Unemployment Benefits
Nevada Legal Services may be able to assist you if you have been denied benefits or your employer has appealed the determination granting benefits. We represent claimants in administrative hearing before the Appeals Referee and on appeal to state court.
If you have experienced discrimination in the workplace or have other questions regarding workplace or wage issues, please see our webpage regarding Employment Discrimination, Wrongful Termination, Workplace Rights, and Wage Claims. Nevada Legal Services, Inc. does not generally assist clients seeking assistance with employment discrimination, wrongful termination, workplace rights claims and issues, or wage claims. If you would like further assistance and do not know of an attorney that may be able to help you, see the Lawyer Referral and Information Service of the Nevada State Bar.
There are many reasons the Employment Security Division of the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation (ESD) might have denied your claim for benefits.
If your claim for benefits is denied, you can file an appeal to challenge the initial determination. Your employer may also appeal if you are granted benefits. During this period you may still receive benefits until your hearing or your benefits may stop.
- How to apply for benefits
- How to appeal the initial determination
- Hearing process
- What if I lose at the hearing?
- Overpayments
Once you begin receiving unemployment benefits you still must maintain your eligibility throughout.
Unemployment benefits can last over 26 weeks and are based off your earnings record. There also different types of extended benefits. NOTE: The Federal Extended Benefits including Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) and the Federal Additional Compensation (FAC) benefits are currently set to expire on June 2, 2010. A vote to extend these benefits to possibly November will not happen before the current benefits expire. Claimants already receiving Tier III or Tier IV benefits will continue to receive those benefits and FAC will still be provided to claims opened before May 23, but no new claims will be taken after May 30, 2010. Please also be aware that the State Extended Benefit Program is also set to expire unless reauthorized before June 13, 2010. Please contact the Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation for more information.
Misconduct
I was fired from my job, am I still eligible?
Pursuant to NRS 612.385, a person is ineligible for benefits if he or she was discharged from his or her last or next to last employment for misconduct connected with his work.
What is misconduct?
Misconduct is not defined in the statute, but has been defined as: “a deliberate violation or disregard on the part of the employee of standards of behavior which his employer has the right to expect. Carelessness or negligence on the part of the employee to such a degree as to show a substantial disregard of the employer's interest or the employee's duties or obligations to his employer are misconduct.” Barnum v. Williams, 84 Nev. 37, 436 P.2d 219 (1968).
Additionally, ordinary negligence in isolated instances, or good faith errors in judgment or discretion” are not misconduct. Moreover, Nevada courts have construed misconduct to include an element of wrongfulness.
The employer has the burden of proving misconduct. After an initial showing, however, the burden shifts to the employee to show that they did not engage in misconduct or any wrongful behavior.
I quit my job, am I still eligible?
You cannot voluntarily leave employment and receive unemployment benefits unless you had “good cause” to quit.
But what constitutes good cause?
Nevada has not specifically defined “good cause”. The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation provides that good cause for leaving work can be established if a reasonable person would find a compelling reason to quit and there are no other reasonable alternatives but to quit. Generally, you will only to have “good cause” to have quit your job if you exhaust all reasonable alternatives prior to quitting, such as consulting with Human Resources, or a supervisor. If you left your job to seek work, but had not yet secured a firm promise of work, you will not be found to have had “good cause” to quit.
If you make a false statement or representation, knowing it is false, or knowingly fail to disclose a material fact in order to obtain unemployment benefits, you can be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits.
Overpayments caused by misrepresentation require repayment and result in a period of disqualification of up to 52 weeks.
How do I apply for benefits?
You can file for unemployment benefits online or by telephone at (775) 684-0350 (Northern Nevada); (702) 486-0350 (Southern Nevada); or toll-free at (888)890-8211. Call centers are open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. You can also go to your local Job Connect office to obtain more information about applying for benefits.
Have I worked enough to receive unemployment benefits?
You are eligible for benefits if you have been employed in “covered” employment for the required time period. Most employers are "covered" employers, but some employment is exempt from coverage, such as work performed for a church, self-employment and work performed for private employers while in the custody of a state correctional institution.
In Nevada, you must have earned at least $400 in one quarter of the base period, and
- have total base period earnings of not less than 1-1/2 times the earnings in the highest quarter, OR
- must have wages in at least 3 of the 4 base period quarters used to calculate eligibility.
Base period is usually the first 4 of the last 5 calendar quarters completed immediately preceding the first day of the benefit year.
I received a notice that I was found ineligible. What do I do next?
If either the claimant or the employer disagrees with the determination, they have the right to appeal the decision and obtain a hearing before an appeal referee. You have 11 days from the date of the decision to appeal. Your appeal must be in signed and in writing. You can fax or mail your appeal, or you may submit it in person at your local appeals office.
