Begging for Dollars
Conventional wisdom also says you can't get unemployment benefits if you quit your job. You can file if you're laid off, downsized, let go, dismissed, involuntarily discharged and all the other euphemisms for getting the ax, but not if you quit.
Not true. I discovered that it depends on how your employer handles your departure. In my case, I gave four weeks' notice of my intention to leave but my employer told me that I'd get two weeks' pay if I left immediately. In other words, my employer didn't want to pay me for hanging around for four weeks corrupting the troops. The president said, "Even though it was your decision to quit, we're willing to give you two weeks' pay and not expect you to work here any more. It's money you can use for a vacation!" Gee, thanks.
Well, naturally I didn't have a job and needed some means of support so I filed an initial claim for unemployment benefits. I completed a form that required me to state in my own words how I came to be unemployed. Only a fool would say "because I quit" because your answer is used to determine your eligibility. I wrote a blow-by-blow description of the events surrounding my departure as if I were recounting the details of a car accident for the insurance company. I attached a copy of my notice of resignation and another letter I sent to the employer reminding them that I gave four weeks' notice.
About a week later, I received a phone call from a guy at the employment security office. He had received the company's account of my resignation and proceeded to question me about my own version. In a tired, mechanical voice, he asked me again and again how it all went down. Then he told me the company was fighting my claim.
Him: "But since the company turned told you to leave immediately after receiving your notice, it turned your resignation into an involuntary discharge."
Me: "So does that mean I'm eligible for unemployment benefits?"
Him: "I don't make the decision, but it looks like you do."
Two days later, I received a check for two weeks of unemployment compensation and a letter saying I could draw up to 12 weeks.
Now that's what I call money for a vacation!
Not true. I discovered that it depends on how your employer handles your departure. In my case, I gave four weeks' notice of my intention to leave but my employer told me that I'd get two weeks' pay if I left immediately. In other words, my employer didn't want to pay me for hanging around for four weeks corrupting the troops. The president said, "Even though it was your decision to quit, we're willing to give you two weeks' pay and not expect you to work here any more. It's money you can use for a vacation!" Gee, thanks.
Well, naturally I didn't have a job and needed some means of support so I filed an initial claim for unemployment benefits. I completed a form that required me to state in my own words how I came to be unemployed. Only a fool would say "because I quit" because your answer is used to determine your eligibility. I wrote a blow-by-blow description of the events surrounding my departure as if I were recounting the details of a car accident for the insurance company. I attached a copy of my notice of resignation and another letter I sent to the employer reminding them that I gave four weeks' notice.
About a week later, I received a phone call from a guy at the employment security office. He had received the company's account of my resignation and proceeded to question me about my own version. In a tired, mechanical voice, he asked me again and again how it all went down. Then he told me the company was fighting my claim.
Him: "But since the company turned told you to leave immediately after receiving your notice, it turned your resignation into an involuntary discharge."
Me: "So does that mean I'm eligible for unemployment benefits?"
Him: "I don't make the decision, but it looks like you do."
Two days later, I received a check for two weeks of unemployment compensation and a letter saying I could draw up to 12 weeks.
Now that's what I call money for a vacation!
posted by Frieda Lipschitz (Audrey Choden) at Monday, May 30, 2005
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