Unemployment benefits in Maine

Can I get benefits?

For claims filed from June 2026, you must have earned at least $2,498.24 in each of two different quarters of your base period and at least $7,494.72 in the whole base period.

Law: 26 M.R.S. sec. 1192-A(2)(F)

If you quit

If you quit without good cause connected to your job, you are disqualified until you earn 4 times your weekly benefit amount from an employer.

If you were fired

Being fired does not by itself stop benefits.

Law: 26 M.R.S. sec. 1193(1)-(3)

Quit, fired, refused work and the federal rules →

The wage test, the amount and your estimate →

How much and how long?

Weekly benefit

$113–$649

Weeks

Up to 26 weeks

Waiting week

A waiting week

Working part time

The first $128 you earn in a week is not deducted.

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

How to file in Maine

Apply online in ReEmployME (available 24 hours a day), or by phone at 1-800-593-7660, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you are temporarily laid off, your employer may give you a partial claim form.

Apply as soon as you are out of work.

What to have ready

• A ReEmployME account and a valid email address
• Your Social Security number
• If you are not a U.S. citizen: your Alien Registration number and its expiration date

Certify (claim your weeks)

Weekly. File a weekly certification online in ReEmployME or by phone, and report your work search each week, starting right after you apply, even before you are approved.

Everything about filing →

Appeal a denial

• Appeal of a Deputy's Decision to the Division of Administrative Hearings — 30 calendar days from the mailing date of the Deputy's Decision
• Appeal to the Unemployment Insurance Commission — 15 calendar days from the mailing date of the Hearing Officer's decision
• Petition for review in Superior Court — 30 calendar days

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

The hearing

Format

Most hearings are by telephone.

Overpayments and waivers

An overpayment can be set only by a decision (deputy, hearing officer or Commission), and the decision can be appealed.

Appeal within

30 days from the mailing date of the decision that set the overpayment

Fraud penalty

50% added when the overpayment is fraud

Waiver

The state can waive some overpayments.

Law: 26 M.R.S. secs. 1051, 1193(6)

Waiver details and the hearing checklist →

Someone filed a claim in your name

If someone filed an unemployment claim in your name, report it to MDOL with the online Identity Theft Reporting Form, then take steps to protect your identity. MDOL does not text and will never ask for sensitive information by text or social media. A claim filed in your name by someone else is not held against you.

• Report it online
• Phone: 1-800-593-7660

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 Maine

• Maine changes its minimum and maximum weekly benefits each June; for claims filed June 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027 they are $113 and $649 (MDOL).
• Maine pays $25 a week per dependent child, up to 75% of the weekly benefit amount.

  Law: 26 M.R.S. sec. 1191(6)

• You can appeal a Hearing Officer's decision to the Unemployment Insurance Commission only if you took part in the hearing, and you have just 15 days.

  Law: 26 M.R.S. sec. 1194(3)

Changes in 2024–2026

Public Law 2025, chapter 235 repealed 26 M.R.S. sec. 1192 and moved the eligibility rules (waiting week, work search, wage test) into new sec. 1192-A. The partial-earnings disregard rises each June with the cost of living; it is $128 from June 7, 2026. Minimum and maximum weekly benefits and the wage test change each June.

Questions about unemployment in Maine