Work Search Requirements
South Dakota Work Registration Program
A Weekly Certification for each week for which benefits are applied for must be filed, if required by the local South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation office. The contact date, business name, address, city, state, method of contact, and application status must be included on the certification. This can be filed by phone or on the SDWORKS website.
Unemployed? We want to help.
What You Need for Work Registration
In order to maintain eligibility in South Dakota for UI Benefits you must:
- file a Weekly Certification,
- be either totally or partially unemployed,
- be physically able to work and be willing to accept suitable work at the going wage in the area where you live,
- available for work, and
- if you are required to look for work, you must make a reasonable effort to find work on your own, and
- follow the reporting requirements as given to you by the local South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation office.
Weekly Certifications must be filed each and every week you are applying for benefits. Your Weekly Certifications can be filed online through your SDWORKS portal or they can be filed by phone at (605) 626-3212 twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Weekly Certifications cover a calendar week beginning at 12 midnight on Sunday and ending at 11:59 p.m. the following Saturday. This is one Claim Week.
The first Weekly Certification after filing a new claim is called a non-paid waiting week. You will not be paid for the waiting period week; however, you must file a Weekly Certification for that week and make job contacts if required to do so. Benefits are paid for the next valid Weekly Certification. You will not get credit for serving the waiting period week unless a Weekly Certification is filed for it so make sure you don’t forget to get that certification filed.
First payment on an initial claim will be made three to four weeks from the day the claim was filed.