1. (a) Any unemployed individual who has had employment covered under the unemployment compensation law of two or more States, whether or not the individual is monetarily qualified under one or more of them, may elect to file a Combined-Wage Claim. The individual may not so elect, however, if the individual has established a benefit year under any State or Federal unemployment compensation law and:

   1. (1) The benefit year has not ended, and
   2. (2) The individual still has unused benefit rights based on such benefit year. ¹

2. (b) For the purposes of this arrangement, a claimant will not be considered to have unused benefit rights based on a benefit year which the claimant has established under a State or Federal unemployment compensation law if:

   1. (1) The claimant has exhausted his/her rights to all benefits based on such benefit year; or
   2. (2) The claimant's rights to such benefits have been postponed for an indefinite period or for the entire period in which benefits would otherwise be payable; or
   3. (3) Benefits are affected by the application of a seasonal restriction.
3. (c) If an individual elects to file a Combined-Wage Claim, all employment and wages in all States in which the individual worked during the base period of the paying State must be included in such combining, except employment and wages which are not transferrable under the provisions of § 616.9(b).

4. (d) A Combined-Wage Claimant may withdraw his/her Combined-Wage Claim within the period prescribed by the law of the paying State for filing an appeal, protest, or request for redetermination (as the case may be) from the monetary determination of the Combined-Wage Claim, provided the claimant either:

   1. (1) Repays in full any benefits paid to him thereunder, or
   2. (2) Authorizes the State(s) against which the claimant files a substitute claim(s) for benefits to withhold and forward to the paying State a sum sufficient to repay such benefits.
5. (e) If the Combined-Wage Claimant files his/her claim in a State other than the paying State, the claimant shall do so pursuant to the Interstate Benefit Payment Plan.
6. (f) If a State denies a Combined-Wage Claim, it must inform the claimant of the option to file in another State in which the claimant has wages and employment during that State's base period(s).

¹ The Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970, title II, Public Law 91-373, section 202(a)(1), limits the payment of extended benefits with respect to any week to individuals who have no rights to regular compensation with respect to such week under any State unemployment compensation law or to compensation under any other Federal law and in certain other instances. This provision precludes any individual from receiving any Federal-State extended benefits with respect to any week for which the individual is eligible to receive regular benefits based on a Combined Wage Claim. (See section 5752, part V of the Employment Security Manual.)

[36 FR 24992, Dec. 28, 1971, as amended at 71 FR 35514, 35515, June 21, 2006; 73 FR 63072, Oct. 23, 2008]