May I collect unemployment benefits while receiving severance pay?

Full question:

Hi, I am being laid off from my company on Oct 31st I will end up getting a lump sum payment to cover 8 weeks. I live in PA, can I apply and get unemployment comp immediately or would I have to wait until the 8 weeks were passed. Also, I am getting a $1600 pension check from a company I worked for before - does this effect what I receive if I apply for Social Security - I am 62 and does it apply to unemployment benefits. thanks

• Category: Employment
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: Pennsylvania

Answer:

Full unemployment benefits are paid for 26 weeks, as long as you call in to file your claims biweekly. Depending on when you filed for benefits, extensions could be available under the Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program. Pennsylvania residents can apply for up to 33 weeks of federal emergency unemployment compensation after their state benefits run out, for a total of more than a year. The stimulus package extends benefits by 33 weeks if you file before the end of 2009.

The labor laws of Pennsylvania do not include provisions for ineligibility for benefits due to receipt of severance pay.

You are not financially eligible for benefits if any of the following circumstances apply to you:
Your highest quarterly wage is less than $800;

Your total base year wages are insufficient to qualify you for the weekly benefit rate that matches your highest quarterly wage or one of the next three lower rates;

Your highest quarterly wage corresponds to the maximum weekly benefit rate, but you were not paid 20% of the amount in column C outside of the quarter that provides your highest quarterly wage; or

You have fewer than 16 credit weeks in your base year.

In addition to financial eligibility, there are other eligibility criteria that determine whether you may receive UC.

You may be eligible for benefits if:
You are totally or partially unemployed through no fault of your own or due to a work stoppage that is the result of a lockout;

You were unemployed for a waiting period of one week after filing your application for benefits;
You file timely claims for weeks that you are unemployed; and

You are able to work and available for suitable work.

You may be ineligible for benefits if:
You voluntarily leave work without cause of a necessitous and compelling nature or you are unemployed due to your own fault;

You are discharged for willful misconduct or because you failed to submit to and/or pass a drug or alcohol test;

You participate in a work stoppage that is determined by the Department to be a strike;

You are not able to work because of an illness or disability or you are not available to work;

You fail, without good cause, to accept an offer of suitable work or refuse a referral to a job opportunity;

You withhold facts or give false information to receive or increase benefits;

You limit the number of hours that you will work when there is additional work available;

You are self-employed (other than a sideline business that existed while you were employed at your regular job);
You are incarcerated following conviction of a crime;

You fail to participate in required reemployment services; or

You are prosecuted or assigned penalty weeks for knowingly misrepresenting facts or knowingly withholding facts to obtain UC.