Service Center Determinations Inform Claimants of Their Eligibility

Your eligibility to receive payments through the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Program is determined shortly after you apply to receive benefits during your period of unemployment.

The process is relatively simple: you apply to receive benefits as a result of a recent separation from your employment, the department makes a determination, and you are notified. This notification is termed the Unemployment Compensation Service Center Determination, and it will either grant or deny your request for benefits.

The Service Center’s decision will be issued to you in the form of a Notice of Determination. This document will identify you, the Claimant, as well as your employer. It will also list the “findings of fact.” These are the details which the Unemployment Compensation Representative in charge of your claim has accepted to be true. The next section is the “discussion,” wherein the representative who reviewed your case will layout the reasoning behind his or her decision. Below this will section will be the final determination which will state whether you are found eligible or ineligible to receive benefits.

Your eligibility will be determined under specific sections of the law. The reasoning behind it will be listed in the determination section of the document.

If you are found ineligible to receive benefits, the document will contain details regarding how you may appeal the decision. Both individual claimants and employers can appeal the decision made by the Unemployment Service Center. Appeals must be timely filed, meaning they must be made within fifteen days of receipt of your eligibility determination notification. Late appeals are only accepted by the Unemployment if it is determined that there was good cause for the delay.

All relevant information regarding an appeal of the finding by the Unemployment Service Center will be contained in the Notice of Determination. If you are found eligible, the document will inform you as far as how to proceed forward. Both claimants and employers have the option to appeal the decision.