48-627. Benefits; eligibility conditions; availability for work; requirements.

An unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week, only if the Commissioner of Labor finds:

(1) He or she has registered for work at an employment office, is actively searching for work, and thereafter reports at an employment office in accordance with such rules and regulations as the commissioner may adopt and promulgate. The commissioner may, by rule and regulation, waive or alter any of the requirements of this subdivision as to individuals attached to regular jobs and as to such other types of cases or situations if the commissioner finds that compliance with such requirements would be oppressive or inconsistent with the purposes of the Employment Security Law;

(2) He or she has made a claim for benefits in accordance with section 48-629;

(3)(a) He or she is able to work and is available for work.

(b) No individual, who is otherwise eligible, shall be deemed ineligible, or unavailable for work, because he or she is on vacation without pay during such week, if such vacation is not the result of his or her own action as distinguished from any collective action by a collective-bargaining agent or other action beyond his or her individual control, and regardless of whether he or she was notified of the vacation at the time of his or her hiring.

(c) An individual who is otherwise eligible shall not be deemed unavailable for work or failing to engage in an active work search solely because such individual is seeking part-time work if the majority of the weeks of work in an individual's base period include part-time work. For purposes of this subdivision, seeking only part-time work shall mean seeking less than full-time work having comparable hours to the individual's part-time work in the base period, except that the individual must be available for work at least twenty hours per week.

(d) Receipt of a non-service-connected total disability pension by a veteran at the age of sixty-five or more shall not of itself bar the veteran from benefits as not able to work.

(e) An otherwise eligible individual while engaged in a training course approved for him or her by the commissioner shall be considered available for work for the purposes of this section.

(f) An inmate sentenced to and in custody of a penal or custodial institution shall be considered unavailable for work for purposes of this section;

(4) He or she has been unemployed for a waiting period of one week. No week shall be counted as a week of unemployment for the purpose of this subdivision (a) unless it occurs within the benefit year, which includes the week with respect to which he or she claims payment of benefits, (b) if benefits have been paid with respect thereto, or (c) unless the individual was eligible for benefits with respect thereto, as provided in sections 48-627, 48-627.01, 48-628, and 48-628.02 to 48-628.12, except for the requirements of this subdivision; and

(5) He or she is participating in reemployment services at no cost to such individual as directed by the commissioner, such as job search assistance services, if the individual has been determined to be likely to exhaust regular benefits and to need reemployment services pursuant to a profiling system established by rule and regulation of the commissioner which is in compliance with section 303(j)(1) of the federal Social Security Act, unless the commissioner determines that:

(a) The individual has completed such services; or

(b) There is justifiable cause for the claimant's failure to participate in such services.

Source

Annotations

Availability is required for eligibility to receive unemployment compensation benefits. Robinson v. Commissioner of Labor, 267 Neb. 579, 675 N.W.2d 683 (2004).

Without an order from the sentencing court granting the privilege to leave the jail for work, an inmate was not "available" for work under this section. Robinson v. Commissioner of Labor, 267 Neb. 579, 675 N.W.2d 683 (2004).

This section describes weekly requirements for continuing eligibility and does not address the reasons why a person became unemployed or threshold questions of eligibility. Ponderosa Villa v. Hughes, 224 Neb. 627, 399 N.W.2d 813 (1987).

A lump-sum severance allowance paid to a claimant is not to be prorated to the calendar quarters immediately following the date of payment in order to determine whether the monetary eligibility requirements of subdivision (e) of this section have been met. Sorensen v. Meyer, 220 Neb. 457, 370 N.W.2d 173 (1985).

The provision that a claimant earn a certain amount of wages during any benefit year and during each of two quarters thereof is intended to prevent a claimant from electing to simply collect unemployment benefits rather than work. Sorensen v. Meyer, 220 Neb. 457, 370 N.W.2d 173 (1985).

A professional symphony musician employed under a seasonal contract rather than an annual contract was entitled to unemployment benefits for the time he was unemployed during the symphony's "off season". Hanlon v. Boden, 209 Neb. 169, 306 N.W.2d 858 (1981).

Registration for work alone is not sufficient to show prima facie a right to benefits. Hunter v. Miller, 148 Neb. 402, 27 N.W.2d 638 (1947).

For purposes of section 48-628(7), a student is not "registered for full attendance" and therefore disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits if the student's educational program allows him or her to remain "available for work" pursuant to subdivision (3) of this section. Lecuona v. Cramer, 14 Neb. App. 770, 714 N.W.2d 786 (2006).