The chart lists the calendar quarters and the corresponding base-year for claims dated between January 2018 and June 2019:įor claims originally determined invalid under the regular base-year period, there are two alternative base-year periods that can be used to determine monetary eligibility. The wages compensating this four-quarter period form the basis for the computation of benefit credit. All claims are initially tested for monetary validity using this regular base-year period. The regular base year is defined as the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters. Employers submit the wage information quarterly via Form WR-30, “Employer Report of Wages Paid.” The claimant’s base-year period is established at this time. When a person becomes unemployed and files a claim for benefits, his/her monetary eligibility is determined by the wage information available in our central computer. In addition, in order to be entitled to receive benefits for any week claimed, the claimant must not be subject to any of the disqualification or ineligibility conditions listed here. The 2001 legislation ties the base week amount and the alternate earnings test to the state hourly minimum wage, and will change only when the state minimum hourly wage changes. Effective January 1, 2001, the base week amount is equal to 20 times the state hourly minimum wage ($169 in 2018), and the alternate earnings test is equal to 1,000 times the state hourly minimum wage ($8,500 in 2018). The law simplified the basic eligibility requirements. 2001, an act modifying certain New Jersey unemployment and disability insurance benefit eligibility requirements, was signed into law. To be monetarily eligible for benefits, the claimant must have had wages in covered employment in each of 20 base weeks or, in the alternative, have earned during the base period, a specific dollar amount or more in remuneration. The amount of unemployment insurance benefits that a claimant is potentially eligible to receive is directly related to his/her actual earnings during the base-year (see below for base-year definition). The Unemployment Compensation Law provides some income to an unemployed person in the interval between one period of employment and another.