How do you file your weekly unemployment claim in Massachusetts?

Start requesting benefits the week after you apply, even while DUA is still reviewing your application. DUA calls each request a weekly certification.

How to file your weekly claim

Online, log in to your Unemployment Services for Workers account and select Request benefits from the dashboard. The link appears after DUA decides your earnings qualify you for benefits. Answer the prompts about your week and enter your work search activities.

The account runs on MyMassGov. An old UI Online account will not log you in to the new system, so sign up for MyMassGov using the same email address the old account used.

By phone, call the TeleCert line at (617) 626-6338. It takes weekly requests every day between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., and you need your 4-digit TeleCert PIN. If that PIN was never set, or has stopped working, the PIN Selection Line, (617) 626-6943, sets or resets it. Callers who are deaf or hard of hearing reach the Department through the voice relay service at 711.

Either way, DUA asks whether you were able to work, available for work, and actively looking for work that week. You also report any change in your income or work status, and any change in your ability and availability.

Log in to Unemployment Services for Workers

Working part time while you claim

A part-time week is still a week you claim. Report what you earned when you file, and earnings above 1/3 of your weekly benefit amount come off that week's payment.

DUA publishes the arithmetic. On a $300 weekly benefit, $105 earned in the week means $5 is deducted and $295 is paid for that week.

Self-employment income works the same way for reporting. You may still be eligible after you start earning it, and you report it on the weekly claim. The deduction itself is set out on how much Massachusetts unemployment pays.

When you start working again

You cannot collect for a week you are working full time, and DUA tells you to stop filing the week that work starts.

If the work stops again and you still need benefits, you can reopen the claim.

The 3 work search activities you report each week

Every week you claim, you report at least 3 job search activities. Do fewer than 3 in a week and you are not eligible for benefits that week. The one exception is an approved training program: if you are in one, you do not report work search activities at all.

These count, and DUA's own list is open rather than closed:

• Sending an application, resume, or letter of interest to an employer or through an employment website
• Making an in-person visit to an employer who might be hiring
• Attending a job fair, networking event, or employment workshop, whether private or run by a MassHire Career Center
• Interviewing with an employer in person, by phone, or online
• Registering for work with a private employment agency or placement service

The paper work search log is gone. Every activity is reported online in your Unemployment Services for Workers account, and a paper log cannot be uploaded there. Keep a written record for yourself anyway, with the type of activity and the date you did it, in case staff need to check it.

If DUA picks you for the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment program, you have to complete it to keep collecting. A Career Center Seminar comes first, then 2 one-on-one meetings with a RESEA specialist. The RESEA program line is 617-626-5300, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

When to file, and what happens if you miss a week

The week you are claiming for ends on a Saturday, and filing for it opens the Sunday after. You can file any day of that new week, and for up to 3 weeks after it, though DUA asks you to request benefits as soon as you can.

Miss the Saturday and you still have 21 days to file for the week you missed. Miss 3 weeks in a row and the claim closes, and you have to reopen it to start collecting again.

That is how a vacation closes a claim. You do not have to file while you are traveling, but the same 3-week rule runs while you are away. What travel does to your eligibility is set out on who qualifies for unemployment in Massachusetts.

If DUA sends you a fact-finding questionnaire

DUA can ask for more information about your claim at any point, and the request lands in the Action Center of your Unemployment Services for Workers account. Select the action, follow the prompts, and upload any documents it asks for from a phone or a computer.

DUA also contacts you by mail or email, following your communication preferences, and the same message stays in your account. Answer quickly, because an open request holds up the claim.

To answer a fact-finding request by phone, call the DUA Call Center at (617) 626-6800, Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Call Center has not taken calls on Fridays since August 2025, so a Friday call reaches nobody.

When your payment arrives

The first week you file is a waiting week and is not paid. Your first payment covers the second week you claim.

After that, payment is usually issued 2 business days after you file the weekly claim, work search activities included. Once a claim is approved, your account shows when you will be paid and how the money reaches you, by debit card or by direct deposit.

The Direct Deposit Line, (617) 626-6570, sets up direct deposit, changes it, or cancels it. When a payment has not turned up, the Payment Status line, (617) 626-6563, reports the status of a claim or a benefit payment.