To qualify monetarily for unemployment insurance, you must be paid sufficient wages in your base period. The base period is the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the effective (starting) date of your claim. To have sufficient wages, you must have earned 26 times your weekly benefit amount. (Your weekly benefit amount is 1/21 of your high quarter wages in your base period.) You must also have wages paid in at least 2 quarters of the base period.
In addition to having been paid sufficient wages to establish a valid claim, you must meet eligibility requirements before you can be paid unemployment insurance benefits. The main requirements are:
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