Is severance counted as earnings to increase my California unemployment benefit determination?

Does the State of California consider severance payments as "earnings" when determining my weekly unemployment benefit amount? That is, should I until my severance payment is included in my base period before filling an unemployment insurance claim in the hopes that this would increase my weekly unemployment benefit determination? Thank you in advance for your answers!|||In CA, your Base Period is the first 4 of the last 5 quarters. For example, if you were to become eligible for UI benefits this month or in June, they would look at your earnings from:


April-June 2009, July-Sept. 2009, Oct-Dec 2009, Jan.-March 2010 Any earnings from April-June 2010 would not be counted (including severance).





If you waited until July 2010 to begin your claim, then your severance would be included. And it may be worthwhile to wait until July to submit your claim if:


1) you terminated employment in June. If you terminate in April or May, you would be ONLY earning those severance benefits between termination and filing which may lower your benefit level.


2) it would make such a significant difference that it would make up for your having missed benefits during the weeks/months you didn't claim.





And don't forget -- currently benefits are only expected to be extended through December 31, 2010. If you don't claim until July 1, 2010, your benefits will probably only be for the usual 26 weeks CA pays. If you begin your claim prior to July 1, you may be eligible for Tier I benefits - an additional 20 weeks.





So think about this decision carefully and run the numbers under all the scenarios. Of course, it's always possible that you'll get another job before any of these choices even need to be made. Now that would be sweet, wouldn't it?|||The period that they look at does not usually include the last few months of the last job. So the severance pay would not affect your claim if this is how they do things in your state. Maybe you can find out on line which exact months they will be looking at when you file.


Good luck.