Official Site of The State of New Jersey

If you received a confirmation number, you do not have to take any action - your claim will be reviewed by Unemployment Insurance staff. Our system is experiencing record levels of demand and all in-person services statewide are currently only available virtually due to COVID-19. If you believe your claim should be backdated, you’ll need to inform us by contacting our call center, even if you submit your application online.

Per the Continued Assistance Act, claimants who received  a PUA payment after December 27, 2020 now must demonstrate that they were working or about to commence employment/self-employment, by providing documentation about earnings or an official work offer.

We cannot verify your claim without proof of attachment to the labor market prior to the pandemic. Without this verification, you will be denied benefits and have to pay back any benefits you’ve received on this claim since December 27, 2020.

If you began collecting PUA benefits earlier, for weeks of benefits between December 27, 2020 through the end of the PUA program, you will have 90 days to submit documentation.

If you file a new PUA claim after January 31, 2021, you will have 21 days to submit documentation.

The following documents are acceptable proof of income prior to the pandemic. Please note that you only need to upload ONE of these documents, but you may upload as many as you think will be helpful for determining your earnings or official work offer. Please use a standard file format such as PDF, JPG, JPEG, DOC or DOCX. Do not send attachments with the .HEIC extension, as these files cannot be viewed and will not count as proof of employment. Please convert .HEIC files to an accepted file, such as a PDF or a JPG.

Covered Employment

• Paycheck stubs
• Earnings and leave statements that include the employer's name and address
• W-2

Self-Employment

• 2019 or 2020 tax returns with appropriate attachments (Schedule C, Schedule C-EZ, Schedule F, 1065 with K-1 attachment, Schedule SE)
• Invoices with your name or your company name, including payment for that invoice
• Registration of a company with the state or federal employer identification number
• Business license
• 1099s

Commencement of Employment

• Offer letter of employment
• Statement/signed affidavit by an individual stating details of work offered (this must include the individual’s name, address, and contact number for verification)

Commencement of Self-Employment

• Business license
• State or Federal Employer Identification Number
• Written business plan
• Lease agreement

First, gather documentation to prove earnings or an official work offer. View the question above for a list of acceptable documentation.

Step 1: You will receive an email from e-Adjudication. This email will ask you to click on a link titled “Claimant Form,” which will direct you to NJDOL’s secure sign in. Enter your email address and password.

• If you do not receive this email, please be sure to check your spam folder.
• To access the form, you need your email address and password. Emails asking to respond with additional information, like your social security number, may be spam.

**iPhone/Mac Users – Please use Chrome, Firefox or Edge browsers to complete this process. Users have experienced challenges uploading any required documents through the Safari browser.**

You will be directed to the Welcome page. Read the instructions on how to save this form and select next.

Step 2: You will be directed to the PUA Verification page and asked to answer the following required questions.

• Did you work in self-employment in 2019 or 2020? (this means you were not paid with a form W2; you may have been paid with a form 1099)
• Did you work in covered employment in 2019 or 2020? (this means you are paid by a form W2)
• Were you scheduled to commence employment during the pandemic that could not begin as scheduled?

You will be asked when you began working for each employer (or when was your scheduled start date), and when was your last day you worked prior to the pandemic. 

Step 3: You will be directed to the Document Upload page. Upload your document(s) verifying proof of income or an official work offer.

• Before you begin: Watch our helpful video showing how to properly attach and upload files.
• You only need to upload ONE of these documents, but you may upload as many as you think will be helpful for determining your earnings or official work offer.
• Please use a standard file format such as PDF, JPG, JPEG, DOC or DOCX.
• Do not send attachments with the .HEIC extension, these files cannot be viewed and will not count as proof of employment. Please convert .HEIC files to an accepted file, such as a PDF or a JPG.
• You may take and upload a picture of these documents if it is an accepted file format. Please ensure that the picture is not blurry, that it captures the entire document, and that the document is readable.
• iPhone/Mac Users – Please use Chrome, Firefox or Edge browsers to complete this process. Users have experienced challenges uploading any required documents through the Safari browser.
• Make sure to hit the blue “upload" button after selecting your file. If you do not click upload, you will not have attached the required documentation.

Step 4: You will be directed to the Certify & Submit page. It should confirm that you have at least one document attached. If this page says you have submitted zero documents, you did not successfully attach your proof of income. Return to the prior screen and be sure to select “upload” under your attached document. If you need help, watch our video showing how to do so correctly.

Please note: We cannot verify your claim if you do not successfully attach your proof of income earned prior to the pandemic. Without this verification, you will be denied benefits and have to pay back any benefits you’ve received on this claim since December 27, 2020. Please make sure your documents are submitted.

After, check the box certifying that your answers are true and accurate, and select submit.

Your username is the email address used to file your claim. If you forgot your password, use the “Forgot Password?” option on the sign-in page. Instructions on how to reset your password will be sent to the email address we have on file.

Keep in mind, you will be asked to answer your security questions exactly how you entered them when creating your account. This means you have to use exact spelling, dashes, and spaces.

