How to Fill Out the Pennsylvania UC-304 Work Search Record

The Pennsylvania UC-304 is the state’s work search record form, where unemployment claimants log the job applications and employment-seeking activities required each week to keep benefits. You don’t send it in with your weekly claim. You keep it, and you produce it if the Department of Labor and Industry asks. A blank PDF is posted at uc.pa.gov.1Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry. UC-304 Pennsylvania Unemployment Work Search Record

What You Have to Log Each Week

The work search obligation starts in the third week of your benefit year that you file a claim. The first two weeks are free of it.2Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Weekly Work Search Instructions From week three on, every week you file you must do three things:

  • Apply for at least two jobs. In person, online, by phone, by mail, or through whatever hiring procedure the employer uses. A scheduled interview counts in place of one application.
  • Complete at least one qualifying work search activity from the state’s approved list. A third job application also satisfies this.
  • Record all of it in writing, on the UC-304 or any personal log that captures the same information.

If you’re limiting your search to jobs similar to your previous position and can’t find two openings in a given week, you can substitute a work search activity for one of the missing applications. The combined total of applications and activities still has to reach two before the separate activity requirement counts.3Legal Information Institute. 34 Pa Code 65.11 – Active Search for Work If you worked part-time that week and earned more than your partial benefit credit, your second application and the activity are waived.2Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Weekly Work Search Instructions

What Counts as an Application vs. an Activity

The form splits your effort into two sections, and entries have to land in the right one.

Job Applications and Interviews

Any contact where you apply for a specific open position counts. Submitting an online application, emailing or mailing a resume, filling out a paper application, following the employer’s hiring portal — all qualify. A scheduled interview counts as one application.2Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Weekly Work Search Instructions Reapplying for the same position with the same employer does not count a second time unless you have a reasonable basis to believe the hiring circumstances have changed.3Legal Information Institute. 34 Pa Code 65.11 – Active Search for Work

Work Search Activities

These are broader efforts that aren’t tied to a specific posting. The state accepts any of:4Department of Labor and Industry. Work Search/Job Registration FAQs

  • Attending a job fair.
  • Searching open positions on PA CareerLink or another job board.
  • Creating or uploading a resume to PA CareerLink or another job board.
  • Networking: contacting former coworkers or others in your field about openings or your availability.
  • Using an employment agency, employment registry, or school placement service.
  • Taking a civil service or other pre-employment test.
  • Participating in a training workshop or event through PA CareerLink.

One activity a week is the minimum. If you do more, log them all. A thicker record protects you if the department later questions a specific week.

Filling Out the Form

The UC-304 is a single-page PDF. You’re not legally required to use it — any personal record with the same information is acceptable — but the layout keeps you from missing a field.2Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Weekly Work Search Instructions

Top Section: Job Applications and Interviews

Each entry asks for:

  • Date of application or interview.
  • Employer name.
  • Employer contact name. For an online application where you never spoke to anyone, note that.
  • Employer phone or email, so the department can verify.
  • How you applied: in person, online, phone, mail, or through the employer’s portal.
  • Results: application submitted, interview scheduled, position filled, no response yet.

Enter your two required applications here (or one application and one interview, or two interviews). If you applied for a third job to cover the activity requirement, log it in this section as well rather than below.

Bottom Section: Work Search Activities

Each entry asks for:

  • Date of the activity.
  • Type of activity, matching the approved list.
  • Location: a PA CareerLink office, a website URL, a convention center.
  • Contact name, if any.
  • Contact phone or email.

Be specific. “Searched for jobs online” is weaker than “Searched PA CareerLink for warehouse positions in Lehigh Valley on 3/12.” Note workshop titles. Detail recorded in the moment is detail you won’t have to reconstruct months later.

When You’re Exempt

Some situations excuse you from the work search and job registration requirements entirely for a given week. If any apply, you don’t need to complete the UC-304 for that week:5Department of Labor and Industry. Work Search

  • You’re on temporary layoff with a written recall date from your employer. Keep the recall notice. The exemption ends if the date is rescinded or passes.
  • You get work through a union hiring hall and are in good standing when you file.
  • You’re in Pennsylvania’s Shared-Work program.
  • You’re enrolled in department-approved training or a program under the Trade Adjustment Act.
  • You’re required to participate in the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program at a PA CareerLink office.
  • You participated in a department-approved work search activity or program during the week.

When an exemption ends mid-claim — for instance, your recall date passes without a return to work — the full weekly requirement resumes the next week.

PA CareerLink Registration Is Separate

All Pennsylvania unemployment claimants have to register with PA CareerLink within 30 days of filing an initial application for benefits. Miss the window and your benefits are disqualified until you complete it.6UCHelp.org. Work Registration and Work Search Requirements Go to pacareerlink.pa.gov, click “Register as a New User,” and select “Unemployment Compensation Claimant.” If you have an account from a previous claim, log in and update your profile and resume. The right side of your CareerLink portal shows a “UC Registration Compliance” status — a “Completed” label with a date means you’re current.

Registration also helps the weekly log. Searching postings on the site, uploading a resume there, and attending a CareerLink workshop all count as work search activities.

Keeping the Records and Producing Them on Request

The UC-304 stays with you. You produce it only when the Department of Labor and Industry asks.3Legal Information Institute. 34 Pa Code 65.11 – Active Search for Work The usual triggers are random audits and eligibility reviews. When you receive a request, follow the notice: the department may ask you to upload documents through benefits.uc.pa.gov, fax them, or mail them.

How Long to Keep Them

Pennsylvania requires you to retain work search records for two years from the effective date of your application for benefits.3Legal Information Institute. 34 Pa Code 65.11 – Active Search for Work That clock starts on your application date, not at the end of your benefit year. The distinction matters when a claim spans parts of two calendar years. Keep the completed UC-304 along with supporting proof: confirmation emails from employers, screenshots of online applications, interview appointment notices, workshop receipts. A folder organized by week — paper or digital — makes retrieval straightforward if an audit lands later.

Supporting Documentation

The form is a summary log. The backup is what settles a dispute. Save the confirmation page or email after each online application. Keep sign-in sheets or registration confirmations from job fairs. Save networking emails and call notes. None of this gets sent in routinely, but if the department questions a specific entry, having the underlying proof ends the question.

What Happens If You Don’t Comply

The consequences depend on whether the department sees the problem as an honest mistake or deliberate misrepresentation.

If you received benefits for weeks when you weren’t meeting work search requirements, those payments become an overpayment. A non-fault overpayment, where you made an honest mistake, is deducted from future benefits at up to one-third of your weekly benefit rate during the benefit year and the three years after it. A fault overpayment, where you misrepresented your efforts, has to be repaid in full, with interest accruing if the balance isn’t paid within 15 days of the overpayment notice. The department can recover fault overpayments from future benefits for up to ten years after the end of the relevant benefit year.7Department of Labor and Industry. Overpayment of Benefits

Deliberately falsifying a work search record, or knowingly concealing skipped activities, crosses into fraud under Section 801 of the UC Law (43 P.S. § 871). A conviction in a summary proceeding can bring a fine between $500 and $1,500, up to 30 days in jail, or both, per false statement, plus restitution with interest. The department can also impose penalty weeks: at least five weeks of disqualification, plus up to one additional week for each week of improper payment, during which no benefits are paid. A 15% surcharge on the fraudulently obtained amount is collectible as well.8New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 43 PS 871 – False Statements and Representations to Obtain or Increase Compensation

The distance between forgetting to log activities and inventing contacts is enormous in cost. Honest, detailed entries on the UC-304 each week are the simplest way to stay on the right side of it.