Unemployment Insurance: Frequently Asked Questions

You should file an initial claim the week you become unemployed or your job reduces your hours. Your claim will be effective the Sunday of the week you submit your claim.  

• Apply for unemployment insurance at iowaworks.gov.
• You can use the computers at your local IowaWORKS Center or at a public library if you do not have one at home.  

Call Customer Support at 1-866-239-0843 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday if you need help.

You need the following to file your claim:   

• Your Social Security Number.
• Your mailing address, telephone number and email address.
• Name, payroll address, and telephone number of your last employers.  
• Start and end dates of your last jobs.
• Your reason for leaving your last job (for example, lack of work, quit, fired, on a leave of absence, laid off, etc.)
• Whether you will receive vacation pay, severance, etc.  
• Necessary information to verify your identity by answering security questions (ID.Me) . 
• The name(s), date(s) of birth, and Social Security Number(s) of anyone claimed as a dependent on your federal income tax return.  
• Spouses may be claimed as a dependent if their gross wages were $120.00 or less in the week prior to filing your claim.  
• (Self-employment does not count as gross wages for dependent purposes.)  
• Your bank account number and bank routing number (if you wish to receive benefits via direct deposit). 

You may also need: 

• Your alien registration number (if you’re not a U.S. citizen or permanent refugee).
• Your DD-214 (Member 4) if you served in the U.S. military in the last 18 months.
• Your Standard Form 8 (SF-8) if you worked for the federal government in the last 18 months.

It usually takes up to three weeks for us to review your application and for you to start receiving unemployment insurance payments.  

While you wait for IWD to review your application, you must:  

• File a weekly claim certification on iowaworks.gov each week while we’re reviewing your claim.
• You will also complete your required work search activities each week and certify them on iowaworks.gov.
• Learn more about work search activities.

Yes. To reopen your unemployment insurance claim, you must file another initial claim application at iowaworks.gov during the week you want to start receiving payments again.  

• You must reopen your claim any time you have a break in your weekly claim certifications or payments.  
• A break happens anytime you don’t file a weekly claim certification. This can happen because you forget to file your weekly claim or because you went back to work for a short time.

Yes, you can file a claim if you earned money in Iowa during the last 18 months. If you have worked in two or more states in the last 18 months, you can include the other states in your initial claim.

Yes, if you were a federal civilian or military worker in the last 18 months, you can file an initial claim in Iowa.  

To file your claim, you must have: 

• Your DD-214 (Member 4) if you served in the U.S. military in the last 18 months.
• Your Standard Form 8 (SF-8) if you worked for the federal government in the last 18 months.

In some cases, yes. You may receive unemployment insurance payments if you earned less than your weekly benefit amount for any claim week.  

To receive unemployment insurance payments, you must report your earnings before taxes including: 

• Wages, salary, tips, and commission. 
• Holiday pay, vacation pay, paid time off, and incentives. 
• Strike pay, stand-by pay, back-pay, and any payments other than cash. 
• Severance pay, wages in lieu of notice, wage interruption insurance payments, and sick and funeral leave while still working. 
• Workers’ compensation payments when they are for temporary total disability. 
• Short-term disability payments. 
• Pension or annuity payments, if they are from employment tied to your claim. 

If you earn $15 more than your weekly benefit amount, you will not receive a payment. For more information, check the Continued Eligibility page in the claimant handbook. 

You must file a weekly claim certification to receive unemployment insurance payments. There are two steps you must complete:  

1. Enter and certify your work search activities at iowaworks.gov.  
2. File a weekly claim online at iowaworks.gov.  

You must file weekly claims while you’re waiting for a decision on your initial claim and while you’re awaiting an appeal decision.  

You must file your weekly claim between 12:01 a.m. Sunday and 11:59 p.m. on Friday to receive benefits covering the previous week (the week that ended the previous Saturday.)  There is no weekly reporting available on Saturdays.  

Initial claims can be filed at any time.  

To file your weekly claim, you must have: 

• Your username and password 
• Your Social Security Number 
• How much you earned during the week before taxes 

You can enter your reemployment activities in IowaWORKS during the week or when you are certifying your weekly claim.

If you do not file your weekly claim, you will have a break in your claim. You then will have reopen your initial claim (file another initial claim) the next time you file.

Iowa law requires that you register to find a job when you file an unemployment insurance claim. This process takes place automatically when you file your initial claim at iowaworks.gov.  

You must complete four reemployment activities each week. At least three of these activities must be job applications. Claim weeks run Sunday through Saturday.  

• Job applications can be in-person, online, by mail, or by fax. 
• Calling an employer does not count as a job application. 
• You can apply for the same position with the same employer once every six weeks. 
• You must create an iowaworks.gov profile and certify your reemployment activities each when filing your weekly claim.  
• IWD may waive the work search requirement if you are laid off and expect to be recalled soon or if you are approved for Department Approved Training.  

Yes. If you received a notice, you must attend. If you do not attend these meetings, you may not receive payments.  

To get unemployment insurance payments, you must: 

• Have had a job where your employer pays unemployment insurance taxes.
• Have earned  a certain amount of wages in the last 15 to 18 months.

If IWD finds an issue with your claim, we will schedule a fact-finding interview. A fact-finding interview helps us answer questions about your claim. Questions you might need to answer include: 

• Why you left your job 
• Whether you are able and available for work 

During fact-finding interviews, you and your employer must answer questions about the issue IWD found.  

