Unemployment in Minnesota works like this: if you lose your job through no fault of your own and earned enough wages recently, you apply through the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), wait one unpaid week, then file a request every week to receive a payment worth roughly half your former wage. Benefits run up to 26 weeks and cap at $948 per week in 2026.1Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Applying for Benefits – After You Apply Employers pay for the program through payroll taxes; nothing comes out of your check.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility has two sides: wages and weekly conduct.
On the wage side, DEED looks at a recent 52-week stretch called your base period. You need to have earned enough from covered employers during that window to meet the state’s minimum. Fall short and you don’t qualify, no matter why you left your job.2Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Wages Used to Establish an Account
On the weekly side, every week you claim a benefit you have to be physically and mentally able to work, willing to accept suitable work without delay, and actively searching for a job that fits your skills. Travel outside your normal commuting area for anything other than job hunting makes that period unpayable. If you’re in school, you must be willing to rearrange or drop classes for a job offer.3Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Eligibility Requirements
How the Reason You Left Your Job Affects Your Claim
Why your last job ended drives most denials. A layoff for lack of work or a position elimination will generally clear you. Quits and firings get examined more closely.
If You Quit
Quitting usually disqualifies you, but Minnesota law lists exceptions where you can still collect. The broadest is quitting for a “good reason caused by the employer” — conditions a reasonable person wouldn’t tolerate.4Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 268.095 – Ineligibility Because of Quit or Discharge Other recognized reasons include quitting to take a better job (with equal or better terms) where you didn’t last long enough to build new wage credits; quitting within 30 calendar days of starting work that turned out to be unsuitable; leaving ahead of a layoff your employer told you was coming within 30 days; quitting because a serious illness or injury made it medically necessary, or because you had to care for an immediate family member; and quitting because you lost child care for a minor and couldn’t find a replacement.
Each exception has conditions. Medical and child-care quits, for instance, require that you first asked your employer for an accommodation and none was available.
If You Were Fired
Being discharged only disqualifies you if the firing was for “employment misconduct” — intentional, negligent, or indifferent behavior that seriously violates the standards your employer has the right to expect.4Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 268.095 – Ineligibility Because of Quit or Discharge A number of things are specifically excluded from that definition even when they cost you the job: inefficiency or inadvertence, simple unsatisfactory performance, good-faith errors in judgment, inability to do the work, conduct caused by a mental impairment, properly reported absences for your own or a family member’s illness, and conduct connected to being a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking. A single incident has to be weighed as a single incident. In practice, poor performance alone rarely blocks a claim.
How Much You Get and for How Long
Your weekly benefit is roughly 50 percent of your average weekly wage during the base period, up to the $948 state maximum for 2026.1Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Applying for Benefits – After You Apply Most claimants can collect for up to 26 weeks. Your exact weekly amount and total maximum appear on the Determination of Benefit Account that DEED issues after processing your application.
Picking Up Part-Time Work
You can work part-time and still draw a partial benefit. The two conditions are that you work fewer than 32 hours in the week and your gross earnings that week come in under your weekly benefit amount. When both hold, DEED subtracts 50 percent of your earnings from your payment.5Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Report Work and Earnings The unpaid portion stays in your account, so part-time work stretches the number of weeks your benefits last. Hit 32 hours in a week, or earn as much as your weekly benefit, and you get nothing for that week. Report every hour and every dollar when you file, whether or not the paycheck has arrived.
How to File and Get Paid
Applications go through DEED’s portal at uimn.org. New claims are accepted Sunday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The site doesn’t take new applications on Saturdays.6Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Application Process
Have this ready before you start, since the system can time out:
- Your Social Security number (and Alien Registration Number if you’re not a U.S. citizen).7Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Applying for Benefits – Information Handbook
- An 18-month work history with each employer’s legal name, address, exact dates, and the reason the job ended. DEED cross-checks your answers against what the employer reports.2Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Wages Used to Establish an Account
- Union local name and number if you belong to one.
- Your bank routing and account number for direct deposit, or you can use a state-issued debit card.8Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Payment Options
The application walks through your identity, your 18-month history, and each separation. Save the confirmation number. A few days later DEED sends your Determination of Benefit Account showing your weekly amount, which employers’ wages were used, and your maximum. That document reviews the money side only. It isn’t the same as being approved to receive payments.
Weekly Payment Requests
To actually get paid, you file a payment request every week certifying that you were unemployed, able to work, and looking for work the prior week.9Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. How to Request Benefit Payment File on time even while your eligibility is still being reviewed. Skip a week and that week’s money is gone.
The Unpaid Waiting Week
The first week you’re otherwise eligible is a non-payable waiting week. No money comes for it. This happens once per benefit year and functions like a deductible.10Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 268.085 – Eligibility Requirements, Payments That Affect Benefits Payments usually arrive within a few days after your second weekly request is processed.
Keep a Job Search Log
Keep a weekly record of your job search — dates, employer names, how you applied. DEED can audit at any time, and insufficient documentation can cost you benefits for the weeks under review. A downloadable Work Search Record form is available through DEED.11Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Job Search Tools and Resources
Taxes
Unemployment benefits are taxable at both the federal and Minnesota level.12Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Deductions from Benefits You can elect to have income taxes withheld from each payment through your online account, and you can change that choice at any time. If you don’t withhold, you’ll owe at tax time. Early the following year, DEED issues a Form 1099-G reporting the year’s benefits for your return.13Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-G, Certain Government Payments
If You’re Denied
Any denial — separation, wage shortfall, or another issue — can be appealed. The deadline is 45 calendar days from the date the determination was sent to you. Miss it and the appeal is dismissed as untimely.14Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 268.105 – Appeal Proceedings
A timely appeal gets you a hearing before an unemployment law judge. The hearing is a fresh look at the facts, not a review of the paper record. You can present evidence, bring witnesses, cross-examine the other side, and make your case. The judge issues a written decision afterward. If you disagree with it, you have another 45 calendar days to request reconsideration.
Overpayments and Fraud Penalties
If DEED later determines you were paid benefits you weren’t entitled to, you have to repay them, even if the error was honest. Repayment can come out of future benefits or through other collection methods.15Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 268.18 – Unemployment Benefit Overpayments
Fraud — knowingly misrepresenting or hiding a material fact — triggers much steeper consequences. DEED adds a penalty equal to 40 percent of the overpayment, plus interest of one percent per month on any unpaid balance starting 30 days after the determination. DEED has up to 48 months from the date your benefit account was set up to issue a fraud overpayment determination. Federal law can add criminal penalties of up to $1,000 in fines, up to one year in prison, or both for false statements made to obtain benefits.16eCFR. 20 CFR 614.11 – Overpayments; Penalties for Fraud Report earnings honestly and keep your weekly answers accurate, and this part of the law never comes into play.