Alerts
March 3, 2023
- In March, the PA UC system switched from using ReliaCard to Money Network debit cards.
November 10, 2022
- Starting on November 9, 2022, UC claimants will have to verify their identity the next time they log in to their UC portal. The Department of Labor and Industry says this is to protect claimants from fraud. Even if you already verified your identity, you will have to verify it one more time.
November 9, 2022
- The PUA system incorrectly sent out a notice to some PUA claimants with overpayments. This notice was posted in claimants' message center and says "NOTICE OF INTENT TO ASSESS PENALTY." You should have received an email from the Department telling you to ignore the notice. The penalty in this notice does not apply to Pennsylvania PUA overpayments. The Department of Labor and Industry is working on a resolution now.
September 13, 2022
- There is a new change in the UC notification system. UC claimants will not get copies of notices and determinations in email notifications. If you get an email from unemployment and it does not have documents attached, that is not a mistake. To make sure you do not miss important deadlines, as soon as you get an email notification, you need to log in to your UC portal and go to the "Message Center" to view any new notices or decisions.
July 5, 2022
- Some UC claimants received a letter that said their claim was filed as a result of fraud and did not meet the 401(c) requirements of UC law (see below). This was sent in error to some UC claimants as part of a fraud prevention measure. If you received this letter, you NEED to contact UC to fix your benefits as soon as possible. Once they hear from you, they can erase the determination, even if it is past the appeal deadline.
There are multiple ways you can contact unemployment.
- You can call the UC Service Center hotline (888-313-7284). We recommend calling Wednesday – Friday when the phone lines are not as busy.
- You can email UCHelp@pa.gov with “Fraud 401(c) Decision” in the subject line and information about the fraud letter you received in the body of the email.
- You can contact your state representative’s or senator’s office. They can contact unemployment on your behalf. You can use this search tool to find your state senator’s or representative’s office.
- Starting on November 9, 2022, UC claimants will have to verify their identity the next time they log in to their UC portal. The Department of Labor and Industry says this is to protect claimants from fraud. Even if you already verified your identity, you will have to verify it one more time.
May 17, 2022
May 3, 2022
- The PUA system incorrectly sent out a notice to PUA claimants with non-fraud overpayments for a second time. This notice was posted in claimants' message center and says "NOTICE OF ASSESSMENT AND INTENT TO FILE A REAL PROPERTY LIEN" (see below). If you received this notice again, you should still ignore it. There will be no lien filed against you or your property. The Department of Labor and Industry is still working on a resolution.
April 14, 2022
- The PUA system incorrectly sent out a notice to PUA claimants with non-fraud overpayments. This notice was posted in claimants' message center and says "NOTICE OF ASSESSMENT AND INTENT TO FILE A REAL PROPERTY LIEN." If you receive this notice, you should ignore it. There will be no lien filed against you or your property. The Department of Labor and Industry is working on a resolution now.
September 23, 2021
- The deadline to file an appeal is now 21 days. This new deadline applies to all UC and PUA decisions after July 24, 2021. Many notices of determinations, or Referee decisions, have incorrect appeal deadlines based on 15 days. (As of 10/6/2022, all notices now have the correct 21 day deadline on them.)
- On some Notices of Determination generated in the new UC portal, the fax number provided to send appeals to is incorrect. We recommend that you appeal your determination in your portal or by email. If you need to fax in your appeal, you should double check which fax number you should send it to. (As of 10/6/2022, all notices have the correct fax number on them.)
- 500,000 Notices of Determination have been sent to PUA claimants, disqualifying them from benefits because of issues with identity verification. Even claimants who did verify their identity using ID.Me have received disqualifying determinations. You can click here for information on what to do if you receive a disqualifying PUA determination because of issues with identity verification.
- All new UC claims filed on or after Sunday, September 5, are required to register with PA CareerLink within 30 days of applying.
- If you have a non-fraud PUA, PEUC, or FPUC overpayment, you can send in an overpayment waiver if you cannot afford to pay down the overpayment.
July 11, 2021
- Weekly certification through the automated telephone system available at 888-255-4728 (English) or 877-888-8104 (Spanish). You can use your SSN and PIN for that system. Be aware that if you are working part-time, you are not able to report earnings on the telephone system and a UC representative will need to call you afterwards to collect your earnings information. This may delay your payment, but should not stop your benefits.
