Sarah Chivers, a Portland State adjunct and former PSUFA executive council member, just put together this resource for adjuncts to apply for unemployment in Oregon. Check it out! And thanks for putting this together, Sarah!

Filing for Unemployment in Oregon

1. Have all of your employment records from the past 18 months ready. 

Include calendar with academic teaching schedule and fall/winter/summer breaks when students do not meet with you, employer(s) contact information, your personal info (SSN, address, phone, email), earnings information to answer all questions in the Online Claim System.

2. File an initial claim (or restart a claim if you’ve done this before) in order to do the next step—claim “weekly benefits.”

You must file your initial unemployment claim ASAP (immediately when you stop working for your college).

3. File a weekly claim on Sunday or Monday every week you are not working and request the state to pay you benefits.

You will have to provide a declaration about your employment search for the week (where you looked for work, what you might have applied for, etc).

4. Begin your claim online.

If you need help, us the electronic contact option on the website and someone will call you within 48 hours. In my experience, once I spoke with a representative, I made a lot of progress with my claim. (It took me 9 months, but I should receive up to $4,000 in back pay for a course I lost during the pandemic in 2020. I spoke with three adjudicators in that time and each one helped me get further with claiming more benefits than I thought I was eligible for.)

Keep track of your Customer ID and every communication you have with OED (via email or phone). 

Other Considerations

Your weekly unemployment benefit amount will be based on your past earnings records. It can be tricky estimating your earnings in given pay periods and work cycles because colleges count our work time differently than OED. Consult each HR website (typically under payroll information, earnings history, paystub) to provide accurate reporting of your gross income at each college you work at. Your base pay will be the basis for how OED calculates the weekly benefits you will receive. 

There is a minimum amount of work you must do annually (currently 520 hours in Oregon) to be eligible for unemployment. You must also earn at least $1,000 in the first quarter of 2021. The minimum amount the state will pay out in weekly benefits is $157. The maximum amount is $673. 

OED contacts your employer(s) to get “reasonable assurance” of your wages. The school will answer an employer questionnaire to ensure you meet eligibility requirements. They will look at how many credit hours you taught in 2020 and are expected to teach in fall 2021. It is not important if you teach a variable amount of credit hours term to term. 

OED will consider if your weekly claim is submitted during a college’s “recess period.” These are student breaks in between each term. You will not receive benefits if your claim is for a recess period. 

You can set up an electronic deposit for your benefits or designate that a check is mailed to you. Unemployment benefits are taxable income. 

To Claim Your Weekly Benefit (Every Sunday or Monday You Are Unemployed)

OED will ask you a series of questions to determine if you are “able, available, and actively seeking work” to get your benefits. Answer YES or NO only! 

Helpful Resources

Teal Dunbar (she/her)
Labor Liaison for Dislocated Workers
Labor’s Community Service Agency, Inc., a United Way of the Columbia-Willamette Community Partner

9955 SE Washington #301, Portland OR 97216
Cell: 503.522.2104
Email: impacted@lcsaportland.org
Website: lcsaportland.org
Facebook: LCSA-Portland

Higher Education Rapid Response Information Session (June 6, 2021) with LCSA and OED