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Claimant Handbook: A Guide to Unemployment Benefits 4 Unemployment Compensation Don't share your PIN with anyone! Monetary Determination After filing an initial claim for unemployment benefits, claimants will receive a "Monetary Determination" for unemployment benefits. This determination will show: • The employers that paid unemployment taxes on eligible wages during the base period. • The start date of the benefit year, which is the Sunday of the week the claim was filed, with the end date being the Saturday of the same week one year later. • The weekly benefit amount. • The maximum benefit amount. • Any additional relevant information. Receiving Payments Benefits are issued by an outside company, Conduent. All eligible individuals will be mailed a debit card after the waiting period, or first week of benefits, is served. Unemployment payments will be issued to this debit card, but individuals may elect to have funds automatically transferred to their personal bank after receiving and activating this card. Please keep in mind the debit card is valid for three years; however, automatic transfers will be deactivated after six months of inactivity. A new card will not automatically be mailed to individuals who were previously issued a debit card which has not expired. For payment inquiries or to set up automatic transfers, contact Conduent at: • (866) 320-8699 • goprogram.com Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA) The weekly benefit amount is one twenty-third (1/23) of the highest quarter of taxable wages in the base period, not to exceed the maximum weekly benefit amount allowed by Oklahoma law. Taxable wages are those wages during the base period that are subject to unemployment tax. This is a tax paid by employers and is not taken from employee paychecks. For 2026, the maximum WBA is capped at $649.00. Maximum Benefit Amount (MBA) Typically, individuals are able to receive benefits for up to 16 weeks as established by state law; although, in some cases this can vary. Base Period Base periods are the 12-month period consisting of the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before the effective date of the claim. Once a monetarily eligible claim is established, the base period cannot be changed. For base period purposes, quarters change after the first Sunday in the quarter. 1st quarter—January, February, March 2nd quarter—April, May, June 3rd quarter—July, August, September 4th quarter—October, November, December Example If the highest calendar quarter of taxable wages during the base period is $14,000, divide that by 23 which would be $608.70. Since this exceeds the maximum allowed by law, the weekly benefit amount would be adjusted to the maximum allowed.