48-627 Benefits; eligibility conditions; availability for work; requirements.
48-627. Benefits; eligibilityconditions; availability for work; requirements.Anunemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect toany week, only if the Commissioner of Labor finds:(1) He or she has registered for work at, and thereafter continuedto report at, an employment office in accordance with such rules and regulationsas the commissioner may prescribe, except that the commissioner may, by ruleand regulation, waive or alter either or both of the requirements of thissubdivision as to individuals attached to regular jobs and as to such othertypes of cases or situations, with respect to which he or she finds that compliancewith such requirements, would be oppressive, or would be inconsistent withthe purposes of the Employment Security Law, except that no such rule or regulationshall conflict with section 48-623;(2) He or she has made a claim for benefits, in accordancewith section 48-629;(3) He or she is able to work and is available for work. Noindividual, who is otherwise eligible, shall be deemed ineligible, or unavailablefor work, because he or she is on vacation without pay during such week, ifsuch vacation is not the result of his or her own action as distinguishedfrom any collective action by a collective-bargaining agent or other actionbeyond his or her individual control, and regardless of whether he or shehas not been notified of the vacation at the time of his or her hiring. An individual who is otherwise eligibleshall not be deemed unavailable for work or failing to engage in an activework search solely because such individual is seeking part-time work if themajority of the weeks of work in an individual's base period include part-timework. For purposes of this subdivision, seeking only part-time work shallmean seeking less than full-time work having comparable hours to the individual'spart-time work in the base period, except that the individual must be availablefor work at least twenty hours per week. Receipt of a non-service-connectedtotal disability pension by a veteran at the age of sixty-five or more shallnot of itself bar the veteran from benefits as not able to work. An otherwiseeligible individual while engaged in a training course approved for him orher by the commissioner shall be considered available for work for the purposesof this section. An inmate in a penal or custodial institution shall be consideredunavailable for work for purposes of this section;(4) He or she has been unemployed for a waiting period ofone week. No week shall be counted as a week of unemployment for the purposeof this subdivision (a) unless it occurs within the benefit year, which includesthe week with respect to which he or she claims payment of benefits, (b) ifbenefits have been paid with respect thereto, or (c) unless the individualwas eligible for benefits with respect thereto, as provided in sections 48-627and 48-628, except for the requirements of this subdivision and of subdivision(6) of section 48-628;(5)(a) For any benefit yearbeginning on or after January 1, 2006, he or she has, within his or her baseperiod, been paid a total sum of wages for employment by employers equal tonot less than two thousand five hundred dollars, of which sum at least eighthundred dollars has been paid in each of two quarters in his or her base period,and subsequent to filing the claim which establishes the previous benefityear, the individual has earned wages in insured work of at least six timeshis or her weekly benefit amount for the previous benefit year.(b) For any benefit year beginning onor after July 1, 2011, he or she has (i) within his or her base period, beenpaid a total sum of wages for employment by employers equal to not less thanthree thousand seven hundred seventy dollars, of which sum at least one thousandeight hundred fifty dollars has been paid in one quarter in his or her baseperiod and eight hundred dollars has been paid in a second quarter of hisor her base period, and (ii) subsequent to filing the claim which establishesthe previous benefit year, earned wages in insured work of at least six timeshis or her weekly benefit amount for the previous benefit year. CommencingJanuary 1, 2012, and each January 1 thereafter,the amount which an individual is required to earn within his or her baseperiod shall be adjusted annually. The adjusted amount shall be equal to thethen current amount adjusted by the cumulative percentage change in the ConsumerPrice Index for All Urban Consumers published by the Federal Bureau of LaborStatistics for the one-year period ending on the previous September 30.