Filing For Unemployment

That depends on the state bagelchick. In Nebraska, you can't get unemployment until after your severance runs out and it counts against the unemployment benefits you are allowed to get. Despite that the company will take almost 50% taxes out of the severance check and treat it like it's a "gift."

 

Yeah, unemployment varies depending on the state.

I filed my first claim online, but when I went to re-open my claim, I had to do so with a real live person because I worked out of state. They based my earnings on a benefit year, but based the actual weekly benefit on the quarter during which I earned the most money. Then they figured 54 percent of my original income.

 

What's weird is one of our guys only got two weeks severance and the state told him he wasn't eligible for unemployment for TWO MONTHS. Something about what the paper reported to them. We had a guy from the unemployment agency meet with us before we got gassed and he said if our employer considered our severance issued on our last day of service, it shouldn't hold up our unemployment. Employer said that's when they considered it issued (even though we got it two weeks later) yet some of us (me included) were delayed three weeks. I guess the state has you by the proverbial balls.

 

For those who get a severance check, there might be another way to get unemployed without the wait. In NC, you can get unemployment without waiting if you register and take a college class. I took an online computer class which made me eligible for unemployment even though I got six months of severance pay. That probably varies by state, but it is something to check out.

 

Here, you have to certify every two weeks by calling a computer. Basically, asking whether you were looking for work, had any job earnings, etc.

But when it asks you for earnings, the little pamphet you get when you apply says you don't have to declare vacation, holiday or severance payments.

Again, varies by state.

 

Geez, Kevin. Best of luck to you.

 

Seriously, good luck Kevin. Hope it all works out.

 

Went to the Unemployment Office today, spoke with a representative and it looks as though I'm ineligible for benefits.

Currently up the river without a paddle and the waterfall is in eye's view.

 

I'm saying this as nicely as possible:

You need serious mental health counseling, not only because of your depression, but because you are seriously deluded from reality. Being laid off into unemployment is not a scarlet letter. Hell yeah, it fucking sucks. Your immediate future is up in the air unless you have months upon months of savings to live on and few to no bills to pay. But you are not the only person in this predicament right now. I'm right there with you, about to complete 12 straight weeks. And seriously, you honestly think your parents are going to be ashamed their son was laid off? Get a grip, dude. And yes, you'll be needing those 26 weeks. I wish I had a full 26 weeks, I have 16, and four left before applying for an extension (and/or starting unemployment from another state). I'm collecting unemployment from a cheap cost of living state and applying it in one of the most expensive locales in the nation. In my old state, I'd be living high off the hog. Now? I'm barely making it.

Applying for unemployment and starting the process of collecting is really not easy, but once you are in the system, it's pretty easy to keep the checks coming. When I first filed my initial claim last October (I've been laid off twice in a year), the state screwed up my application and, because of the sheer volume of people filing, they were unable to start paying me benefits for SIX WEEKS. Eventually, they sent me a few token (we're sorry) payments and I started my new job. Then, laid off again. But since I was already in the system and just re-activating my claim, I was able to start collecting right away.

Keep your head up. Quit worrying about whether your parents will be ashamed you "can't hold down a job" (they aren't, and they know you can hold down a job), start hitting the pavement, making phone calls, and doing everything you possibly can. Volunteer some time, etc. And when things DO work out for you, get yourself checked out. Seriously. It'll be for the best.

 

Here is another question for some of you .....

I recently offered a good friend who was recently laid off and struggling to find work, some opportunities to do some stringing work.

He told me no unless we could pay him under the table because he is collecting unemployment until the beginning of March.

Here is my question -- how would this work if we paid him a check as a 1099 employee?

Say he wrote, ten stories for us in a month and we paid him $500 for it. Would that $500 then be deducted from his unemployment check?

And then on the flip side -- would that $500 be added on to the tail end of his benefits -- thus perhaps extending them longer?

 

Short answers: Yes. Yes.

 

Whatever his weekly benefit is ... let's say, $248 ... whatever he earns in a given week is deducted from that total. It doesn't matter if he doesn't get paid for the work that week. If he does the work that week, it's supposed to count against him. What gets deducted from his benefit is added on to the end.

Laws vary from state to state, but that's a basic summary of my understanding of how it works.