How do I claim Alabama unemployment benefits?
$45 to $275 a week from the Alabama Department of Workforce while you look for work. File as soon as you are out of a job, in Claimant Portal or by phone, and from September 30, 2026 a new claim also has to clear a Login.gov identity check within 10 calendar days.
File a new claim by phone: 1-866-234-5382
The Alabama Department of Workforce pays unemployment compensation week by week to a worker who lost a job through no fault of their own. It was the Alabama Department of Labor until this year, and it is the same department under a new name.
The first steps, in order
- File as soon as you are out of work. The claim is dated from the Sunday before the day you file, and it runs for 365 days from that Sunday.
- Verify your identity through Login.gov. After filing, go back to the Claimant Portal home screen, select Identity Verification, and finish inside 10 calendar days. Every new claim from September 30, 2026 has to do this, and missing the deadline may delay or deny benefits.
- Read the monetary determination the Department mails the day after you file. It lists your base period wages by employer, and the total and weekly amount you may be entitled to.
- File a weekly certification for each week you want paid, no later than 6 calendar days after that week ends.
Whether the money comes turns on why the job ended and on what you earned before it, which who qualifies sets out in the law's own words. How to file has the phone route, the list of what to have ready, and the identity check step by step. If you have no computer at home, or would rather do this face to face, offices and phone numbers lists the Alabama Career Centers.
Alabama unemployment guides
- How to fileFiling online or by phone, what to have ready, and the Login.gov check
- Who qualifiesWage tests, quitting, firing, and staying eligible
- How much it paysThe formula, the minimum and maximum, and what comes off a payment
- How long it lastsThe formula behind your weeks, the benefit year, and running out
- Weekly claims and work searchCertifying each week, the deadlines, the payment, and work search proof
- Denials, appeals, and overpaymentsThe appeal deadline and how to count it, hearings, overpayments, and fraud
- TaxesFederal withholding, Alabama's own rule, and your Form 1099-G
- Offices and phone numbersWhich number to call for what, and where the Career Centers are
- DisabilityWhere disability payments come from, and how to apply in Alabama
- JobsThe state job bank, what your registration does, and the Career Centers
- Questions and answersAnswers that cross the guides, and the other help after a layoff