48-627.01. Benefits; monetary eligibility; earned wages; adjustment.

(1) In addition to the requirements of section 48-627, for any benefit year beginning on or after January 1, 2018, an unemployed individual shall be monetarily eligible to receive benefits if the commissioner finds he or she has:

(a) Earned total wages for employment by employers equal to not less than four thousand one hundred forty-five dollars and seventy-four cents within his or her base period. Of such total wages, at least one thousand eight hundred fifty dollars shall have been paid in one quarter in his or her base period and eight hundred dollars shall have been paid in a second quarter of his or her base period; and

(b) Earned wages in insured work of at least six times his or her weekly benefit amount for the previous benefit year subsequent to filing the claim which establishes the previous benefit year.

(2) Beginning on January 1, 2019, and each January 1 thereafter, the amount which an individual is required to earn within his or her base period under subdivision (1)(a) of this section shall be adjusted annually. The adjusted amount shall be equal to the then current amount adjusted by the cumulative percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics for the one-year period ending on the previous September 30. If such adjusted amount is not a whole dollar amount, the adjusted amount shall be rounded down to the nearest whole dollar amount.

(3) For purposes of this section:

(a) For the determination of monetary eligibility, wages paid within a base period shall not include wages from any calendar quarter previously used to establish a valid claim for benefits; and

(b) For benefit purposes, wages shall be counted as wages for insured work with respect to any benefit year only if such benefit year begins subsequent to the date on which the employer, by whom such wages were paid, has satisfied the conditions of section 48-603 or subsection (3) of section 48-661 with respect to becoming an employer.

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