Welcome to UI Online – your fast, convenient, and secure way to certify for continuing unemployment benefits and manage your claim.
In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through one of the biggest features of UI Online – Reopening your claim. With UI Online you can reopen your UI Claim 24 hours a day 7 days a week, without speaking to a representative.
If you think you may need to reopen your claim, log into UI Online to view your notifications. https://edd.ca.gov/Benefit_Programs_Online.htm
Reopen Your Claim in Benefit Programs Online
In order to reopen your claim using UI Online, you first need to register in Benefit Programs Online and create a UI Online account.
If you haven’t created an account yet, please view our other instructional tutorial, “UI Online: Overview and Registration,” which will assist you in creating your Benefit Programs Online and UI Online accounts.
Once you login and arrive to the UI Online Home page, check the notifications section to see if you need to file a new claim or reopen your claim. If the notifications indicate that your claim is expired and a new claim is required, select the “Start filing a new claim now” link.
If you still have a current claim on file and stopped claiming benefits for 24 days, the system will also advise you if you need to reopen your claim. If you need to reopen your claim, this notification will appear. It’s that simple.
Now let’s get started! Select the “Reopen Your Claim” button to begin the claim filing process.
Contact Information
When beginning the process of reopening your claim, you will first be navigated to the Contact Information page.
This is where you can verify your current contact information, such as your mailing address and telephone number. If needed, you can update any of your contact information here on this page before moving forward.
Employer or Union Issued Claim Forms
Once finished reviewing or updating your contact information, you’ll be navigated to the Employer or Union Issued Claim Forms page. At the top of this page you’ll notice a progress bar. This lets you know where you are in the reopen your claim process.
In this example, we are currently on the Employer or Union Issued Claim forms page. The first question that will display is, “Did your employer or union issue you one of the following unemployment insurance claim forms?” If you answer “yes” to this question you will need to contact the EDD directly to reopen your claim.
There is specific information on the form unique to your employer that the EDD will need to collect. If you answer “no” you can proceed to the remaining questions.
Reopen Your Claim
You will be asked a series of questions about your most recent employment, last employer and some eligibility questions, such as the first question which asks you if you are unemployed due to a disaster.
This question is asked to determine if you are eligible to receive Disaster Unemployment Assistance benefits if and when they become available. If at anytime you’d like further assistance in reopening your claim, select the “Help” link at the top right corner of the page, or click on any of the question mark icons next to any of the questions to access a Help window.
UI Online is very intuitive. If more information is needed regarding a specific answer the system will present clarifying questions at the end to help the EDD gather as much information as possible in order to expedite the process of reopening your claim. If your unemployment is due to COVID-19, select the options related to COVID-19.
Be careful to select the correct option. If your employer has closed or “locked-up shop” because of COVID-19 this is not a Trade Dispute. Trade Dispute is only selected if your separation is associated with a Labor Action and/or Union Dispute.
If at any time you need to walk away from your computer to gather additional information, use the Save as Draft button at the bottom of the page to save your information and complete it at a later time.
This feature alows you to complete the application at a later time without losing any of the information you have already entered. It is important to answer all required questions entirely to expedite the reopening of your claim.
Your information will be saved until Saturday, 11:59 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, of the week in which you began the process. You will need to restart the process if you do not submit the application by that date and time.
As long as you log in again, before the information is erased, you’ll be able to continue the process from the point where you left off.
Last Employer Name
This screen provides a list of employers you worked for during the last 18 months.
Select your last employer from the list shown. If your last employer is not listed, select Last Employer Not Listed, and select Next.
Last Employer Search
If your last employer was not listed, enter your Employer’s state ID number and select Search.
Your employer’s state ID number contains 8 numbers and can be found in Box 15 on your W-2. If you’re unable to locate your employer’s state ID number, go ahead and select Last Employer Not Listed, and select Next.
For this demonstration, we will select the employer shown in the Search Results.
Last Employer Details
The next page you will be navigated to when reopening your claim is the Last Employer Details page.
On the Last Employer Details page you will enter the information of the last employer you worked for. If you selected your employer on one of the previous screens, these fields will be pre-populated.
Review and Submit
After completing the Last Employer Details page, you will be navigated to the Review and Submit page.
On the Review and Submit page you will have an opportunity to review the questions and answers. Once you confirm your information is correct, review the acknowledgement section at the bottom of page. Please read the Acknowledgement section carefully. This is important because submitting false information or withholding facts can result in denial of benefits and/or penalties.
If everything is correct, select the acknowledgement check box at the bottom of page and enter your ZIP Code. Checking the box and entering your ZIP code also serves as your electronic signature, indicating you have read and understand the Acknowledgement statement. If you need to make changes to any of your answers, simply select the “Previous” button to go back to any of the previous screens.
When you’re ready, select “Submit”. Selecting “Submit” finalizes and completes the process of reopening your claim.
Confirmation
That’s it! The Confirmation page validates that you have completed the process for Reopening Your Claim. You can print a Summary/Confirmation of the questions and answers for your reference, such as the one seen here.
If you need a printed copy of your Summary/Confirmation, be sure you print it out before leaving this page. This is your only opportunity to print out your Summary/Confirmation as you will not
be able to access it again once you leave this page.
Also, make sure to select the “Return” button to return to the UI Online Home Page. It’s important you go back to the UI Online Home page to review the Notifications section for updates related to your claim.
On the UI Online Home Page you will be able view new notifications regarding your benefits, such as when you will be able to certify for benefits or that EDD has received your request to reopen your claim. Be sure to check your account periodically for new updates and notifications regarding your claim.
We hope you have found this tutorial helpful in reopening your claim in a fast, convenient, and secure way online. We invite you to visit our EDD website and view other instructional tutorials available to learn more about the many different benefits and conveniences of using UI Online.