What Are the Quarters for Unemployment in Massachusetts?

Calendar Quarters

The Massachusetts Labor and Workforce Development Office bases a claimant's unemployment insurance benefits on wages the individual earned in a 52-week period. This period of time is called the "base period." The Commonwealth uses the last four calendar quarters immediately before the effective date of the claimant's unemployment claim to calculate the base period. The four calendar quarters are January through March, April through June, July through September and October through December.

Employers in Massachusetts report information about their employees' income to the Commonwealth four times a year, no later than 15 days after the end of each calendar quarter. Thus, employers' first-quarter report is due April 15, the second-quarter report is due July 15, the third-quarter report is due Oct.15, and the fourth-quarter report is due Jan. 15 of the next year. The Commonwealth analyzes an employer's four quarterly wage reports and uses information from the reports to calculate the claimant's benefit.

A claimant may ask the Office of Labor and Workforce Development to use an alternate base period to process his claim. For example, a claimant may request an alternate base period if using his earnings for the most recent partial quarter would result in his receiving a benefit payment 10 percent higher than the payment he would receive using the automatic base period. A claimant may also request an alternate base period if he is ineligible for benefits using the four-quarter base period but would be eligible if the Commonwealth used an alternate base period.

Calendar quarters are significant in several other situations in addition to base period calculations. For example, the Commonwealth assesses the wages an employer pays in a calendar quarter to determine whether the employer must participate in the Massachusetts unemployment insurance program. As of September 2011, the Massachusetts Unemployment Insurance Law generally covers employers that pay wages of $1,500 or more in a calendar quarter. The law also covers an agricultural employer that pays wages of $20,000 or more in a calendar quarter and a domestic labor employer -- including individuals who employ a housekeeper -- that pays wages of $1,000 or more in a calendar quarter.