Unemployment Insurance (Montana)

If you lost work through no fault of your own, you may get temporary weekly payments from the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. File your claim online at uiclaimant.mt.gov. Then request payment each week you are unemployed. For help, call the Claims Processing Center at 406-444-2545.

Your claim is valid for 52 weeks, called your benefit year. Within that year, your weekly benefit can be paid for up to 24 weeks. Working part-time while you claim draws less each week, and it can make your total last longer.

Plan for a waiting week. There is one unpaid waiting week per claim. You still must file a payment request for that week, but you are not paid for it. So expect your first real payment to come a little later.

Your benefit is based on your past wages. Montana uses a base period, which is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file. If you do not qualify on that base period, the state can use an alternate base period instead.

Each week you claim, you must be able to work, be available for work, and actively look for work. You make employer work-search contacts each week, and you generally cannot use the same employer two weeks in a row. You can earn up to 25 percent of your weekly benefit before your pay starts to lower your payment. Report any earnings for the week you did the work.

Whether you qualify is up to the program, not this page. It looks at your wages, why you left the job, and your weekly effort to find work. While you claim, SNAP can help with food, Medicaid can keep the family covered, and 2-1-1 can point you to local rent help.