This document provides information about filing an unemployment insurance claim in Illinois, including eligibility requirements, how to file a claim, what to expect after filing, and certification requirements. Key details include how to determine monetary eligibility and weekly benefit amounts, where and how to file a claim online or by phone, setting up direct deposit for payments, and certifying every two weeks on an assigned day to receive benefits.

1. How to File an Illinois Unemployment Insurance (UI) Claim and Certify for Benefits
Illinois Department of Employment Security
Presented by Service Delivery
JB Pritzker, Governor Ray Marchiori, Acting Director

2. AGENDA
Unemployment Insurance (UI) Benefits Overview
• Eligibility Requirement
• Monetary Determination
• Weekly Benefit Amount and Dependency Allowance
How to File for Unemployment Insurance (UI) Benefits
• How to File for Unemployment Insurance Benefits
• When should I File for Unemployment Insurance Benefits
• Where to File for Unemployment Insurance Benefits
• Information Necessary to File your Unemployment Insurance Claim
• ILogin / IDES UI Account Validation
I Filed My Claim “What Happens Now”?
• UI Finding
• Certification Requirements
• Payment Method(s)
Employment Service Registration Requirements
• Work Search Requirement
• Able, Available, and Actively Seeking
• Illinois Job Link
Frequently asked Questions
• Temporary Help Firms, Return to Work, Partial Benefits
• Possible Disqualifying Income
Contact Information

3. Unemployment
Insurance
Benefits
Overview
• Unemployment insurance is a state-administered program
designed to provide workers with financial assistance
during temporary periods of involuntary unemployment or
underemployment.
• The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES)
collects unemployment insurance taxes from the state's
liable employers and returns those dollars to eligible Illinois
workers as unemployment insurance benefits. Workers do
not “pay in” to the unemployment insurance system.

4. Monetary
Eligibility
Requirement
• One requirement for receiving unemployment insurance
benefits is Monetary Eligibility.
• Monetary Eligibility means you must have earned enough
wages during the period of review to receive
unemployment benefits.
• The amount you are eligible to receive is based on your
earnings and is called your Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA).
• Only earnings in the two highest quarters are used to
determine your Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA).

5. Monetary
Eligibility
Requirement
• The notice provided after filing for unemployment benefits will show the quarters used to
determine monetary eligibility and the amount earned in each quarter.
• Each Quarter is a three month period. For example, Q4/2021 represents October,
November, December of 2021.
• Remember, the two highest quarters are used to determine the Weekly Benefit Amount
(WBA).
EXAMPLE: Eligible Monetarily
The two highest quarters are Q4/2021 with total earnings of $5561.67 and Q3/2022
with total earnings of $11844.05.
The sum of the total earnings in the two highest quarters, $17,405.72, is used to
determine the Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA).

6. Monetary
Eligibility
Requirement
EXAMPLE: Ineligible Monetarily
To qualify for the minimum amount of $51, the worker must have
earnings of at least $1600 during the period of review and must have
earned at least $440 outside of the highest quarter.
In this case, the worker earned $656.88 during the entire period of review.
Because the worker did not earn at least $1600 and because there are no
earnings outside of the highest quarter, the worker is not monetarily eligible
for unemployment benefits.

7. Weekly Benefit
Amount (WBA)
• The WBA Table of Weekly Benefit amounts is available
online at ides.Illinois.gov.
• Type WBA Table of Weekly Benefit Amounts in the
Search option to view the minimum and maximum
table.

8. Dependency
Allowance
You may qualify to receive a Dependent
Allowance in addition to your Weekly
Benefit Amount (WBA) if you have:
a. A dependent child under the age of eighteen (18) or;
b. A non-working spouse
You can claim one or the other. You cannot claim both your
spouse and your child as a dependent. Reporting more than
one dependent child will not increase your Dependent
Allowance.

9. How to File for
Unemployment
Insurance (UI)
Benefits
When Should I File for Unemployment Insurance Benefits?
• File your claim for unemployment insurance benefits during the first
week of unemployment, which would be the week you were laid off or
your hours were reduced.
• Your claim is effective the week you file for benefits
• However, if you worked during the week in which you are filing and
those earnings are equal to or more than the amount you are eligible to
receive in benefits, your claim will be effective the following week.
(Example: You file your claim on Friday, 9/10/2021. Your last day of work
was Wednesday, 09/08/2021, and you earned $500 for that week. If your
weekly benefit amount is $300, you are not unemployed for that
week because you earned more than you would receive in
unemployment benefits; therefore, your claim will be effective the
following week, 9/13/2021.)

