Unemployment forms come in two formats, electronic and paper. Each type of form will carry an identifying number that helps the organization collect and arrange information in the same way for each applicant.
The addition of electronic unemployment forms via state run unemployment websites have helped in alleviating crowded unemployment offices, but the information gathered electronically is the same information requested on paper forms you can find at the unemployment office. Each numbered unemployment form has a different task to complete. All unemployment insurance forms are marked by the state unemployment commission and carry a state unemployment serial number at the bottom of the page. Application for Benefit, Notice of Eligibility, Benefit Totals, Appellate Forms, Extension of Benefits, and Work Search are the most common unemployment forms that will be used to process a worker’s benefit request.
History
The Great Depression was a contributing factor in the creation of a national unemployment insurance decree for qualified applicants who had lost their jobs. In 1932, Wisconsin was the first to develop unemployment benefits due to an unemployment rate that reached as high as 25 percent during the worst years of economic recession and depression; the first applications for unemployment insurance were completed on Wisconsin’s unemployment request forms. In 1935, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law a federal plan to pay benefits to unemployed workers to support the initiative Wisconsin had for dealing with an unemployment rate that threatened many of its citizens. Since then, state and federal payments help fund each state’s unemployment system. Employers of the state pay the most, and the benefits can be accessed using state produced unemployment forms. Unemployment benefits pre-date U.S. enactment of the policy and can be found in Switzerland as far back as 1789.
Function
Unemployment forms are used to access benefits from a state’s unemployment insurance funds. Retrieving work history, salary information, unemployment status, and work search are some of the functions of unemployment forms. These forms are required to be completed before any benefits can be paid. The forms can be completed electronically using the Internet, in person or over the telephone. Forms for handicapped individuals may come in a different format, but the information gathered will be the same. Applying for unemployment insurance benefits must be completed on a form that the state run agency uses to qualify and track the workers who are asking for or receiving unemployment benefits.
Warning
Unemployment insurance eligibility has limitations. Self employment does not qualify as a job loss that is recompensed by unemployment benefits to self employed workers who lose work due to an economic slowdown. Part-time workers may not have worked enough hours to be eligible for unemployment checks. Even after having the right job, without completing the necessary unemployment forms, a worker can be rejected or lose the right to receive unemployment insurance benefits. Besides completing the enrollment forms, a worker must maintain a bi-weekly connection with the unemployment office to continue to receive benefits. Completing a work search and payment request form is required so that the state run agency will have the correct information about a worker’s employment status. Without the right paperwork, which means forms, a worker will not be able to access the unemployment benefits for which he or she is eligible.
Considerations
Benefits of unemployment are mandated by law, but do not have to be paid to every unemployed person in the U.S. During employment, a worker’s company is required to pay a stipend to the unemployment insurance pool generated by the state of operation. The federal government adds monies to each state’s benefit pool, and these funds are used to pay benefits to the unemployed. Unemployed workers who receive these benefits must continually look for work and request payments every two weeks. If money is earned during a week of unemployment, it must be noted and marked in the payment request form so that the state can address the issues of under-employment or part-time status of a worker receiving benefits. Unemployed workers can wait to find another full-time job, or they can opt to work part time. The benefits they are qualified to get will be adjusted by the state unemployment agency each time some money is earned and reported.
Effects
Unemployment insurance affords many workers with a chance to find new employment without losing their homes or property due to lack of income. For workers who are laid off due to economic recession or industry contraction, unemployment insurance is a way to protect against homelessness and destitution. Saving families from losing everything they worked for is the effect this type of income protection has on communities that lose a major employer or countries that are dealing with economic problems and sudden unemployment rates.