If that doesn't help you, or if you forgot the answers to your security questions, submit a message through our online form. Fill in first page of the form and click "Next." Select “Trouble Creating an Account (Password Reset)" to submit a request to reset your password. After we review your request, we will email instructions so you can reset your password and/or security questions.

You must certify weekly. Review these guidelines when certifying your weekly benefits to ensure you receive your benefits without delay.

Before you begin, get the following ready:

• Your Social Security number (SSN) and PIN (NOTE: if you haven’t yet created a PIN for your claim, you will have the opportunity to do that when you certify for the first time)
• Accessible instructions to answer the certifying questions for weeks of unemployment before 9/4

NEW CERTIFIERS: If you received notification that your claim is payable, check our schedule page before you certify. Each week, the day and times to certify are staggered by Social Security number (SSN). The day and time assigned to your SSN may change, so check the schedule page each week.

If you miss your assigned time, there is a second window of time that is open to your SSN later on your assigned day.

Additionally, Friday is open to certify for any Social Security number. If you miss these time slots, you may use the following week’s assigned time to certify for both the current and past week.

Answering these weekly certification questions differently than described in the instructions will delay payment and might require the help of an agent. If you are receiving PUA, please use the certification question guidelines for weeks before 9/4/21 to answer the certification questions. It is vital that you review the guidelines, and keep them available and open to you as you continue the weekly process.

NEW CERTIFIERS: If you received notification this week that your claim is payable, certify during your assigned time (see #1, above).

At the top of the page, in the dark blue bar, you'll see a link that says $ Certify for weekly benefits.

You'll be taken to the most current schedule page. After verifying the time slot(s) assigned to your Social Security Number, click the link that says "Certify for weekly benefits."

In order to certify for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits each week, you are required to select the reason that your employment has been impacted by coronavirus. You may choose more than one option.

Please read and attest to your understanding that fraud is a crime. You must acknowledge the terms of the fraud warning at the bottom of the page.

Certain answers to certain questions will delay payment. Check which week you are certifying for - PUA claims are only for weeks before 9/4. Please use the certification question guidelines for weeks before 9/4/21 to answer appropriately to avoid a delay in your payment.

Again, review these guidelines, keep them available, and use them, question by question, to complete your weekly certification process.

After completing the seven certifying questions and clicking “Submit,” a page appears with a confirmation number.

At the bottom of the page, in the center, you will see a button labeled “Claim Additional Week” if you have not certified yet all the weeks available to you, up to the current date. (See example below.) If that button appears, click on it so that you can certify for benefits for another week. The button will continue to appear until you have certified for all past weeks available on your claim.

You will have 30 minutes to claim any weeks of benefits available to you. If you need more time to certify all of your past weeks, review the weekly schedule for your next 30-minute slot.

PUA calculated your benefit level based on income you received in the last completed tax year before you filed your claim. For example, if you filed a claim in 2020, then your 2019 income will be used to calculate your benefit level. If you are self-employed, your NET income (after deductions) is used to calculate your benefit level. If you are not self-employed, your GROSS income (before deductions) is used to calculate your benefit level. The calculation to determine the amount payable is the same as regular unemployment (60% of your average weekly salary, up to a maximum of $731 per week) for up to a total of 79 weeks. PUA benefits are subject to federal income taxes.

If you do not meet the monetary requirements for a valid unemployment claim, you will receive the PUA minimum, $230 per week.

PUA recipients may also have been eligible for an extra $300 per week from January 2021 to the week ending September 4, 2021 through Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which is also taxable.

PUA expired September 4, 2021. After September 4, 2021, no new applications will be assessed for PUA.

The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) took effect April 1, 2020 and gave certain workers access to emergency paid leave to care for themselves or a loved one, or to care for their children at home, due to coronavirus, and provided tax credits for these leaves to employers and self-employed workers. The federal American Rescue Plan Act, signed March 11, 2021, extended the tax credits through September 30, 2021. This is a federal program; NJDOL is providing this information as a resource to our workers. Questions should be directed to the USDOL and IRS.

For additional guidance, visit:

• USDOL: Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers
• IRS: COVID-19-Related Tax Credits for Paid Leave Provided by Small and Midsize Businesses FAQs
• IRS: American Rescue Plan tax credits to provide paid leave to employees receiving COVID-19 vaccines
• IRS: Specific Provisions Related to Self-Employed Individuals

To receive these benefits, it is recommended that you keep the following records:

1. Documentation to show how you determined the amount of sick leave and childcare leave that you used, including records of work and telework;
2. Documentation to show how you determined these expenses;
3. Copies of any completed IRS Forms 7200 (“Advance Payment of Employer Credits Due to COVID-19”) that you submitted to the IRS;
4. Copies of the completed IRS Forms 941 (“Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return”) you submitted to the IRS; and,
5. Any other relevant documents requested by the IRS. For more information, please consult IRS: COVID-19-Related Tax Credits for Paid Leave Provided by Small and Midsize Businesses FAQs