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Cal. UIC § 1281

This is the official text of Cal. UIC § 1281, part of California’s Unemployment Insurance Code — governs unemployment and disability insurance benefits.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

(a) An individual cannot establish a valid claim or a benefit year during which any benefits are payable unless during his or her base period, for new claims filed with an effective date beginning on or after January 1, 1992, he or she has met either of the following conditions:

(1) He or she has been paid wages for employment by employers during the quarter of his or her base period in which his or her wages were the highest of not less than one thousand three hundred dollars ($1,300).

(2) He or she has been paid wages for employment by employers during the quarter of his or her base period in which his or her wages were the highest of not less than nine hundred dollars ($900) and been paid wages for employment by employers during his or her base period equal to 1.25 times the amount he or she was paid in this same quarter.

(b) Except as provided by subdivision (c), the maximum amount of unemployment compensation benefits payable to an individual during any one benefit year shall not exceed the lower of the following:

(1) Twenty-six times his or her weekly benefit amount.

(2) One-half the total wages paid to the individual during his or her base period.

(c) If the maximum amount computed under subdivision (b) is not a multiple of one dollar ($1) it shall be computed to the next higher multiple of one dollar ($1).

(d) For the purpose of this section and Section 1280, in determining wages paid, “wages” includes wages due to any individual but unpaid within the time limit provided by law.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.