An employer may sometimes reduce the hours of work for which it will pay an employee rather than eliminating the employee's position altogether. If you are employed in North Carolina and your hours have been cut, you might be eligible to receive partial unemployment benefits.
File for partial unemployment benefits if your hours have been reduced due to lack of work available. A cut in hours due to lack of work performed when work is available might not qualify for unemployment benefits. Once you file your claim, the Employment Security Commission will contact your employer seeking an explanation for the reduction in hours.
Read More: Requirements for Partial Unemployment Benefits
Seek partial unemployment benefits only if the reduction represents at least 50 percent of a normal 40-hour work week.
Apply for benefits only if you were employed by the company for the first four of the last five calendar quarters. This is considered the base period. You must have earned wages for at least two quarters during the base period.
Tips
The Employment Security Commission of North Carolina uses a special formula to calculate the unemployment benefits. If you worked 40 hours a week for the past year and your hours were reduced to 20, your unemployment benefits will be about 20 percent of the money you were making in 20 hours. If, for example, you used made $500 a week for 40 hours, your weekly unemployment benefits will be 20 percent of $250, which is $50.
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