Can I Get Unemployment in California if I Worked in Colorado?
In California, the Department of Employment and Development Services is responsible for administering the state's unemployment insurance program. Unemployment insurance benefits are available to qualified workers who are temporarily out of work. If you are a California resident, but earned base period wages in Colorado, you may still be eligible for benefits in California.
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Basic Eligibility Requirements
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Basic eligibility requirements must be met in order to receive unemployment insurance benefits in California. You must be a U.S. citizen or otherwise eligible non-citizen. Additionally, you must have lost your job through no fault of your own and be actively seeking employment. Finally, you will need to have sufficient wages in your base period. Your base period is determined by the date of application and consists of the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your application date. For example, if you apply on August 7th, your base period will be from April 1st of the previous year through March 31st of the current year.
Multi-State Employment
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If you were employed in a position where you physically worked in both Colorado and California for the same company, California applies a four-pronged test to determine whether you should file in California. Each test is intended to determine where a claimant applies for unemployment benefits. If one prong in the test does not apply in any state, then you go on to the next prong. The first prong looks at whether you predominately worked in California with only incidental work performed in Colorado. The second prong considers whether you did some work in California and your base of operations is in California. If those two prongs do not produce a clear answer, then you look to whether the employer exercised basic and general control from California. Finally, if none of the previous prongs produce a result, you may apply in California if you are a resident of California.
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Wages from More Than One State
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If you worked for more than one employer during the year, and one of those employers was clearly based in Colorado, then you may still be able to file for unemployment benefits in California. If, for example, you moved from Colorado to California during your base period you may have wages from both states. As a rule, you can combine your wages from more than one state which will also increase your weekly benefit rate in most cases. You may, however, need to specifically include your Colorado wages when you apply as only California wages are likely to show on California's wage reporting system.
How to Apply
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You may apply for unemployment insurance benefits online, via telephone or by completing a paper application. You will need contact information for all your employers for the past 15 months. If you are claiming Colorado wages, make sure you have dates of employment, wage information and contact information handy when you apply.
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