Returning to Work

If you return to work, stop filing your Weekly Certifications to discontinue your benefits. You do not need to report to DES that you’ve gone back to work.

If you continue to receive benefits for weeks after you return to work, you may be required to pay back the benefits you were overpaid.

Continue to file your Weekly Certifications and report any wages you earn. Remember, you must report wages for the week in which you earned them, not the week in which you are paid.

Any wages you earn may affect your weekly benefit amount.

Generally, an employee is disqualified from receiving further benefits if the employee chooses not to return to work after receiving notice to do so from their employer. If your employer has called you back and you did not return to work, you should report that you have refused an offer to work when filing your Weekly Certification. You will have an opportunity to provide more information about your reason for not returning to work.

DES will determine eligibility for unemployment benefits on a case-by-case basis.

You may continue to be eligible for benefits if you do not return to work for good cause. Examples of good cause related to COVID-19 are set out above these FAQs in the section entitled Returning to Work, including being diagnosed with COVID-19, caring for someone with COVID-19 or being unable to get to work because of travel restrictions due to COVID-19.

You may apply for an extension of benefits for up to 13 weeks through the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program. 

When you exhaust your regular state unemployment benefits, you will see an ‘Apply for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation’ link instead of a link to file your Weekly Certification in your online account. Learn more about applying for PEUC here.

If you are 65 or older and/or you have a medical condition that puts you at a high risk for severe illness if you are infected with COVID-19, and your employer is not able to offer you a safe workplace or your job does not allow for a reasonable accommodation such as teleworking, you may have good cause for not returning to work and be eligible to receive benefits.

A note from a Doctor of Medicine or Osteopathy who is authorized to practice medicine by the state will be considered as proof of a high-risk medical condition.

You should talk to your employer. If your employer has taken steps to create a safer workplace by following safety standards as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) or other governmental authorities or industry groups, you may be found ineligible for benefits if you choose not to return to work. If your employer is not following recommended safety standards, then your refusal to return to work may make you eligible for benefits.

No. Choosing not to return to work solely on the basis that you will earn less than you can collect in unemployment benefits is not considered good cause when your employer has offered you your former employment back or other suitable employment. If you refuse to return to work solely on this basis you will not be eligible to receive benefits.

You and your employer will be notified about the determination of your eligibility. The employee and employer both have the right to appeal the determination if they disagree with the decision.

You do not need to report to DES that your employees are returning to work. However, please notify your employees who have been receiving unemployment assistance that they should stop filing their Weekly Certifications for benefits.

If employees continue to receive benefits for weeks after they return to work, they may be required to repay the benefits they were overpaid.

Employers may report to DES that employees have not returned to work when work is available. Sign into your online account at des.nc.gov and click on the form on your ‘Employer Homepage’ to submit information about an employee’s refusal to return to work. We will review the information to help determine the employee’s’ eligibility for unemployment benefits.

Eligibility for unemployment benefits is determined on a case-by-case basis. Typically, an employee who quits without good cause is not eligible for benefits.

An employee may have good cause to refuse to work, and may be eligible to receive benefits, if there is a valid risk to their health and safety due to a significant risk of COVID-19 exposure or infection at the place of business.

It is recommended that employers comply with guidance from the CDC and/or other authorities to help provide a safer workplace as their employees return to work.

An employee may be eligible to receive unemployment benefits if there is a substantial change in the contract of hire and they quit their position.

For example, if you reduce their pay by 25 to 30%, permanently change their assigned shift without their agreement, move them to a new facility with a substantially longer commute, or make other drastic modifications to the type of work for which you hired them would constitute a substantial change in the contract of hire.

However, minor changes, for example moving them to a new line, requiring one or two extra hours of work a day, or changing their work location in the same facility, etc., likely would not constitute a change in the contract of hire, and they would not be eligible for unemployment benefits.

The issue of what is substantial is very fact specific and is determined on a case-by-case basis.

The employer and employee will be notified about the determination of eligibility for benefits. Both have the right to appeal the determination if they disagree with the decision.