What do you mean your employer is 5 months behind? If you are a W2 employee, it is illegal for your employer to do that. Contact your state labor dept. and file a complaint to make him pay up. If you are being paid as a 1099 subcontractor, you have a different problem. Subcontractors cannot file for unemployment. If this is the case, you may have been misclassified as a subcontractor when you should be an employee. Employers sometimes try to do this to get out of paying payroll taxes. Again, you should complain to your state labor dept.