Unemployment Insurance Laws, Regulations, and Guidance
Overview
If you have any questions please contact John Schuettinger at 202-693-2680, or Tiffany Agnew at 202-693-2998. For Confidentiality questions please contact Agnes Wells at 202-693-2996
- Comparison of State UI Laws
- Significant Provisions of State UI Laws
- Report on State Legislation
- State Law Information
- Unemployment Compensation: Federal-State Partnership
Federal Laws
- Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)
- Social Security Act (SSA) [Title III, Title IX, and Title XII]
- Federal Employees (5 USC 8501)
- Ex-Service Members (5 USC 8521)
- Extended Benefits
- Disaster Unemployment Assistance
- Trade Readjustment Allowances
- Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
- Other Provisions
- Clarifying Provision Relating to Base Periods
- Information Required with Respect to Taxation of Unemployment Benefits
- Collection of Unemployment Compensation Debts via the Treasury Offset Program
- Reporting to the State Directory of New Hires for Purposes of Overpayment Detection
- Treatment of Payments and Advances Made with Respect to Unemployment Compensation Programs for Purposes of Sequestration
Federal Regulations
- Administrative Procedure (20 CFR 601)
- Quality Control in the Federal-State Unemployment Insurance System (20 CFR 602)
- Confidentiality and Disclosure of State UC Information (20 CFR 603)
- Regulations for Eligibility for Unemployment Compensation (20 CFR 604)
- Tax Credits under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act; Advances under Title XII of the Social Security Act (20 CFR 606)
- Unemployment Compensation for Federal Civilian Employees (20 CFR 609)
- Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (20 CFR 614)
- Extended Benefits in the Federal-State Unemployment Compensation Program (20 CFR 615)
- Interstate Arrangement for Combining Employment and Wages (20 CFR 616)
- Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers (20 CFR 618)
- Unemployment Compensation Data Exchange Standardization for Improved Interoperability (20 CFR 619)
- Drug Testing for State Unemployment Compensation Eligibility Determination Purposes (20 CFR 620)
- Disaster Unemployment Assistance (20 CFR 625)
- Standard for Benefit Payment Promptness—Unemployment Compensation (20 CFR 640)
- Standard for Appeals Promptness—Unemployment Compensation (20 CFR 650)
- Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Regulations
Significant Historical Information
- Response to Covid-19 Pandemic
- Chronology of Federal Unemployment Compensation Laws
- Archived State Law Publications
- Special Federal Extension and Supplemental Benefit Programs
- Response to the Great Recession of 2008
- UI Modernization
Federal Guidance
- UIPLs and other Advisories
- Manual of State Employment Security Legislation 1950 (Blue Book)
- Unemployment Insurance Legislative Policy …1962 (Brown Book)
- Draft Legislation … 1970 (Orange Book)
- Draft Language … 1976 (Green Book)
Interstate Agreements
With the advent of unemployment insurance legislation in this country, it became apparent that the State-Federal relationship envisioned would present some problems in implementation. In order to effectively provide adequate protection for all covered workers, a series of agreements between states was proposed and implemented. The following is a list of current Interstate Agreements
- Interstate Benefit Payment Plan
- Agreement Between Canada and United States
- Interstate Reciprocal Coverage Agreement
- Interstate Maritime Reciprocal Arrangement
- Interstate Great Lakes Reciprocal Arrangement
- Documents in Portable Document Format (.pdf) require Adobe Reader 5.0 or higher to view. Download Adobe Reader.
- Documents in Word format (.docx, .doc) require Word Viewer. Download Word Viewer.