Employment Law

May I Collect Uc Benefits While Attending School?

The PA UC Law does not specifically or expressly disqualify you for benefits simply because you are a full or part­time student. Additionally, you will not be ineligible for any week that you are in training approved by the Secretary of the Department of Labor & Industry and are otherwise eligible. However, UC eligibility cannot be predetermined. You must file your Application for Benefits. There is no requirement that you must be available for full­time or permanent work. Your work history can be full­time, part­time, or seasonal. However, you must not refuse suitable work when offered. You may also be ineligible if you refuse a referral to a job opportunity. The test for students and non­students alike is whether a claimant’s limitation on availability effectively removes the claimant from the local labor market. For you to be ruled ineligible, it must be because the particular limitation on your availability is such that a search for employment in the local labor market would have an unreasonable low possibility of success. For example, a claimant must be able and available for the majority of the workweek. The local labor market either does, or does not, have work schedules that can support the time and transportation limitations of students. You may also be ineligible for benefits if you fail to participate in reemployment services to which you have been referred through the claimant profiling system. You may also be ineligible for benefits if you fail to be available to be contacted by the UC Service Center when instructed to do so. It is your responsibility to inform the UC Service Center when you are unavailable for scheduled services. Voluntarily quitting without cause of a necessitous and compelling nature or being discharged due to willful misconduct could also prevent students from collecting benefits.

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