How To File For Indiana Unemployment

This page provides information on how to file for unemployment in Indiana. If you lost your job or your hours were reduced at no fault of your own, you may qualify to receive unemployment benefits in your state. Review the information below, if you still have questions or issues about these benefits, then we suggest to contact your local Indiana Unemployment Department for assistance. It is important that you file your new claim right away because Indiana unemployment insurance are not retroactive.

Indiana unemployment eligibility requirements

Three factors determine if you qualify for benefits:

  • How much money you earned in the base period
  • Why you are unemployed
  • If you are able, available, and actively seeking full-time work
How Much Money Did You Earn in Your Base Period?

Your benefit amount depends on how much money you earned while working during your base period. The base period divides the year into four quarters of three months each. Your base period includes the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters before the week you file an initial claim application for a new benefit year. The wages you earned during this period of time are used to determine if you qualify for benefits and to calculate how much you can be paid. The last quarter worked is called the lag quarter, and no wages from that quarter count in your base period.

Why Are You Unemployed?

You only qualify for Unemployment Insurance benefits if you are unemployed through no fault of your own. If You Quit or Were Fired, a claims deputy within the agency's administrative office will need to make a determination of whether or not you are eligible for benefits. You must provide fact-finding information as part of your online application. Your benefit eligibility determination will be based on the fact-finding information you provide, as well as information provided by your employ-er(s). Please fill out this information as completely as you can. Your most recent employer and your base period employer(s) will be contacted for information regarding your claim. When this process is complete, you will be sent a Determination of Eligibility.

If You Quit Voluntarily without good, work-related reasons, you may not qualify for benefits. Good, work related reasons include, but are not limited to:

  • Your employer arbitrarily (unreasonably) changes the terms or conditions of your work
  • Safety violations at your work site
  • Harassment
  • Domestic or family violence
  • Moving to follow a spouse accepting a new job
  • Military service

Employees who accept payment in exchange for voluntarily resigning or retiring are considered to have quit voluntarily and are not eligible for unemployment insurance.

  • Giving false information on a job application
  • Knowingly breaking an employer's rules
  • Unexcused absence or tardiness
  • Purposely damaging the employer's property
  • Refusal to obey employer instructions
  • Reporting to work under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol
  • Consuming drugs and/or alcohol on the job
  • Conduct that threatens the safety of others
  • Conviction and imprisonment for a serious crime
  • Breach of a duty you owed your employer
Are you Able, Available, and Actively Seeking Full-Time Work?

Your benefits could be denied or reduced if you:

  • Refuse or fail a pre-employment drug screening
  • Refuse an offer of suitable work
  • Fail to go to a job referral made by your local WorkOne
  • Cannot show proof that you are actively searching for work according to work search requirements
  • You are temporarily not available for work due to illness, injury, or a leave of absence
  • You are on suspension due to work-related misconduct

Even if you have a work search waiver, you must be mentally and physically able and available to work. Your benefits can be reduced by ⅓ of your weekly benefit amount for each day you are unavailable. A claimant who is determined eligible to receive UI benefits pursuant to the statutory modification regarding domestic or family violence may restrict availability for work because of the claimant's need to address the effects of being a victim of domestic or family violence. Additionally, claimants enrolled in training approved by DWD, whether or not the training is paid for by DWD, are exempt from the requirement that claimants must be able to work full-time and available to work full-time, if the reason the claimant is not able to work full-time and available to work full-time because the claimant must be at the DWD-approved training during all full-time work hours.

Information needed when applying for benefits

You will need to provide DWD with the following information to file your claim. If you are visiting a WorkOne in order to complete your online application, please bring this information with you on your first visit.

