Are you a resident of Kentucky who is eligible for the state’s unemployment benefits, and who has recently become unemployed for one reason or another? If your answer to that question is ‘yes’, then one of the next steps you may need to take is that of filing for Kentucky unemployment benefits, in order to be receiving some money even as you search for your next job.
What filing for Kentucky unemployment benefits online entails, at a glance
Filing for Kentucky unemployment benefits online mainly entails going to the website of Kentucky’s Electronic Workplace for Employment Services (KEWES), clicking to indicate that you are interested in ‘unemployment services’ and then, on the next screen, clicking to indicate that you wish to ‘File your initial unemployment claim or access your existing claim’.
Then you are taken to the unemployment claims system page, where you are required to read some instructions on how the program works, and where you also required to click on an ‘I Agree’ button — if you agree with the terms on the page. Upon clicking on the ‘I Agree’ button, another window comes up (the Benefits External window), where you can log in using your social security number and 4-digit PIN, and then proceed to file for the Kentucky unemployment benefits online.
Things you need to have, to file for Kentucky unemployment benefits online
To file for Kentucky unemployment benefits online, you need to be someone who is eligible for such benefits in the first place. You also need to have signed up for an account as a ‘new user’ on the ‘Benefits External’ window, and thus to have gotten the 4-digit PIN with which you’d be logging into that site. You also need to have access to a computing device that is connected to the Internet, for you to file for Kentucky unemployment benefits online.
The website you need to visit, to file for Kentucky unemployment benefits online
To file for Kentucky unemployment benefits online, you need to visit the Kentucky’s Electronic Workplace for Employment Services (KEWES) website. The address for the Kentucky’s Electronic Workplace for Employment Services (KEWES) website is indicated below, in the ‘links to help you’ section.
Steps you need to follow, to file for Kentucky unemployment benefits online
- Launch the browser application on your computing device. Then enter the address for the Kentucky’s Electronic Workplace for Employment Services (KEWES) website into the browser, for the browser to take you to that particular site. The address for the said KEWES website is indicated below, in the ‘links to help you’ section.
- When you get to the Kentucky’s Electronic Workplace for Employment Services (KEWES) website, focus your attention on the left hand side: where you will notice a series of links like ‘Office Locations’, ‘Employer Services’, ‘Jobseeker Services’, Youth Services’, ‘Unemployment Services’… and so on. Click on the ‘Unemployment Services’ link.
- On the page that you are taken to after clicking on the ‘Unemployment Services’ link, focus your attention on the middle section of the page: where there is a series of links. Click on the second link there: the ‘File your initial unemployment claim or access your existing claim’ link.
- When you click on the ‘File your initial unemployment claim or access your existing claim’ link, 5 more links will appear below. Click the first of those 5 new links that instantly appear: the ‘File or access your unemployment insurance claim’ link.
- When you click on the ‘File or access your unemployment insurance claim’ link, you will be taken to the ‘Office of Employment and Training, Unemployment Insurance Claims System’ site. Read through the information in the page that you land on, then click on the ‘I Agree’ button at the bottom end (that is, if you indeed agree to the terms stated therein).
- The moment you click on the ‘I Agree’ button, a new window will pop-up: this being the ‘Benefits External’ window. Log in to that window, by entering your user ID (which is actually your social security number) and your 4-digit PIN. In case you haven’t used that system before, click on the ‘New User’ link (it’s the last link), go through the motions of registering, then log in.
- After logging into the ‘Benefits External’ window, you can proceed to file a claim for Kentucky unemployment benefits, by filling in the required details.
Links to help you
- Kentucky’s Electronic Workplace for Employment Services (KEWES) website: http://www.kewes.ky.gov/