10. How to File for
Unemployment
Insurance (UI)
Benefits
Where to File for Unemployment Insurance Benefits
Apply for benefits online at website address:
www.ides.illinois.gov
(Available 24 hours/7 days a Week)
There are instances where individuals are unable to
register online and are therefore unable to file their
claim online.
If you are unable to register and file online, you will
need to contact Claimant Services at 800-244-5631
for assistance. (Monday – Friday 7:30am – 7:00pm).
On-line filing is encouraged.

11. How to File for
Unemployment
Insurance (UI)
Benefits
It is important to have all the following information before you begin the filing
process. The application will time out after an hour of nonuse:
 Your Social Security Number
 Your Drivers License or State ID
 Your employment history from the past 18 months to include name of
employers, employer address, start date, last day of work and number of days
worked.
If you are claiming a dependent child or a dependent spouse, you will need to
provide your dependents:
 Name
 Social Security Number and;
 Date of Birth
Information Necessary to File Your Claim
Tax Information
 Unemployment insurance benefits are subject to State and Federal income
taxes.
 You can elect to have deductions taken out at the time you file your claim or
after.
 Deductions are 10% federal income taxes and 4.95% state income taxes.
 You can not elect deductions on a payment you have already been paid.

12. ILogin and UI
Account
Validation
You are required to create an ILogin Account for additional
checks to verify your identity
 After creating your ILogin account, you will receive a confirmation email.
 Open the confirmation email & click the link titled Activate Account. The link
expires 7 days after you receive the email.
 You will be directed to set up a password for your ILogin account, as well as
security questions & options to reset your password in the future
 Next, you will be required to set up your Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
 Once account registration is complete, you will be taken to your ILogin
dashboard. Click on the IDES icon.

13. What is ILogin?
ILogin is an identity verification process that is
integrated with the Illinois Department of
Employment Security’s (IDES) unemployment
benefits application (IBIS), creating a secure
and simple login process.
How does ILogin help?
ILogin uses the latest security tools to protect
user data including identity proofing, strong
authentication, fraud analytics and threat
monitoring.
What can you expect?
The first time you enter ILogin, you will
complete a short registration. When registering
for the first time, you will follow a few
additional steps to validate your identity.
You will be required to submit an access code in
addition to your ILogin credentials when you
sign into your account. You can choose to
receive this verification code via text message,
phone call, or an app verification.
ILogin Identity Account

14. Driver’s License or State ID
Enter weight as listed on ID
Registration Page
Verifying Your Identity
* Enter ALL Required Fields

15. Payment Method(s)
• Immediately after completing your unemployment claim application you
can enroll/modify Direct Deposit online.
• To set up Direct Deposit to your checking or savings bank account visit
online at www.ides.Illinois.gov. If your direct deposit is not set up at the time
of your certification your benefits will be paid via paper check. Once your
Direct Deposit is set up, benefits will automatically go to your Direct Deposit
account.
• If you do not choose to set up Direct Deposit, you will automatically be set
up to receive payments by paper check.
• If you are eligible to receive benefits, generally you will receive a
payment into your bank account within 2 to 3 business days if your
payment method is direct deposit.
• Payments made by paper check can take up to seven days to receive via the
US Postal Service.

16. I Filed My Claim
“What Happens
Now” ?
After your claim is filed, IDES will send you a UI
Finding, which will include information regarding the
following:
 Your Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA), which is the amount you are eligible to receive
each week.
 Your Dependent Allowance (If applicable).
 Your first certification date and;
 Additional information pertinent to your claim, including your Maximum Benefit
Allowance.

17. Certification
Requirement
• To receive payment you must Certify. Certification involves answering a list of
questions which are asked to determine if you are eligible to receive
unemployment insurance benefits for the weeks in question.
• The UI Finding Letter will indicate an assigned certification day; either
Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and you will be asked questions pertaining
to the two weeks immediately before the week you are certifying.
Example: If your certification date is Monday, 9/14/2021, you will be asked questions
pertaining to the week of 09/5/2021 through 09/12/2021.
• You must Certify for benefits every two weeks on your assigned day.
• If you miss your regular certification day you can certify on Thursday or Friday
of the same week. You may also certify on your regular day in the following
week or (Make up Days: Thursday/Friday of that week).
• Once you have certified for benefits, it will be determined if you are eligible
to receive benefits based on the answers you provided.
• If you are determined eligible, you will receive your payment within two to
three business days if your payment method is direct deposit. Paper checks
will be mailed and can take up to seven days to be delivered.

