Will I collect the same amount of unemployment benefit that I got in Mass if I move to South Carolina ?

by anonymous

(SC)

Hello, Someone I know who lives in Massachusetts and got laid off and is collecting there, wants to move to SC. They have heard that if you move to another state you can still collect from the original state but they also were told that what they collect in SC will be in line with what SC would give them and not be what Mass. was giving them. I could not find anywhere on the website that specifically says … if you are being paid the max in Mass and you move to SC then you will still get that amount. The person I know thinks, if you are getting the max in Mass then you will get SC max if you move there, which could be $300 less, due to cost of living difference… I saw on the Mass website that you would be paid as if living in Mass but my friend thinks they are leaving something out… what do you say? Thank you, Anonymous

Hi Anonymous,

Your question makes me :))))

For years I tried to find an answer that would satisfy me about interstate claims…because for years people from other states…would go to Mass to file for unemployment because of the higher WBA’s…and get them. I asked hearing officers, tax people, lawyers, and anyone else I thought might have a clue about “How could this be???”

My problem with it was if a person’s wage credits were from taxes paid on wages in a lower paying state (which pays WBA’s) and they started collecting benefits from Mass…per Mass statute, who was paying the difference?

I never did find out who was paying and evidently the feds thought this was a problem too because effective sometime in January of this year (2009) a whole bunch of out of state people collecting MA benefits stopped receiving checks.

It seems the feds redefined “paying state”. The effect was that if you do not have wages in the state where you apply you can’t collect under that state’s statutes.

So here’s what I think…not confirmed, (which would be easy enough to do by calling the state)

Your friend will continue to receive Massachusetts WBA (weekly benefit amount) because his claim was established in MA, based on wages earned in MA and being paid by MA.

Massachusetts would be the “paying state”, SC would be the “agent state” because your friend will need to register for work in SC and adhere to any requirements they may have for job searching because they must keep tabs on us and make sure we’re not loafing around.

I don’t know what will happen if he gets an extension though.

I did check to see if Locality might be a problem, but it looks good. It’s
page 22 in this USDOL publication.

Now because “interstate” stuff is a big dark hole tell you friend to confirm this with the state of Massachusetts.