Reemployment Assistance Benefits

Deductions from Benefits

Working Part of the Week and Your Benefit Eligibility

If you are still seeking full-time work, your earnings do not exceed your weekly benefit amount and you worked less than 40 hours for the week, you may be eligible for partial benefits. You must report the hours you worked and your gross earnings each week you file your weekly request for payment. The work and earnings you report are verified with your employer. Your earnings may reduce your benefits.

Self-employment

You must report any hours and gross earnings from self-employment for the week in which the work was done, whether payment has been received or not.

To be self-employed means earning income directly from your own business, trade, profession, or service rather than as wages or earnings from an employer. The fact that your business has no taxable income, or even a loss, does not mean your hours or earnings do not need to be reported.

If you do sales work on a commission basis, the hours you work each week, as well as your gross earnings, must be reported. If you work full time, you will be considered fully employed and not eligible for benefits.

To prevent an overpayment which you would be required to pay back, you must accurately report your self-employment hours and earnings. If you have any questions, contact Customer Service at 605.626.2452.

Payments that Are Deductible from Your Benefits

Other payments you may receive are deducted on a dollar-for-dollar basis from your benefits and must be reported on your weekly request for payment. Payments that are deductible include:

Vacation Pay
Annual Leave Pay
Wages in Lieu of Notice
Temporary Partial Workers' Compensation
Temporary Partial Disability
Severance Pay
Holiday Pay
Back Pay
Termination Pay
Dismissal Pay
Sick Leave Pay

You will be ineligible for benefits based on the number of weeks the payment represents, beginning with the last day you worked regardless of when the payment was received. If the payment is less than your weekly benefit amount, you will receive partial benefits. If you stop filing weekly requests for payment during this time and it has been longer than four weeks in length since you last filed, you will need to reopen your claim in order to begin filing weekly requests for payment.

Examples:

You receive two weeks of vacation pay when you leave your employment. If you filed your claim immediately after you separated, you would not be eligible for benefits for the first two weeks of your claim.
You receive two days of vacation pay for a gross amount of $84 when you leave your employment. You reopen a claim you previously filed and are eligible for a weekly benefit amount of $154. You would be paid $70 in benefits for the week you received the vacation pay.

Pensions and Eligibility

Pensions, annuities and retirement payments, including lump sum payments, are deductible if earned with a base period employer. However, only that portion of the pension, annuity or retirement payment which is based on payments made by the employer is deductible from your benefits. Your contributions to the plan are not deductible.

You must provide detailed information about your retirement plan, including the name and address of the plan administrator. Any change in your pension, annuity, or retirement should be reported immediately to Customer Service at 605.626.2452.

Military-service-connected disability payments are not deductible from your benefits.

This description of deductible items is not intended to cover all situations.

If you have any questions about whether an item is deductible, contact Customer Service at 605.626.2452. Failure to report a deductible item or report it properly may result in an overpayment which you will be required to repay.

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Marcia Hultman

Cabinet Secretary