(c) For the purposes of thissubdivision (5), (i) for the determination of monetaryeligibility, wages paid within a base period shall not include wages fromany calendar quarter previously used to establish a valid claim for benefits,(ii) wagesshall be counted as wages for insured work for benefit purposes with respectto any benefit year only if such benefit year begins subsequent to the dateon which the employer, by whom such wages were paid, has satisfied the conditionsof section 48-603 or subsection (3) of section 48-661, with respect to becomingan employer, and (iii) with respect to weeksof unemployment beginning on or after January 1, 1978, wages for insured workfor benefit purposes with respect to any benefit year shall include wagespaid for services as defined by subdivision (4)(a), (b), (c), or (d) of section 48-604 to the extent that such services were not services in employment undersubdivision (4)(a) of section 48-604 or section 48-661 immediately prior toSeptember 2, 1977, even though the employer by whom such wages were paid hadnot satisfied the conditions of subdivision (8), (9), (10), or (11) of section 48-603 with respect to becoming an employer at the time such wages were paidexcept to the extent that assistance under Title II of the federal EmergencyJobs and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974 was paid on the basis of suchservices; and(6) He or she is participating in reemployment services atno cost to such individual as directed by the commissioner, such as job searchassistance services, if the individual has been determined to be likely toexhaust regular benefits and to need reemployment services pursuant to a profilingsystem established by rule and regulation of the commissioner which is incompliance with section 303(j)(1) of the federal Social Security Act, unlessthe commissioner determines that: (a) The individual has completed such services;or (b) there is justifiable cause for the claimant's failure to participatein such services. SourceLaws 1937, c. 108, § 4, p. 376; Laws 1939, c. 56, § 3, p. 235; Laws 1941, c. 94, § 3, p. 383; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 48-704; R.S.1943, § 48-627; Laws 1945, c. 115, § 3, p. 382; Laws 1949, c. 163, § 10, p. 425; Laws 1953, c. 167, § 6, p. 531; Laws 1955, c. 190, § 6, p. 543; Laws 1957, c. 209, § 2, p. 739; Laws 1959, c. 230, § 1, p. 804; Laws 1961, c. 241, § 1, p. 717; Laws 1963, c. 291, § 3, p. 872; Laws 1963, c. 292, § 1, p. 875; Laws 1971, LB 651, § 5; Laws 1973, LB 372, § 1; Laws 1977, LB 509, § 4; Laws 1981, LB 470, § 2; Laws 1985, LB 339, § 21; Laws 1987, LB 446, § 2; Laws 1987, LB 469, § 1; Laws 1988, LB 1033, § 2; Laws 1995, LB 1, § 8; Laws 1995, LB 240, § 1; Laws 1998, LB 225, § 2; Laws 2005, LB 484, § 5; Laws 2005, LB 739, § 9; Laws 2010, LB1020, § 3.Operative Date: July 1, 2011AnnotationsAvailability is required for eligibility to receive unemployment compensation benefits. Robinson v. Commissioner of Labor, 267 Neb. 579, 675 N.W.2d 683 (2004).Without an order from the sentencing court granting the privilege to leave the jail for work, an inmate was not "available" for work under this section. Robinson v. Commissioner of Labor, 267 Neb. 579, 675 N.W.2d 683 (2004).This section describes weekly requirements for continuing eligibility and does not address the reasons why a person became unemployed or threshold questions of eligibility. Ponderosa Villa v. Hughes, 224 Neb. 627, 399 N.W.2d 813 (1987).A lump-sum severance allowance paid to a claimant is not to be prorated to the calendar quarters immediately following the date of payment in order to determine whether the monetary eligibility requirements of subdivision (e) of this section have been met. Sorensen v. Meyer, 220 Neb. 457, 370 N.W.2d 173 (1985).The provision that a claimant earn a certain amount of wages during any benefit year and during each of two quarters thereof is intended to prevent a claimant from electing to simply collect unemployment benefits rather than work. Sorensen v. Meyer, 220 Neb. 457, 370 N.W.2d 173 (1985).A professional symphony musician employed under a seasonal contract rather than an annual contract was entitled to unemployment benefits for the time he was unemployed during the symphony's "off season". Hanlon v. Boden, 209 Neb. 169, 306 N.W.2d 858 (1981).Registration for work alone is not sufficient to show prima facie a right to benefits. Hunter v. Miller, 148 Neb. 402, 27 N.W.2d 638 (1947).