18. How to Certify for
Benefits
There are two ways to Certify for Benefits:
Contact the agency’s touch-tone voice response system:
Tele-Serve at 1-312-338-4337
Available from 3 AM to 7:30 PM or;
Certify online at www.ides.Illinois.gov
Available from 3 AM to 7:30 PM
1. Have you received or will you receive holiday pay
during the period of Sunday through Saturday (week 1
beginning date through week 2
ending date)?
• If yes, enter the gross amount of your holiday
pay (before deductions) for each week.
2. Did you work during the period of Sunday (week 1
beginning date) through Saturday (week 2 ending
date)?
• If yes, enter the total amount of earnings
(before deductions) for each week.
3. Has your dependency status changed during this
certification period?
4. Were you able and available to work each day during
your normal work week?
• If no, enter the number of days you were
unavailable for work in each of the weeks.
5. Did you actively look for work for the week of
Sunday (week 1 beginning date) through Saturday
(week 2 ending date)?
6. Are you receiving, or have you applied for primary Social Security
benefits?
7. Other than Social Security, are you receiving, or have you applied fora
retirement or disability pension?
• If yes, has the amount changed?
8. Did you attend school or receive training?
• If yes, did you attend all scheduled training courses?
• If no, enter the number of days that you did not attend class.
9. Do you have a current workers’ compensation claim, or do you expect
to receive workers’ compensation for a temporary disability?
10. Has your phone number changed?
• If yes, enter your new ten-digit telephone number.
11. Has your mailing address changed?

19. Able, Available,
and Actively
Seeking Work
Able, Available, and Actively Seeking Work
• During each week, you must be willing, ready and able to accept a
suitable job; you must be able to, and available for work.
• Report any unavailable days when you certify. Unavailable days include
days that you are away on vacation or days you must stay at home to care
for a sick child, for example.
• The law states that you must be actively seeking work on your
own initiative. Keep a record of your job search activities for every week
in which you claim benefits. If your eligibility is challenged, you may be
required to produce that document.
• Save your written records documenting your work search for any week
being claimed until one year has passed from the end of that week.

20. Work Search
Record
Despite being monetarily eligible for benefits, other requirements which must be
met to be eligible for benefits are:
• You must be able and available for work. You must be actively seeking work.
• Save your written records documenting your work search for any week being
claimed until one year has passed from the end of that week.
• A work search form is available on our web site.
Documenting your Work Search Record in Illinois Job Link electronically under the External Link is encouraged.

21. Illinois Job Link
If required, you must register for work with
Illinois Job Link IllinoisJobLink.com
Benefits will not be paid until your IJL registration is complete.
Complete registrations indicate “UI Registered”

22. What is IllinoisJobLink.com?
Illinois Job Link (IJL) is state of Illinois job
service website to enhance an individual's
ability to obtain employment and is also an
eligibility requirement. There are exceptions
to this requirement, including where local
labor market conditions indicate
employment service registration would not
increase the likelihood of returning to work.

23. Frequently Asked
Questions
What if I have
reduced wages?
(Part-Time Work)
Can I Work and
receive benefits?
What happens if
I receive a
Pension?
What if I
Return to Work?
What happens if I
apply/receive
Workman's
Compensation?

24. Frequently
Asked Questions Example: Your WBA is $350. You earned $275 working. Since half of your WBA is $350/2=
$175, your benefits will be reduced as follows:
$275 (earnings) - $175 = $100, which means $100 will be deducted from your WBA.
Therefore, for the week that you worked and earned wages in the amount of $275, you will
receive $350 (WBA)-100= $250 plus your Dependent Allowance, if applicable.
Note: Earnings are not deducted from your Dependent Allowance.
However, the Dependent Allowance is payable only if benefits are payable.

25. Frequently
Asked Questions
I receive a Pension. Will this affect my unemployment benefits?
• If it has been more than 18 months since you worked for the employer, the pension you are paid will not
be deducted from your benefits. Otherwise;
• 50% of the amount you receive will be deducted from your Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA) if you paid into
the pension or;
• 100% will be deducted if your employer paid the full amount.
• If you received a lump sum amount and did not have the option to receive monthly payments, a deduction
will be made only for the week in which you received the payment.
Is workers’ compensation the same as unemployment compensation?
No. Workers’ Compensation is payment made based on the Workers’ Compensation Act and are paid due
to a temporary disability.
Workers’ Compensation will affect your unemployment benefits. 100% of your workers’ compensation will
be deducted from your Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA).
What does Benefit Year mean and am I able to collect benefits the entire
year?
A benefit year means that you have one year to collect the maximum benefit allowance (26 Weeks) and once
that benefit year expires you are not able to receive the remaining balance. The total amount you are eligible
to receive during the benefit year is your WBA multiplied by 26 weeks.

26. Contact Information
Claimant Services: 800-244-5631
File Your Claim, Certify for benefits, Check your payment status Online:
www.ides.illinois.gov
Certify by phone via Tele-Serve: 312-338-4337
Limited In Person Services Available by phone (for Employment Services):
217-558-0401 (to schedule and appointment)
Fax Number: 217-557-4913 (for sending ALL documents)
Illinois Job Link 877-342-7533 www.illinoisjoblink.com
Find answers to common questions about unemployment insurance
FAQs (illinois.gov)