  • A valid email address and a password you can use for Uplink, the unemployment insurance online filing system (your claim will not be processed without a valid email address)
  • Your complete name, date of birth, and address, including zip code
  • Your Social Security number (your claim will not be processed without it);
  • Driver's license or state identification card
  • Name, address, and telephone number of all your employers for the last 2 years
  • Dates worked (start and end dates) for all your employers for the last 2 years
  • The reason you are no longer employed by all of your employers for the last two years
  • Check stubs for your current or most recent employer(s)
  • Information about your pension, retirement, 401(K), or other payments
  • If you have received or will receive any type of pay other than regular wages (such as vacation pay, severance pay, PTO pay-outs) from your current or most recent employer(s), information about the amount(s) of money you have received or will receive
  • If you have had out of state employment in the last 2 years, the state where you physically worked and your employer's payroll address
  • If you are a member of a union hiring hall, information about your hiring hall and your "dues paid through date"
  • If you received Worker's Compensation, information about the date of your injury

Apply for Indiana unemployment benefits

To apply for unemployment benefits, go to Uplink CSS, the online system for unemployment insurance claims or if you don't have internet access, go to your nearest full service WorkOne Center as soon as you become unemployed. You will be required to report your last employer's name, mailing address, phone number & dates of employment as well as your address, social security number & phone number.

Determine unemployment benefits amount

To determine your weekly payment, divide the total wages earned in the 4 quarters (12 months) prior to the last quarter you worked by 52. Then multiply the sum by 0.47. For example, if you earned a total of $30,000 in the 4 quarters prior to the last quarter you worked: $30,000 ÷ 52 = $576.92 x 0.47 = $271 (weekly benefit amount). The weekly benefit amount should be rounded down to the next whole dollar amount and will not exceed $390. The maximum weekly benefit amount is $390. This amount is set by Indiana law.

Waiting Period

A one week waiting period will occur after you file your initial claim. Do not wait to file your claim. File as soon as you become un-employed. You will not receive benefits during the waiting period. Any wages earned during your waiting period must be reported.

After You File a Claim

Indiana law requires a one-week waiting period for which you cannot be paid. Return to Uplink CSS, the online unemployment insurance filing system, and fill out the claim voucher on-line within one week of filing your initial claim. Continue to file your weekly claims online at Uplink. Visit the WorkOne Center as requested for an interview and job search assistance. Your payment could be delayed if you fail to complete your voucher properly, so make sure to answer all questions. Write down wages or pay earned for the week.

Receiving first benefits payment

You should receive your first payment within 3 weeks if there are no issues on your claim for benefits. You are not paid benefits for the first week you claim after filing for benefits (the first voucher you submit) because this is your waiting period week.

Weekly unemployment benefits payment

In order to request payment of benefits each week, you must complete a weekly voucher. Weekly vouchers for unemployment insurance benefits are available each week beginning Sunday at 12:00am EST. You will have until 8:59pm EST on Saturday of each week to complete the voucher. The Uplink Claimant Self Service homepage will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, you will not be able to file weekly vouchers between 9:00pm and 11:59 EST on Saturday of each week. If you have a pending appeal, you are still required to submit timely vouchers each week.

  • How Long May I Receive Benefits?
  • You may draw regular unemployment insurance benefits for up to 26 weeks or until your maximum benefit amount (MBA) has been reached. During periods of high unemployment, emergency extensions may be offered to extend your weeks of eligibility
  • Your claim is good through your benefit year end (BYE) date
  • Your benefit year consists of the 52 weeks beginning with the first week you filed your claim
  • Your BYE date is listed on your home page
  • You may re-open your claim if you become unemployed more than once before your BYE date

File an appeal

If your claim for benefits is denied or your benefits are reduced and you disagree with that decision, you have the right to an appeal. Your appeal will be heard by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). Your employers also have the right to appeal. Regardless of which party appeals the decision, your former employer will also have the right to be present at the hearing. There is no charge to either party for filing an appeal.

After you have filed your claim and submitted any additional information requested of you by DWD staff, you will receive a Determination of Eligibility by a message on the homepage of your Uplink account. This notice will state whether or not you qualified for benefits and explain how/why the decision was made. If the determination denies or reduces your benefits and you choose to appeal the decision you must complete a written statement of appeal that includes:

  • Your name
  • Your SSN
  • Your mailing address
  • Your phone number
  • A statement or description that tells why you believe the determination of eligibility is incorrect

File your request for an appeal within 10 days of the final date of the decision. Maintain a copy of this request for an appeal for your records. File the request to the attention of the Appeals Division in one of the following ways:

  • By fax: 317-233-6888
  • By mail or in-person:
    Indiana Department of Workforce Development
    Attn: Appeals Division
    10 North Senate Avenue
    Indianapolis, Indiana 46204