Unemployment if you quit or were fired in Oklahoma

Quit, fired or refused work

If you quit

If you quit without good cause connected to the work, you are disqualified. OESC places a hold on your claim and decides after investigating.

Examples the state names:

• Working conditions changed so much that they were harmful to your health, safety or morals
• Substantially unfair treatment, or the employer creating substantially difficult working conditions
• Choosing to be laid off under a union contract or written employer plan, with the employer's consent
• Your own illness or disability, when OESC finds it was medically necessary to stop working or change jobs
• The illness or disability of your spouse, parent or dependent child, when the employer would not give enough leave
• Moving with your spouse who was transferred or took a job outside commuting distance
• Domestic violence or abuse that made you reasonably believe staying at work would put you or your family in danger

If you were fired

You are disqualified if you were fired for misconduct connected with your last work. The employer must prove the misconduct first (for example, with a signed affidavit); then you must show the facts are wrong or are not misconduct. The law lists what counts as misconduct, including an intentional serious breach of job duties, unapproved or excessive absences or lateness, endangering health, life or property, dishonesty, wrongdoing, breaking the law, or breaking a policy for orderly work or safety. No prior warning is required if you knew or should have known about the rule.

If benefits are denied for the separation

A disqualification for quitting without good cause, misconduct, or refusing suitable work lasts until you are reemployed and earn at least 10 times your weekly benefit amount.

Refusing work

If you fail to accept an offer of suitable work, to apply for suitable work when OESC directs you, or to accept a job through a hiring hall, you are disqualified until you earn 10 times your weekly benefit amount. If the failure was due to illness, a death in the family or another circumstance beyond your control, you are disqualified only for that week.

Law: 40 O.S. secs. 2-210, 2-404, 2-405, 2-406, 2-418

Official source: Source page

You usually must be unemployed through no fault of your own. In most states this means you lost your job because there was not enough work.

Able, available and looking for work

Job contacts per week: 2

Make and record at least two work search efforts for each week you claim. Examples: sending a resume or application, a job interview, a job-search workshop, registering with a professional or school placement service, or taking a government job exam. Repeating the same employer for the same job counts only once every four weeks. You are excused only if you are on temporary layoff with a definite return date within 8 weeks, belong to a union with a hiring hall, or are in approved training.

Records to keep

Record each effort (date, company name, address and phone, job title, how you applied, person contacted and result) in EmployOklahoma or on the OES-622 work search form. Keep your records for two years. If you are audited, you must send them within 5 business days of the notice being mailed.

Law: 40 O.S. sec. 2-417; Okla. Admin. Code 240:10-3-20

Official source: Source page

To be paid for a week, you must be able to work, available to work and actively seeking work.

Law: 42 U.S.C. 503(a)(12)

Noncitizens

What the state says

If you are not a citizen, you must give your Alien Registration number and its expiration date when you apply. A resident card (green card) is an accepted ID for online identity verification.

Free help

Call 405-525-1500. Legal aid and other free help in Oklahoma → Official sources →