If you are receiving unemployment benefits in Alabama, the initial claim awards up to 26 weeks of benefits. Once you exhaust your awarded benefits, you can extend the claim by moving to the federal extended benefits, called Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC). EUC offers four tiers of benefits for a total of up to 53 weeks of extended benefits. If you are still unemployed after that, you may be eligible for Alabama's 20-week state extended benefits, called High Unemployment Extended Benefits Compensation (HEB). Qualifications for extended benefits in Alabama are the same as for the initial unemployment claim.
Step 1
Check your mail for your benefits award letter once you have exhausted all your initial 26-week Alabama unemployment claim. Within 10 business days of exhausting that claim, you should receive notification of your EUC awarded benefits. In Alabama, the EUC application is automatically filed for you once you exhaust all your regular benefits.
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Step 2
Claim your benefits each week for each of the four tiers of EUC benefits. As you exhaust each tier, your application for the next tier will automatically be filed for you in Alabama. As with your initial benefits, you will get a letter in the mail as you move to each tier to inform you how many weeks of benefits you receive on that tier.
Step 3
File your HEB claim on the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations website once you have exhausted the final tier of the EUC benefits. The application is the same as the initial unemployment claim application, with the addition of questions regarding the type of employment you are seeking and what you are doing to find employment.
Tip
Once you exhaust your HEB claim, no additional extended benefits are available in Alabama.
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