I have a hearing before an appeals referee. What will happen at the hearing?
Your hearing will likely be your last opportunity to submit evidence in support of your claim. At the hearing, both sides will have an opportunity to testify and offer witnesses and documents in support of their case. Both sides will also have an opportunity to cross- examine witnesses and make a closing argument. You have the right to be represented at the hearing. Although testimony is taken under oath, hearsay evidence is admissible and rules of evidence do not apply. You also have the right to review your file before your hearing, and it is generally a good idea to do so.
I was found ineligible by the appeals referee, what can I do?
You have the right to appeal the referee’s decision to the Board of Review within 11 days from the date of the referee’s decision. The appeal must be in writing and signed by you. The Board of Review is not always required to review your case. It must review all cases as a matter of right if the Referee’s decision overturned the decision if the adjudicator. In all other cases, the Board of Review has discretion over what cases to review.
I was found ineligible by the Board of Review, what can I do?
Your case is administratively final when the Board of Review issues a decision. All further appeals must be taken in state court. You have 22 days from the date of the decision of Board of Review to file a Petition for Judicial Review in District Court.
Sample Petition for Judicial Review
Instructions for Filing a Petition for Judicial Review
I have already started receiving unemployment benefits. What do I have to do to stay eligible for benefits?
You must be actively engaged in efforts to seek and secure employment in your customary occupation to be eligible to receive benefits.
You also must not have personal circumstances which prevent you from applying for, and accepting a job when offered. Some examples of circumstances that may prevent a person from being available for work include, but are not limited to:
- Inadequate child care;
- Lack of adequate transportation;
- Lack of tools required to perform the job;
- Unwillingness or inability to work the days and hours customarily required by the type of work; and,
- A personal decision to attend school not designated as approved training.
You also must be able to turn in work search records when asked. Generally you want to at least apply for 2-3 jobs a week to maintain eligibility for that week. You must use “good faith” in actively seeking work.
If I am in a union, do I have to apply for work outside of the union?
If you are in good standing with a union and reporting for job call as directed, you are considered available for work.
I got offered a job, do I have to take it?
You must accept an offer of suitable employment and must go to any referrals for suitable work. You can be denied for refusing suitable work.
Suitable work is work which you customarily perform and pays the prevailing wage for that type of work in the area that the work is being performed.
The Employment Security Division Job Service refers individuals who are receiving benefits to work when suitable openings are available. If you refuse to apply for a job as directed by the Job Service you may be denied further unemployment benefits.
ESD is telling me I have to pay them back, what do I do?
Overpayments can be caused by a number of factors, including simple Division error, failure to provide accurate facts about the separation, a reversal by an Appeals Referee or the Board of Review, or information being provided late by the employer that causes the Division to reverse or make changes to a determination.
The Employment Security Division will seek repayment of all overpayments, regardless of who is at fault, but overpayments can be appealed like any other issue.
Pursuant to NRS 612.365, the Division has discretion to waive the unemployment if:
- The overpayment was not due to fraud, misrepresentation or willful nondisclosure on the part of the recipient; and
- The overpayment was received without fault on the part of the recipient, and its recovery would be against equity and good conscience.
Pursuant to NRS 612.445, Overpayments caused by misrepresentation require repayment and result in a period of disqualification of up to 52 weeks.
Generally, unemployment benefits last up to 26 weeks. In these difficult economic times there are now 4 tiers of federal emergency unemployment benefits and the state of Nevada has implemented an extended benefit. As long as the claimant continues to file weekly claims, all types of extended benefits will automatically continue. The claimant still must maintain eligibility for benefits (see above), but the benefits will otherwise continue automatically without any additional request for extended benefits.
Federal Extended Unemployment Benefits:
Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC): Your weekly benefit amount will be the same as your prior unemployment insurance claim.
You may be entitled to receive whichever is less:
- 13 times weekly benefit amount of prior unemployment insurance claim.
- 50% of the maximum benefit amount on the prior unemployment clai
Tier III benefits: After your state extended benefits are exhausted (see below), or your previous federal EUC claim has exhausted, you may now be eligible for a third tier of extended benefits after December 10, 2009.
Your Tier III Emergency Unemployment Claim additional weekly benefit amount will be the same
amount that you had been receiving on your prior Emergency Unemployment Claim. When the funds are added, you will receive a Monetary Determination
in the mail providing your weekly benefit amount and the new maximum benefit amount you
will receive under the new Tier.
Eligibility is based on the formula of up to 47 weeks or 184% (total) of the original unemployment claim, whichever is less.
State Extended Unemployment Benefits:
The U.S. Department of Labor notified the state Employment Security Division that Nevada qualifies for State Extended Benefits because of a rising unemployment rate. This state extended benefits program is different from the federally funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program approved by Congress in 2008.
