Can You Get Unemployment If Fired in Texas?

Yes, you can get unemployment if you were fired in Texas, as long as your former employer cannot prove you were fired for misconduct connected to your work. The Texas Workforce Commission treats every job separation on its own facts, and being terminated is not the same disqualifier as quitting. If your position was eliminated, you were let go for poor fit, or you couldn’t hit performance targets despite honest effort, you are generally eligible.¹

The underlying rule is straightforward: benefits go to people who are out of work through no fault of their own.² The question the TWC actually investigates is not whether you were fired, but why.

What Texas Counts as Misconduct

Misconduct is the one thing that disqualifies a fired worker. Texas Labor Code section 201.012 defines it as mismanagement of your position through action or inaction, neglect that endangers someone’s life or property, intentional wrongdoing, deliberate lawbreaking, or violation of a workplace policy designed to keep operations orderly and safe.³

In practice that means things like theft, showing up drunk, repeated no-call no-shows, insubordination, and deliberately ignoring safety rules. The common thread is that you knew or should have known the behavior could get you fired, and you did it anyway.

The statute also carves out an important exception. Anything you did in response to an unconscionable act by your employer is not misconduct. If you were ordered to do something illegal or dangerous and you refused, that refusal cannot be used to deny your benefits, even if it was the stated reason for your termination.³

Why the Employer’s Proof Often Falls Short

In a discharge case, the employer carries the burden of proving misconduct. The TWC will not take the employer’s word for it. To disqualify you, the employer must show that your termination resulted from a specific act connected to your work, that the act happened close in time to the firing, and that you knew or should have known the behavior could cost you your job.⁴

Employers stumble on this more often than fired workers expect. Vague complaints about attitude, a single isolated mistake, or a termination that happened weeks or months after the supposed offense frequently fail the test. If any element is missing, the misconduct claim fails and you get paid.

Do You Have Enough Work History to Qualify

Clearing the misconduct hurdle is only half the eligibility question. You also need enough recent earnings. The TWC looks at your wages during a base period, which is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you filed.⁵

Two requirements have to be met:

You must have wages in at least two of the four base period quarters.
Your total base period wages must be at least 37 times your weekly benefit amount.

If a documented illness, injury, disability, or pregnancy kept you out of work for at least seven weeks in a base period quarter, and it started within 24 months of your claim, you may be able to use an alternative base period. Ask about it by calling 800-939-6631.⁵

Your weekly benefit amount is your highest base period quarter divided by 25, rounded to the nearest dollar, and it falls between $75 and $605. Benefits last up to 26 weeks within the 52-week benefit year that starts when you file.¹

How Severance Changes the Timing

Severance can push back the start of your benefits, but only some kinds do. If your employer paid wages in lieu of notice or gave you a standard severance package under a company policy or offer letter, your benefits are delayed until that payment period runs out.⁶

Negotiated payments generally do not affect your benefits at all. Money paid to settle a claim or lawsuit, to obtain a release of liability under the Civil Rights Act, or under a contract you and your employer negotiated before separation will not delay or reduce what you receive.⁶

The practical takeaway: if you signed a separation agreement with a release of claims, file for unemployment right away. If your employer simply handed you a standard severance check, expect a delay before payments start.

Filing Your Claim

Apply through the TWC’s Unemployment Benefits Services portal online or by calling a Tele-Center at 800-939-6631 during business hours. File as soon as you can after your last day, because your claim starts the week you apply, not the week you were fired.⁷

Have this ready before you start:

Social Security number
Texas driver’s license or state ID number
Your last employer’s name, address, and phone number
First and last dates of employment
The reason for your separation
Bank account information for direct deposit

Be honest and specific about why you were fired. The TWC investigates every separation, and vague answers create delays. If you believe the reason your employer gave was not misconduct, describe what happened in concrete terms.

What You Have to Do to Keep Benefits

Your first payment will not arrive for roughly four weeks. Texas has a waiting week: the first payable week of your claim is held back. You eventually receive that week’s payment after you have been paid at least twice your weekly benefit amount and either return to full-time work or exhaust your benefits.⁸

You have to request payment on the schedule the TWC sends you, roughly every two weeks. Miss a request and you can lose benefits for that period.⁸

To stay eligible each week, you must be physically and mentally able to work, available for full-time employment, and actively looking for a job. You also need to register on WorkInTexas.com and respond to any TWC requests promptly.⁹

Work search activity is a hard requirement. The minimum number varies by county; most counties require three to five activities per week, and a few rural counties require as few as one or two.¹⁰ Keep a detailed log of every activity, because the TWC can ask to see it at any time during your benefit year. Exemptions exist for workers on temporary layoff with a definite return date, active union members with a hiring hall, and claimants enrolled in TWC-approved training.¹¹

If Your Claim Is Denied

After the TWC investigates, both you and your former employer receive a written determination. If you are denied, you can appeal, and the deadline is short: 14 calendar days from the date the decision was mailed, not the date you received it.¹²

The first level is an Appeal Tribunal hearing conducted by phone before a single hearing officer. Both sides can testify, call witnesses, and submit documents. Because the employer bears the burden of proving misconduct, the employer goes first. If you disagree with the tribunal’s decision, you can appeal in writing to the TWC Commission within 14 calendar days, and if that also goes against you, you can appeal to a county court at law or state district court between 15 and 28 calendar days after the Commission’s decision is mailed.¹³

The tribunal hearing is your best chance to reverse a denial. Firsthand testimony from people with direct knowledge carries the most weight. If you have supporting documents, such as emails, write-ups, or performance reviews, send copies to both the hearing officer and your former employer before the hearing, because the hearing officer can refuse documents that were not shared with the other side. Any witnesses should be reachable by phone at the scheduled hearing time, and you can ask that the other side’s witnesses be sequestered so they cannot listen to each other’s testimony. Everyone testifies under oath.¹⁴

1
Texas Workforce Commission. Eligibility & Benefit Amounts
2
Texas Workforce Commission. Unemployment Insurance Law – Eligibility Issues
3
State of Texas. Texas Labor Code 201.012 – Definition of Misconduct
4
Texas Workforce Commission. Easy Mistakes That Are Easy To Avoid
5
Texas Workforce Commission. Unemployment Benefits Handbook
6
Texas Workforce Commission. Final Pay – Severance Benefits
7
Texas Workforce Commission. Apply for Unemployment Benefits
8
Texas Workforce Commission. Request Benefit Payments
9
Texas Workforce Commission. Ongoing Eligibility Requirements for Receiving Unemployment Benefits
10
Texas Workforce Commission. Required Number of Work Search Activities by County
11
Texas Workforce Commission. Work Search Requirements
12
Texas Workforce Commission. Introduction to the Unemployment Benefits Appeal Process
13
Texas Workforce Commission. Appeals Process for Employers
14
Texas Workforce Commission. Unemployment Insurance Law – The Claim and Appeal Process