Basics

• Tier IV unemployment benefits last six weeks. They are the end of a 53-week program called Emergency Unemployment Compensation, in which the first three tiers last 20, 14 and 13 weeks. Tier IV benefits are available only in the states with particularly high unemployment rates --- unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent for three consecutive months. As of May 2011, residents in about half the states had access to Tier IV. In many states, you can receive 13 or 20 weeks of federal unemployment benefits after Tier IV, through a program known as Extended Benefits.
  
  

Clarification

• Six weeks is the maximum amount of time you can receive Tier IV benefits. You might not receive that much if you did not make enough in recent employment earnings to qualify for the full 26 weeks of regular state benefits. Technically, in Tier IV you receive 24 percent of the total benefits you received during your regular period of state benefits. If your regular benefits did not come out to 26 weeks, 24 percent of that amount might not equal six weeks in Tier IV.
  
  

Deadline

• As of May 2011, the only way you can receive any weeks of Tier IV benefits is to conclude Tier III benefits by Dec. 31, 2011. After that, federal funding expires and you can continue receiving emergency benefits only until completing your existing tier. Congress could extend the funding, as it did twice in 2010, but, as of May 2011, states are planning as though all tiers of Emergency Unemployment Compensation will begin phasing out at the end of the year. During the phase-out period, you can still receive all six weeks of Tier IV if you have started on the tier by the deadline.
  
  

Considerations

• As with any segment of unemployment benefits, you do not have automatic entitlement to all the available weeks in Tier IV. Maintaining eligibility requires fulfilling work-search requirements, specifically by making sure you are able to seek and accept full-time employment. You must not reject any job offer that is a suitable match for your experience and skills, although the exact definition of "suitable" can vary by state. Turning down an appropriate offer might interrupt your benefits eligibility.