The ideas is that states who are on their way back to recovery should no longer receive extended benefits.

Once a state is eligible for extended benefits it is eligible to receive the benefits for a minimum of 13 weeks. However, if it no longer meets the requirements, it will stop receiving extended benefits payments.

Michigan first met the requirements for the extended benefits program on January, 10, 2009 and made the first extended benefits payment on January 31, 2009. At this time, Michigan had an IUR of over 5 percent, which was 42 percent higher than the IUR rate in Michigan for the last two years.

However, the fall in employment levels evened out during 2009 risking the eligibility of Michigan to extended benefit as time went by, even though the employment situation was still dire. What did the state of Michigan do to save the extended benefits program and help unemployed workers continue receiving benefits? We will see the answer to that question in our next series of articles: modifying the rules of engagement for extended benefits.

Extended Benefits are the last resort for unemployed workers who cannot find employment after exhausting state unemployment insurance and emergency unemployment compensation. It provides Michigan workers with an extra 20 weeks of financial assistance before all unemployment benefits are terminated.

However, not all states have access to this federal program. What determines if a state is eligible for extended unemployment benefits? Can a state lose its right to extended benefits once it has started receiving payments? Is there anything the state government can do to continue payments? This series of two articles will deal with these and other questions by providing a brief summary on the the extended benefits and how this program is managed in the state of Michigan.

When are extended benefits granted?

Extended benefits are not a permanent fixture of the federal unemployment insurance program. The federal unemployment insurance focuses on the state-federal unemployment insurance program which offers workers 20 to 26 weeks of benefits, depending on the state. In Michigan it is 26 weeks.

However, in periods of high-unemployment the federal government funds extra programs to help long-term unemployed workers. These programs are the emergency unemployment compensation, EUC, program and the extended benefits, EB, program. The first program to kick in is the extended unemployment benefits. Extended benefits is a secondary program, which as with the extended unemployment benefits is a voluntary program states can opt-in or opt-out of.

There are two formats to the extended benefits program. The basic format is made up of 13 weeks of additional benefits for states with especially high unemployment rates. States also have the option of starting a voluntary program in tandem with the extended benefits, which extends the program by seven additional weeks, bringing the maximum weeks available to 20 weeks. The State of Michigan enacted legislation in April 13, 2009 allowing workers in Michigan to benefit from 20 weeks of extended benefits—the maximum allowed by employment law.

Workers receiving extended benefits receive the same weekly amount they received when they were in the state unemployment insurance program. The 20 weeks available to Michigan workers represents 80 percent of the total unemployment benefits available under the state unemployment program. The total amount of weeks available between the state UI program, the emergency unemployment compensation program and the extended benefits program is 99 weeks.

However, we have still not fully answered the question we began our article with: what triggers the extended benefits program? This we will discuss in the second and last article of this series on the extended benefits, EB, program