How To Inquire About Your Michigan Unemployment Claim

Beat the lines by contacting the UIA by phone or online.

Many of our readers are frustrated about how difficult it can be to contact Michigan’s Employment Insurance Agency. To illustrate, one of our readers left this message on one of our articles:

I filed for unemployment 11-07-10 and still haven’t received my 1st payment, I’ve been trying to get through to someone to find out what the delay is cause I have a family that I need to provide for. I would rather someone call me so I can talk to someone in person seeing how I can’t get through the phone lines when I call.

This comment brings out two important questions. How long should you expect to wait before receiving your first employment benefit check and how can you inquire about its progress if you are still waiting.

Unfortunately we cannot call our readers personally, but we hope this article will answer some of the questions of our reader.

How long does it take to start receiving employment benefit checks from to the time you apply?

If it is the first time you apply, you will be mailed a determination which will inform you if you qualify or not for unemployment benefits. The letter will also specify how much you will receive, when and for how long. If you have filed a claim and still have not received this letter, contact your local employment agency office (more on that later).

If you have received this determination, you will need to certify your first two weeks of unemployment by contacting Michigan’s Automated Response Voice Interactive Network, also known as MARVIN. To qualify for benefits you will need to certify through MARVIN every other week. Once your benefits have been certified for the first time you should receive your check within a day or two. Again, if you are in this situation and have not received your check, contact the Unemployment Agency.

How can I contact Michigans Employment A’gency?

Unfortunately for Michigan, the Employment Agency is very busy lately. Michigan is the second state with the highest unemployment rate with 12.8 percent unemployment. The only state that tops this is Nevada, which 14.8 percent. It is not surprising that contacting your local employment agency is not always as smooth as we would like. However there are methods to side-step this.

You can contact the Unemployment Insurance Agency by several methods. If you have already made a claim and you are waiting for your check, we recommend you call  1-866-500-0017 on weekdays between 8.00 am and 4:30 pm. You can also visit one of the UIA’s Problem Resolution Offices.

Click here for more information on PROS.