Author Topic: Unemployment  (Read 4445 times)

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J

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Unemployment
« on: Sep 03, 2007, 10:36 am »
I have a question about unemployment benefits.  I know that if you resign or quit a position, you are not entitled to benefits.  That said, my current situation is as follows:

I am a resident PSM for a small company that I am deeply unhappy with. There are a lot of internal problems and I know it's my time to go. The last show was in March, I did some hourly stuff over the summer for them, and then next show I work on will be November.  I am seriously considering resigning this position. Since March I have had 4 other freelance gigs from different theatres, the final one of which I am working on now until the end of October. 

SO the question is this: If my resignation with the resident company is effective before my current gig ends, will I be eligible to collect UI benefits?  If I'm not mistaken, it's all based on the last job that you had when applying.  As long as I'm not going directly from the resignation to unemployment benefits, I should be able to claim them, right?

loebtmc

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Re: Unemployment
« Reply #1 on: Sep 03, 2007, 11:37 am »
This is a state-by-state question and must be answered by your local unemployment office. For ex, (and these numbers are rough, since I can't recall specifically) in CA, they take the highest quarter but not based on your most recent job - it cycles back to something like 18 months prior, so your last 6 months (or more) are not eligible for consideration.

Try checking your state's requirements online, and then be ready to patiently wait on the phone to speak to a human being, but once you get through, the people are mostly nice and quite helpful, esp if you are pleasant to them (since almost no one is).

nmno

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Re: Unemployment
« Reply #2 on: Sep 03, 2007, 02:39 pm »
Your state should have a website...  check there and see if it has the information you need (before you sit in the telephone queue, which can be quite long...  Call mid-week and avoid the "lunch hour").  Some states have a difficult time grasping the exact nature of our job; in places like CA and NY you'll be fine since they deal with it all the time - just be prepared to talk with someone who doesn't get it, and be patient :) 
You should definitely check with your UI office though... The fact that you've been working both jobs at the same time might be a bit of a kink...  Also, take a look at how much you'll be getting - I know you've been hesitant to leave this job and would hate to see you NOT get out of a bad situation due to no UI, when the $ would be minimal.

Sidenote: In CA, yes, they use your salary for 12 months but they skip the last 3-5months (If you file in Sept they look at your income April 2006 to March 2007, but if you file in Oct they look July to June, so sometimes it pays, literally, to wait if you made more $ in April-June 2007).  But they still want information from all employers in the last 18 months.

Previous discussion about unemployment: http://smnetwork.org/forum/index.php/topic,490.0.html
 
« Last Edit: Sep 03, 2007, 02:43 pm by nmno »

Libby

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Re: Unemployment
« Reply #3 on: Sep 04, 2007, 03:12 pm »
another unemployment question...

How does one collect unemployment when one lives in one state, works in another, and is technically a resident of a third? I am just out of college, living in NJ, working in NY, and my permanant residence is still PA (mostly because I am only living in NJ until I can afford to live in NY and I don't want to have to go through changing my residencies twice!)


nmno

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Re: Unemployment
« Reply #4 on: Sep 04, 2007, 05:31 pm »
How does one collect unemployment when one lives in one state, works in another, and is technically a resident of a third?
If you only worked in NY, file with the NY office.  If you worked in NJ or PA recently (last 18mo?-you'll need to check with what each state wants), you'll need to file with those states as well.  However, depending on the state(s), they may file on your behalf to the other states - i.e. I live in California but worked in CA and NY.  When I filed in CA (which is where most of my work was done) the CA UI Office filed with NY on my behalf so I never contacted the NY Office myself; I got one check from CA.

Just call the UI Office (again, I'd start with NY) and ask. 

 

riotous