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    Federal employees: How to apply for unemployment benefits in Minnesota

    If you are an unemployed federal employee, you should apply for benefits the same week you become unemployed, or your hours are greatly reduced. If you work 32 or more hours in a week, you are not considered to be unemployed for that week.

    For the most part, the application process for federal employees is the same as it is for any other unemployed worker in Minnesota. The slight difference involves some additional information we need to process your application.

    Reason for separation - The application process for state unemployment benefits uses basic terms that fit nearly all situations we encounter with the hundreds of thousands of applications for benefits we handle every year. Federal employees may use a few different terms. Probably the most significant is the use of the term “furlough” for what we call a “layoff.” Being on a “furlough” is the same as being laid off. A person who is temporarily unemployed due to a loss of federal funding is not on a “leave of absence” but is considered to be “laid off.”

    SF-50 and SF-8 - There are also a couple forms that federal employees typically receive at the time of separation – Standard Form 50 (SF-50) and Standard Form 8 (SF-8). Depending on the nature of your separation, you may not have received these forms before your last day. These forms are very helpful to ensure that we process your application correctly but are not required to submit an application. We will let you know if we need more information after we review your application.

    Additional instructions for unemployed federal employees

    Below is a brief description of two forms you may have received at the time of your separation followed by highlights of a few places during the online application process where federal employees should be especially attentive.

    What happens after I apply

    • It will take about 10 days for us to fully process your application. This is the normal amount of time it takes to process an application for benefits when federal employment is involved – there are few more steps we have to go through that don’t exist if someone only worked for a private employer in the State of Minnesota.
    • In the event of a federal government shutdown, the process can take longer.
    • Within a few days of applying for benefits, we’ll send you an Information Handbook and password so you can access your account.
    • Watch your account and respond to any requests for information online.
    • We will mail you a determination with your potential Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA) after we process the application.
    • The first week you are eligible for benefits is your "nonpayable week”. Unless you already “served” your non-payable week for an account established earlier this year, the first full week of your account will likely be your nonpayable week.
    • You will need to request your nonpayable week.
    • If we are not able to establish your weekly benefit amount based on the records available to us, we may need to contact you to obtain payment records. We’ll let you know.

    We are here to help!

    There is a lot of information on our website to help you through the process of applying for and receiving benefits.

    • If you have questions, call UI Customer Service 
    • We want to talk to you if you have a question, but quite often you can avoid waiting on the phone by following these tips: 
      • Watch your account and respond to any requests for information online. 
      • Review the Information Handbook we send you and the information provided on our website. 
      • If you need to call, try a little later in the day – we are usually busiest on Mondays, as well as in the morning. By avoiding those, times we can answer your call a bit faster.

    Questions and answers

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