Unemployment benefits in Idaho

Can I get benefits?

You must have wages in at least two quarters of your base period, at least $1,872 in one quarter, and total base-period wages of at least 1.25 times your highest quarter.

Law: Idaho Code 72-1367(1)

If you quit

If you quit, you must show good cause connected with your job: reasons that come from the working conditions, job tasks or employment agreement and that a reasonable person would find real, substantial and compelling.

If you were fired

If you were fired, the employer has the burden of proving the discharge was for workplace misconduct.

Law: Idaho Code 72-1366(1), (5), (6), (14); IDAPA 09.01.30.275

Quit, fired, refused work and the federal rules →

The wage test, the amount and your estimate →

How much and how long?

Weekly benefit

$72–$624

Weeks

10 to 26 weeks

Waiting week

A waiting week

How it is figured, the full rules and the estimate tool →

How to file in Idaho

Apply online in the Claimant Portal, 24 hours a day. For help, call 208-332-8942, visit a local IDOL office, or make an appointment with an unemployment insurance navigator.

Apply as soon as you are out of work or your hours are cut.

What to have ready

• Your name, Social Security number and contact information
• Every employer you worked for in the past 2 years, with complete addresses and dates of employment, including employers in other states, military and federal employers
• Military: your DD-214. Federal workers: your SF-8 and SF-50

Certify (claim your weeks)

Weekly. File a weekly certification in the Claimant Portal for each week (Sunday to Saturday) during the following week; you have 7 full days.

Everything about filing →

Appeal a denial

• Appeal to an appeals examiner — 14 calendar days from the date the determination was mailed or sent electronically (the date of service)
• Appeal to the Idaho Industrial Commission — 14 calendar days from the date the appeals examiner's decision was mailed
• Appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court — 42 calendar days

Deadline calculator, appeal letter and hearing checklist: Appeal details →

The hearing

Format

Hearings are held by telephone before an appeals examiner.

Overpayments and waivers

An overpayment means you were paid benefits you were not entitled to.

Appeal within

14 days from the date of service (mailing) of the overpayment determination

Waiver

The state can waive some overpayments.

Law: Idaho Code 72-1369

Waiver details and the hearing checklist →

Someone filed a claim in your name

If you got mail, an email, a 1099-G or a notice to your employer about a claim you did not file, report it with IDOL's online identity theft form. Do not click identity verification links or register with ID.me for a claim you did not file. You can also report unemployment fraud to IDOL's toll-free fraud tip line at 1-877-540-8638 or by email to Fraud@labor.idaho.gov.

• Report it online
• Phone: 1-877-540-8638

National steps

1. Report it to the state where the claim was filed and follow its instructions. Some states ask for a police report or a sworn statement.
2. If you got a 1099-G for benefits you did not receive, the state will send a corrected 1099-G. When you file taxes, report only the income you actually received; do not wait for the corrected form.
3. Check your free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com or 877-322-8228. Report other identity theft at IdentityTheft.gov.
4. You can also report unemployment identity fraud that happened after March 2020 to the U.S. Department of Justice National Center for Disaster Fraud. You must still report it to the state.

U.S. Department of Labor: report unemployment identity fraud

Good to know in Idaho

• Idaho has short appeal deadlines: 14 days for the first appeal and 14 days to appeal to the Industrial Commission.

  Law: Idaho Code 72-1368

• The number of weeks depends on both how steady your wages were and the state unemployment rate.

  Law: Idaho Code 72-1367(3)

• Fraud penalties rise with each finding: 25%, then 50%, then 100% of the overpayment.

  Law: Idaho Code 72-1369(2)

Changes in 2024–2026

Maximum weekly benefit rose from $590 (claims from January 2025) to $624 for new claims filed from the first full week of January 2026 (IDOL Administrative Orders 674 and 683). 72-1367 was amended in 2025 without changing the benefit amounts reviewed here.

Law: 2025 ch. 29

Questions about unemployment in Idaho