How to navigate Wisconsin’s unemployment portal

Update (31 March 2021 and 30 April 2021): With the Department’s new portal, these instructions have been updated with a new, how-to-navigate-the-portal post. Please go to those new instructions, as the guide here is now outdated.

After logging in to your web portal for unemployment benefits at https://my.unemployment.wisconsin.gov/, here are some helpful guides about how to navigate this portal and find relevant information.

Viewing initial determinations

Unemployment issues are at first decided via initial determinations, so these documents are what you need to read carefully when they are issued (as noted already, delays in processing unemployment claims are monumental right now, so do not expect these initial determinations to be issued soon after filing your unemployment claim).

To see the initial determinations connected to your claim, do NOT click on the View ALL Determinations option that appears on the main screen (this option only takes you to a listing of determination that may or may not be complete and which may or may not be available to you).

Rather, go to the menu under My Information and select the Document History option:

You will then see all the documents the Department currently has available to you:

To see the actual determination, select the View option next to the document described as a determination to see a PDF version of that document. The creation date will tell you when the Department issued that document or initial determination. Here is a description of some of the key information on an initial determination:

Viewing what benefits have been paid (or not paid)

To see which weeks have been paid unemployment benefits, go to Print Benefit Summary under My Information.

You will then be prompted for how to create this benefits summary display: web page or PDF.

Select the Creat a PDF document option and select the checkbox for By choosing to create a formal summary, I acknowledge that it will include personal information such as my name and Social Security Number.

Then, click on the Create Document button. A PDF document detailing your benefit payments will appear. On the second page of that PDF document, you will something like the following for your own benefits payment history:

Note: Select PDF document rather than HTML page (aka, a web page), as the web page version will include a DWD watermark that makes much of the page unreadable.

Note: You do NOT need a printer to see this document. The PDF document should be viewable on any computer or smart phone.

Sending a PDF document via e-mail

Do NOT send any PDF documents via e-mail message that have confidential information like social security numbers or bank account information.

• On a smart phone: when viewing the PDF, click on the share button and then select the e-mail option. Make sure to then write in an e-mail address and a subject.
• On a desktop: download the PDF document, start up your e-mail program, and then attach the PDF to a new e-mail address that you are sending to someone (make sure to fill out a subject and to whom the message is being sent).