Am I Eligible for Unemployment Benefits in Vermont?

To qualify for unemployment benefits in Vermont, you must meet two basic requirements:

• you must have earned at least a minimum amount (and/or worked a certain amount of time) before you lost your job, and
• you must be out of work through no fault of your own.

If you meet these two qualifications when you apply, you will likely be eligible to receive unemployment benefits. (To keep receiving benefits after you are found eligible, you will also have to meet your state’s job search requirements; to learn more, see What Do I Have to Do to Keep Receiving Unemployment Benefits in Vermont?)

Gig workers, freelancers, and contractors are no longer eligible for benefits. In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, Congress greatly expanded eligibility for unemployment. Among other things, these programs provided benefits to gig workers and other contract workers who are not eligible for traditional unemployment benefits. However, these programs expired in every state on September 6, 2021; about half the states cut off these benefits even earlier. 

Eligibility Requirement 1: Minimum Earnings

Unemployment benefits are available only to those who are temporarily out of work. If you apply after being out of the workforce for years, for example, you won’t qualify for benefits. You must have been employed relatively recently, and earned at least a minimum amount, to be eligible.

States look at an applicant’s work history during a stretch of time called the “base period.”

In Vermont, the base period is the first four of the five complete calendar quarters immediately before you filed for benefits. For example, if you file for benefits on March 15, 2024, your base period will be from October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023. It would not include the most recent complete calendar quarter before you filed (October 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023) or the first two-and-a-half months of 2024.

Some states require only that you earn a minimum amount of money during the base period; other states require, either in addition or instead, that you have done some work in more than one quarter of the base period.

To qualify for benefits in Vermont, you must have earned at least $3,215 in your highest paid quarter of the base period, and at least 40% of what you earned in your highest paid quarter in the remainder of the base period. 

If you were out of work and receiving workers' compensation benefits for a total temporary disability during the regular base period, you may be eligible for an extended base period. In Vermont, you will be treated as if you filed for benefits on the date you stopped working due to your temporary disability, as long as you file for benefits within six months after your disability ended. 

If you did not earn enough to qualify for benefits during the regular base period, you may be able to use an alternate base period that counts more recent earnings. Vermont has two alternate base period. First, the Vermont Department of Labor looks at your earnings in the last four complete quarters before you file for benefits. If you don't qualify under this method, the agency will look at your earnings in the last three complete quarters before you file for benefits, plus any earnings in the quarter in which you file for benefits. For example, if you file for benefits on November 1, the agency would consider your earnings in the first three complete calendar quarters (from January 1 through September 30), plus your earnings in October. 

Eligibility Requirement 2: Reasons for Unemployment

To qualify for unemployment benefits, you must be out of work through no fault of your own. If you lose your job in a layoff, reduction-in-force (RIF), downsizing, or similar job action in which positions are cut for financial or strategic reasons, you will be eligible for benefits.

However, you don’t have to be laid off to collect unemployment. You may still be eligible even if you quit your job or you were fired, depending on the circumstances.

If You Quit Your Job

You may not be eligible for benefits in Vermont if you quit your job without good cause related to the work. 

In some states, you will be disqualified from receiving benefits for a certain number of weeks. In other states, you may be disqualified until you get another job and earn a minimum amount (typically, this amount is less than you would have to earn to qualify for benefits in the first place). Check the Vermont Claimant Handbook: A Guide to Unemployment Insurance in Vermont for more information about disqualification based on why you quit your job. 

If You Were Fired

You may not be eligible for benefits in Vermont if you were fired for misconduct. Misconduct is defined as an intentional or substantial disregard of the employer's interests. You can find out more at the Vermont Labor Department's Misconduct page. 

You may be disqualified either for a set number of weeks or until you get another job and earn a minimum amount, depending on state law. In some states, the length of the disqualification period depends on why you were fired. You can learn more about disqualification based on the reason you were fired in the Vermont Claimant Handbook: A Guide to Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. 

If You Are Still Employed

If you are still working but need time off for reasons relating to COVID-19 or other health issues, you may be eligible for paid sick leave under your state's law. See Am I Entitled to Paid Sick Leave, Family Leave, or Vacation Time in Vermont to learn more.