About LayoffNow
LayoffNow exists for one moment: the day someone loses a job and has no idea where to start. We explain how unemployment insurance actually works — filing, eligibility, benefit amounts, weekly certification, and appeals — in plain English and Spanish, for all 50 states.
Why We Built This
Every state runs its own unemployment insurance program with its own rules, forms, and deadlines. The official state sites are authoritative but often hard to navigate under stress. We built LayoffNow to sit one layer above those sites: a clear explanation of the process, paired with real agency contact information — phone numbers, portal URLs, filing hours — so you can act immediately without having to hunt.
Who Writes LayoffNow
LayoffNow is produced by its editorial team — a small group of writers and researchers who specialize in turning dense unemployment-insurance rules into plain-language guidance. Every guide is written to a shared editorial standard and reviewed against primary sources before it publishes. Rather than attribute each of our 400+ state-and-topic pages to an individual, we publish under the LayoffNow Editorial Team and hold the whole team accountable to the same sourcing and accuracy rules described below. We are not lawyers or caseworkers, and we do not present ourselves as either; where a situation needs professional judgment, we say so and point you to the agency or legal-aid resource that can help.
How We Work
Our editorial process:
- We source benefit figures (maximum weekly benefit, duration, waiting week, work search requirements) from the U.S. Department of Labor's official state UI data tables and each state's agency website.
- Phone numbers and physical addresses on state pages are fetched directly from the official state agency website — we do not guess or use third-party directories.
- Federal legal citations (WARN Act, ADEA, COBRA) reference the actual U.S. Code sections.
- State-specific UI statutes are cited by their standard codification and linked to state legislature sites where available.
- We flag data that has not been re-verified against the most recent state publication, and we direct users to the official source for binding numbers.
See our full Sources & Method page for the detailed policy, including our corrections process.
What We Are — and Are Not
We are an independent information resource. We are not a government agency, not affiliated with any state's labor department or the U.S. Department of Labor, and not a law firm. We do not process claims, hold anyone's personal claim data, or make eligibility determinations. Every page links out to the actual agency that does. Nothing on this site is legal advice.
By the Numbers
How Often We Update
Unemployment numbers move on a predictable calendar and an unpredictable one. Maximum weekly benefit amounts are typically adjusted once a year by each state; rules, deadlines, and portal URLs can change any time a legislature or agency acts. We review benefit figures at least annually against the U.S. Department of Labor's published data and re-check individual pages whenever a reader flags a change or we notice an agency update. Each state guide shows the month it was last reviewed, and every page tells you to confirm binding numbers on the official agency site — because those are the numbers that govern your claim.
How We're Funded
LayoffNow is free to read and always will be. We cover our costs through advertising, which may include Google AdSense and similar networks. Ads are labeled and kept separate from our guidance, and advertisers have no influence over what we write, which sources we cite, or the benefit figures we publish. We do not charge for any information, and we never take payment to file, expedite, or influence anyone's unemployment claim.
Corrections and Feedback
Found something inaccurate, outdated, or confusing? We treat corrections as a priority — a report from a user directly triggers a review of that page. Reach us through our contact page or at [email protected].