What Will Happen if I File Unemployment After Starting a New Job?

No Back Pay

You should file for unemployment benefits as soon as your job ends. Most states require you to serve a "waiting week" in which you receive no benefits. Your first payment begins the week after you apply for unemployment, and benefits are only payable for that week and the weeks following. You can't decide to file a month after you're laid off and receive money for the previous weeks you were unemployed. If you've already started a new job when you apply for unemployment, you're not considered unemployed and you can't receive benefits.

If you're working full time and you're laid off and immediately accept a part-time position, you may still be eligible to receive unemployment benefits if the money you receive from the part-time job is less than you formerly made at your full-time position and if you continue to look for full-time work. The wages you receive from your part-time job will reduce the amount of your weekly unemployment benefit. Different states use different formulas to reduce benefits. Some subtract the full amount of your part-time wages and others subtract only a portion of the wages.

One of the requirements for receiving unemployment benefits is that you look for new work and be available to work. If you're already working, you don't meet this qualification. If you accept full-time work, even if the work pays less than you're previous job, you can't collect unemployment based on your previous job's earnings because you aren't available to look for work or to immediately begin work at a new job.

Though the federal government requires states to have unemployment insurance programs, the states manage their own programs and make their own rules. Each state determines who is eligible for unemployment benefits in that state and sets minimum and maximum payments. If you feel you're entitled to unemployment benefits even after you start a new job, contact your state's unemployment office and talk with a caseworker. She can advise you if you fall under that state's guidelines to receive unemployment benefits.