Reasonable Assurance

“Reasonable Assurance” is an unemployment insurance term that indicates a school employee has a contract (written or implied) that indicates they will likely be employed for the following school year, term, or remainder of a school term.

Federal and State Laws prohibit workers with ‘reasonable assurance’ to use their school wages to establish monetary eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits during school breaks. Such school breaks include holiday periods and summer recess. The law affects all school employees, who work in a professional capacity (such as teachers, research and administrative employees) as well as those in a non‐instructional capacity (cafeteria, custodial staff and bus drivers, etc…). For reasonable assurance to be a factor in unemployment insurance benefits eligibility, the employee must have performed services for a school and his/her wages paid by the school. (This fact is important since some bus drivers, cafeteria, or janitorial staff are employees of private companies – not the school – and are not affected by the reasonable assurance laws).