- Some claimants have had their claims hacked in the new system. If the system no longer recognizes your password and you do not know the security questions, or you see your payment method or information changed in the online portal you should report this immediately.
- Some claimants are incorrectly seeing an "incarceration" flag on their claims when they have not been incarcerated during their UC claim. This is based on bad data. You should contact UC to fix the issue.
- Some claimants who were receiving payments prior to the new system have not been paid and see various issue flags, for example "non-separation issue" on their claim summary. If you were being paid without issue prior to the new system, this is an error. These issues should not be holding up benefits. The Department is working to fix this.
- Some claimants were having their weeks go to a "monetarily ineligible" or "unassigned" claim and were therefore not being paid. The Department fixed this for some but not all claimants by moving the weeks to the correct claim. If you are being paid and you still see the other claims on your account, they will no longer affect your benefits. If you are seeing your weeks still go to the wrong claim and be disqualified or "in progress" you will need to contact the Department, or reach out to your local legal aid organization or legislator.
- Some claimants are seeing weeks with a filing date of 6/4. The system shows all "pending weeks" (meaning not yet paid) filed in the old system with a filing date of 6/4.
- Some claimants are seeing old or incorrect overpayment balances.
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If you have issues filing recent weeks, the weeks will not "close." The Department is keeping weeks open during the transition in case claimants have filing issues. You will still be able to file for these weeks once your issues have been addressed.
June 21, 2021
- Weekly certification through the automated telephone system is now available at 888-255-4728 (English) or 877-888-8104 (Spanish). You can use your SSN and PIN for that system. Be aware that if you are working part-time, you are not able to report earnings on the telephone system and a UC representative will need to call you afterwards to collect your earnings information. This may delay your payment.
- The Department has fixed the login issue where claimants were getting an "invalid password or username" pop-up.
- Some claimants are seeing weeks disqualified on their claim summary that were not disqualified. These weeks all tend to show a certification date of 6/4.
- Some claimants are getting a message that their claim is inactive when they have been in active filing status, and are unable to reactivate.
- Some claimants are seeing old or incorrect overpayment balances.
- Some claimants are incorrectly seeing an "incarceration" flag on their claims when they have not been incarcerated during their UC claim.
- Some claimants are seeing "monetarily ineligible" or "unassigned claims" on their claim summary page. When they file their weekly certification, it is going to one of those claims and showing as "disqualified." This is a glitch in the system that has been reported to the Department.
- Some claimants incorrectly saw work search questions on their weekly claim. Those questions have been removed. However, if you have not received payment due to an answer you provided to those questions, contact the Department.
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If you have issues filing recent weeks, the weeks will not "close." The Department is keeping weeks open during the transition in case claimants have filing issues. You will still be able to file for these weeks once your issues have been addressed.
June 11, 2021
- Weekly certification through the automated telephone system is now available at 888-255-4728 (English) or 877-888-8104 (Spanish). You can use your SSN and PIN for that system.
- Some claimants are still having problems logging back into the system with their Keystone ID username and password.
- Some claimants are seeing weeks disqualified on their claim summary that were not disqualified
- Some claimants are getting a message that their claim is inactive when they have been in active filing status
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Some claimants are incorrectly seeing work search questions on their weekly claim. Those claimants should file by phone instead until those questions have been removed from the system.
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If you have issues filing this week, the week will not "close." The Department is keeping weeks open during the transition in case claimants have filing issues. You will still be able to file for week ending June 5, 2021 after this Saturday, June 12, 2021.
June 8, 2021
- The New UC System has launched!
- The system is SLOW and there is a WAIT to file.
- We recommend waiting to file until later in the week if you can.
- Having issues with your Keystone ID? Check out this page.
- Some claimants are already reporting that the system has incorrect information about their claims.
- Some claimants are reporting that the system does not recognize the username and password they just set up when they try to login again. We believe this is a glitch. It happened previously with PUA. Wait a few days before trying to login again.
Filing tip: When you first login to the new system to set up your account, it will ask if you "are attempting to file an Unemployment Compensation claim at this time?" If you were already filing for UC or PEUC prior to the new system, answer "no." Answering yes will direct you to file an entirely new claim, which you do not need to do. You only need to set up your account. After you set up your account you will see a link to file a weekly claim.
June 2, 2021
- No more initial claims for UC until June 8, 2021
- TODAY is the last day you can file a weekly or biweekly claim for UC. As of June 3, 2021 the system will be shut down until June 8, 2021