It depends on why you were fired. You are not automatically disqualified for unemployment benefits, but IWD will ask questions about the circumstances surrounding your firing. 

It depends on why you quit. You are not automatically disqualified for unemployment insurance. IWD will ask questions about why you left.

It depends. If you turned down a job offer that IWD considers “suitable” based on the wages for the job and how long you’ve been unemployed, IWD will deny your claim for unemployment benefits.  

To decide if a job is suitable, IWD uses the highest wages you earned in a quarter during your base period (depending on the calendar, roughly the last 15 to 18 months before your employment ended). We divide your highest quarterly wages by 13 weeks to determine your average weekly wage. A job offer is considered suitable if it offers wages at or above:  

• 100 percent of your average weekly wage if you are offered the job the first week you file a claim for unemployment insurance. 
• 90 percent of your average weekly wage if you are offered the job the 2nd or 3rd week you file a claim for unemployment insurance. 
• 80 percent of your average weekly wage if you are offered the job the 4th or 5th week you file a claim for unemployment insurance.  
• 70 percent of your average weekly wage if you are offered the job the 6th through the 8th week you file a claim for unemployment insurance. 
• 60 percent of your average weekly wage if you are offered the job after the 8th week you file a claim for unemployment insurance.  

It depends. To be eligible for unemployment insurance, you must be able and available to work most of the week (four out of seven days). If you are sick or injured for more than three days in a week, IWD will deny your claim for that week.

It depends. You are not able and available to work if you are on a leave of absence that you requested. If your employer placed you on a leave of absence, we must assess the reason you were placed on leave.

You must be able and available for work the same amount of time as when you were working. You are not considered able and available for work if you can’t work the same amount of time as you did in the 15 to 18 months that make up your base period.

If you are a school employee, payments may be denied during regularly scheduled breaks.

Yes. You can receive payments if you had a satisfactory immigration status and were authorized to work in the U.S. during your base period. You must: 

• Provide specific information from your employment authorization form from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  
• Continue to have a legal work authorization to file weekly claims.  

You may also have to provide copies of your employment authorization form.

IWD will hold a fact-finding interview with you and your employer.  

• IWD will send you information about your interview via your preferred communication method.
• Your notice will include the day and time for your interview.  
• After interviews are complete, IWD will make a decision about your claim.  
• IWD will send you and your employer the decision via your preferred communication method 
• Both you and your employer have the right to appeal the decision using the instructions on the back of the notice.

You can file an appeal online or in your claimant portal You can also fill out a form and mail your appeal to the Dept. of Inspections and Appeals at the address listed in online instructions. The appeal must be postmarked or received within 10 calendar days of the decision date.  

​For assistance with filing an appeal or general appeal questions, contact the UI Appeals Bureau: 

Toll-free in Iowa: 800-532-1483 
Toll-free outside of Iowa: 800-247-5205  
Des Moines local: 515-281-3747  
Fax: 515-478-3528 
Email: helpuiappeals@dia.iowa.gov 

You must continue to file weekly claim certifications, complete reemployment activities, and certify your activities. If you do not, you will not receive payments for the weeks you were waiting for a decision.

Your benefit year runs one year from when you filed your initial claim. If you file valid weekly claim certifications, you will receive payments until you reach your maximum benefit amount or your benefit year ends. Most claims have a maximum of 16 weeks, although some may allow up to 26 weeks of payments.

When you file your initial claim, you choose whether you want your payments by direct deposit or a debit card. If you already have an unemployment insurance debit card, you continue to use that card until it expires. To have your payments deposited directly, you will need to provide your bank account number and bank routing number.

Your IWD debit card should arrive within 7 to 10 business days. The card doesn’t expire for three years. You may need to use it again if you file another unemployment insurance claim before it expires.

If you need help with your IWD debit card, call U.S. Bank at 1-855-282-6161 or visit the U.S. Bank ReliaCard website.  

• If your card is lost or stolen, you must contact U.S. Bank. 
• If you need to change the name or address on your card, contact IWD at 1-866-239-0843.

Yes, you can have federal or state taxes withheld from your payments. You can choose this option when you file your initial claim. To change your tax withholdings log into your claimant portal (on iowaworks.gov) and request the change using the Tax Deductions icon. 

We will mail your 1099-G no later than January 31. This form shows the total payments you received for the prior year and the taxes withheld.

Benefits are paid from the Iowa State Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. The fund is supported solely by a special tax on employers. No deductions are taken from employees’ paychecks for unemployment insurance.

Yes. If you receive payments that you did not qualify for, you must repay that money. You will receive a notice saying how much you owe and why you did not qualify for those payments.

Pay the overpayments back in full or make monthly payments.

• Send a check or money order to:
  • Iowa Workforce Development
  • Benefit Payment Control
  • 1000 E. Grand Ave.
  • Des Moines, IA 50319
• Or, pay online at iowaworks.gov with your credit card.

1. Visit www.iowaworks.gov.  
2. Choose “Forgot Username/Password.”  

You can also call Customer Support at 1-866-239-0843 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

Yes. If you don’t have a computer, you can use the computers at any IowaWORKS Center or at a public library. If you have a smartphone, the ongoing claims filing tool is mobile-friendly.

Yes, you can email us at uiclaimshelp@iwd.iowa.gov.