If it has been more than 120 days since you last certified for benefits, your claim for unemployment insurance becomes inactive.
If this happens, you will need to re-open your claim to request benefit payments again.
To re-open a claim instead of starting a new one, you will need to have filed your previous claim within the last 52 weeks and not exhausted your benefits for that year. If this is the case, you will need to make a new claim.
What Is the Process of Re-Opening Your EDD Claim?
The easiest way to re-open your claim is to use the UI Online system.
To re-open your claim, you need to register in “Benefit Programs Online” and create a UI Online Account.
Once you are logged in, you’ll be able to view your notifications. This will tell you if you can re-open your claim or if you need to submit a new claim. You’ll need to submit a new claim if yours has expired and you can do this by clicking the link “start filing a new claim now”.
If you have a current claim on file and stopped claiming benefits for 24 days, the system will advise you if you need to re-open your claim.
If this is the case, the notification “re-open your claim” will appear. This advises that you have not certified for benefits for some time and that you must re-open your claim.
How to Use UI Online to Reopen Your Claim
Click “re-open your claim to begin” the process.
Contact Information
This will then take you to a “contact information” page where you will be asked to check and verify your personal information.
If there’s anything that needs to be updated, you can do that here.
Employer or union issued claim form
The next page after this will be the “employer or union issued claim form” page.
You’ll be asked here to answer “yes” or “no” to the question; “did your employer or union issue you one of the following unemployment claims?” (there will be a list below of claim types).
If your answer is yes to this question, you will need to contact the EDD directly to reissue your claim as they will need to ask you some more, specific questions.
If your answer is no, you can proceed.
You will be asked at this point to answer a series of questions about your most recent employment.
Last Employer Details
This is where you will be asked to provide details of the last employer you worked for; it doesn’t matter if it was full or part-time.
Review and Submit
You’ll be asked to review the entire application and confirm that the information provided is correct.
There will be a box for you to tick at the bottom of the page, and you should read this section carefully to make sure you have answered the questions properly. Submitting false information will deny a benefit claim and can cause you to face a penalty.
By entering your zip code into the box at the bottom of the page, this acts as your electronic signature.
If you have noticed there is anything incorrect, you can go back and amend it. If not, click “submit” to finalize the process.
And that’s it!
A completion page will come up where you can print a summary of your application for your records. This will be your only opportunity to do this, so be sure to print at this point if you require a copy.
Return to home page
You need to go back to the home page when you have finished, as this is where you will be notified on the progress of your claim.
It is a good idea to check here periodically for updates.
Tips for When You Are Filling Out Your Claim on the UI System
The UI Online system is very intuitive.
If you need help at any point just select the “help” button at the top of the screen or hover over the question marks next to the questions.
If the system recognizes it needs more information from you, it will tell you.
If you cannot finish the claim in one go, that’s fine. You can use the “save draft” option which allows you to save your progress and come back later to finish it without losing any information.
You need to make sure, however, that you complete the claim by 11:59 p.m. on the Saturday of the week you started the claim. After this, the system will wipe it and you will have to start again!
Try and answer questions as fully as possible to avoid delay in dealing with your claim!