States

How To Apply For Unemployment In Montana

File your unemployment insurance benefits claim online by visiting the Unemployment Insurance Division of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. You’ll need your social security number and work history from the previous five quarters to complete your application and determine the amount of your weekly benefits payment. Helpful links to the Montana Department of Labor and additional information are provided for you below.

• Montana Department of Labor Website
• File Your Montana Unemployment Claim Online
• Unemployment Insurance Claimant Handbook

Unemployment insurance is funded by contributions from employers, so there’s no charge for you to apply for benefits and you don’t have to pay them back. You are, however, responsible to pay taxes on them as income. Only wages earned from a registered, UI-paying business will count as qualifying wages to calculate your weekly benefits payments.

Amount and Length of Unemployment Insurance Benefits

Weekly payment amounts are calculated using the twelve months of wages you received prior to the most recent fiscal quarter. You must include all wages you received during your base period when you file your initial claim. That includes out-of-state wages, military wages, and federal government wages. Your weekly benefit amount will be calculated based on total wages. The maximum length for receiving payments is twenty-six weeks.

To continue receiving payments every week, you must file a weekly request and submit at least one resume to a potential employer. This “work search” requirement will be waived if you’re attached to a union or a company that has laid you off for a defined period of time. You can collect until you go back to work, but after thirteen weeks you must be willing to accept a job offer that pays 75% or more of what your regular weekly wage is.

Job Training and School Attendance

Attending a job training or educational program does not exempt you from the work search requirement. If you work for a school and are laid off for the summer, you may be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits, but only if you can produce verifiable documentation that you’re going back on a specific date. Paid training is considered work, so you can’t collect UI benefits if you’re enrolled in a job training program that pays you a salary.

There are no in-state unemployment insurance extensions available in Montana, but you may be eligible for federal assistance under the Trade Adjustment Assistance program for workers who have lost their jobs due to foreign competition. The TAA program is sponsored by the United States Department of Labor and could provide you extended benefits if you qualify.

Unemployment Fraud and Overpayments

Make sure you double-check all your wage information before filing your initial claim. Unemployment insurance fraud is a serious crime that could end up costing you a significant amount of money in fines, perhaps even resulting in your imprisonment. Misrepresenting wages earned in your base period, hours worked while collecting, or submitting false statements for your work search requirement, all count as unemployment insurance fraud.