Georgia Unemployment Calculator
The Georgia unemployment calculator uses certain standards to figure the benefits displaced workers will receive. Understanding these standards will help workers estimate the amounts to which they may be entitled under the state’s unemployment insurance program. First and most importantly, a worker must have been employed by a company that paid into the unemployment insurance pool. There are other physical standards for qualification but they do not play into the amount of money workers will receive from the fund. Second, during the time workers were employed by the company, they must have earned enough in wages to qualify as a claimant. The period of time used to figure out whether workers earned enough money to receive benefits is known as the base period.
In almost all cases, the first four quarters of the last five quarters worked is the base period used by the Georgia unemployment calculator. Thus, workers should ignore the current quarter and count four quarters back to find out what their base periods will be. Wages must have been earned in at least two of those quarters.
The total of these wages must be equal to or more than one and a half times the amount earned during the highest paid of the four quarters. For example, if the amount earned during the highest paid quarter was $10,000 then the total wages earned during the four quarters of the base period must be at least $15,000. Workers whose claims are rejected based solely on not meeting one or the other of these standards may be allowed to use another standard. These cases are rare and should be discussed directly with an unemployment benefits counselor at The Georgia Department of Labor.
Benefits may be received for no fewer than six weeks and no more than 26 weeks. There are circumstances under which the time limit for benefits may be extended. Once eligibility to receive benefits has been established, the Georgia unemployment calculator will figure the amount a worker will get. Presently benefit amounts range from $44 a week to $330 a week. The weekly payout will be figured by the Georgia unemployment calculator based upon the amount of money workers earned during their base periods.