Terminated from job, still have p-t job; unemployment

[Carterman32]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Okay, complicated case here...

I was terminated from my full-time job in the entertainment industry after only three weeks. I was not terminated for misconduct; rather, the company simply wanted someone with a different skill set. My employer acknowledged this upon my termination.

Here's where it gets complicated. For the past six months, I've been working a part-time retail job on the weekends to make extra cash to pay off my student loans (working 8-12 hrs per week @ $10/hr). When I was hired at my new full time job three weeks ago, I decided that I'd quit the retail job, largely because the company refused to let me off for the holidays, for which I'd already booked expensive travel. Moreover, the new full-time job paid significantly more than my previous F/T job, so I no longer needed to make extra money on the weekends.

But now that I've been terminated from my full-time job in entertainment, I am in a precarious position. I need to quit the part-time job, because I've already paid for my non-refundable holiday travel. If I tell the p/t employer I can't work, I will be immediately fired. But even putting that fact aside, it simply doesn't make sense to work a part-time job that's outside of my field, because: 1) it infringes on my ability to search for a full-time job in my field 2) The part-time job reduces my unemployment wages, even though it's a job outside of my main field - a position that I took just to make some extra cash on the side.

So what can I do now? My plan all along was to quit the part-time job this week, but now that I've lost my full-time job, and unemployment benefits come into play, it's much more complicated. How can I quit the part-time job and still collect full unemployment benefits in California?

 

[Ohiogal]

Quite frankly you can't.

 

[commentator]

You were discharged from your job that you'd only had three weeks, right? Have you already filed your claim for unemployment? You'll just have to make a decision about whether you want to give it up and have it adjudicated. Remember, if you are making more in gross wages from your p.t. job than your claim sets up for, you are not going to be able to draw any benefits from unemployment, though you are laid off from one job. But since you did not quit the part time job before you were let go and filed your claim, if you quit now, this part time job would be considered your separating employer. Any way you cut it. Even though it is not in your field, or does not pay much, or is part time.

When you file, there will be about a two or three or four week gap before you begin getting checks, because they will have to take your statement, contact the employer, make the initial decision, and this will take a while. Being discharged, for any reason, isn't considered a simple lack of work claim, even if it was a mutual "this is not working out." So you will have several weeks where your part time job will definitely be your only source of income, even if you are approved and your claim is backpaid for the weeks since you have filed.

What you will do is put down the amount of money you have made in gross wages from your part time job each week, and you will receive a certain allotment you are allowed to earn free and clear,(usually around $100) and then they will deduct the amount you made above that from the amount of your check. So since you get your unemployment amount, plus the earnings allowance, you can actually make a bit more that just by doing unemployment alone, so it is NOT cutting into the amount of unemployment you can draw. It will also extend your claim, because you are set up for a certain amount, and by not drawing all of that each week, the claim will go on longer. You do not lose any money.

As for time that would be otherwise spent looking for a job in your field, if you are working part time, you should have plenty of time to do a job search for a full time job in your field. If you are working enough hours to cut into that time you'd spend looking for a job, even for minimum wage, you're probably making more than you could draw in unemployment anyhow. 8-10 hours a week isn't going to be prohibitive.

Now, about your holiday travel plans. If you quit and explain to your employer that it will interfere with your travel plans, you'll definitely have issues with unemployment, due to the fact that you are not supposed to be traveling out of the area while drawing unemployment unless you are looking for work, because you have to be able and available for work each week.

If you are filing a claim and you go visit someone for a few days during Christmas, this isn't an issue, but if you're going to Bejing for three weeks, you should not be filing for unemployment during those three weeks anyhow. You should stop your claim and re-open it when you return to the area.

And each week that you file, you will have to answer the question, "Did you quit a job, get fired from a job or refuse to accept a job offer this week?"
And if you do not report the quitting of your part-time job, you'll be committing fraud, and you will eventually be found out and will be asked to repay all the unemployment you might have drawn after this event.

No matter when you quit the job, as soon as they find out, they will ajudicate your claim based on the last place you worked, which will be the part time job. But this will seriously affect your chances of getting to draw unemployment.

Is this a seasonal job? If so, you could keep working here until you are laid off after the holidays, or you could ask your p.t. employer to let you leave after the holidays, or ask them to let you go as soon as they need to cut the staff. If they give you a lack of work lay off, it will not hurt your claim.

But frankly, if you go to the unemployment office and say I quit my part time job because I'm going to have to travel this next month and I'd prefer not to work part time, just to draw my unemployment, and it will cut into my job search time (after I get back from my holiday travel) you're not going to come out very well on unemployment.

 

[Carterman32]

You were discharged from your job that you'd only had three weeks, right? Have you already filed your claim for unemployment? You'll just have to make a decision about whether you want to give it up and have it adjudicated. Remember, if you are making more in gross wages from your p.t. job than your claim sets up for, you are not going to be able to draw any benefits from unemployment, though you are laid off from one job. But since you did not quit the part time job before you were let go and filed your claim, if you quit now, this part time job would be considered your separating employer. Any way you cut it. Even though it is not in your field, or does not pay much, or is part time.

When you file, there will be about a two or three or four week gap before you begin getting checks, because they will have to take your statement, contact the employer, make the initial decision, and this will take a while. Being discharged, for any reason, isn't considered a simple lack of work claim, even if it was a mutual "this is not working out." So you will have several weeks where your part time job will definitely be your only source of income, even if you are approved and your claim is backpaid for the weeks since you have filed.

What you will do is put down the amount of money you have made in gross wages from your part time job each week, and you will receive a certain allotment you are allowed to earn free and clear,(usually around $100) and then they will deduct the amount you made above that from the amount of your check. So since you get your unemployment amount, plus the earnings allowance, you can actually make a bit more that just by doing unemployment alone, so it is NOT cutting into the amount of unemployment you can draw. It will also extend your claim, because you are set up for a certain amount, and by not drawing all of that each week, the claim will go on longer. You do not lose any money.

As for time that would be otherwise spent looking for a job in your field, if you are working part time, you should have plenty of time to do a job search for a full time job in your field. If you are working enough hours to cut into that time you'd spend looking for a job, even for minimum wage, you're probably making more than you could draw in unemployment anyhow. 8-10 hours a week isn't going to be prohibitive.

Now, about your holiday travel plans. If you quit and explain to your employer that it will interfere with your travel plans, you'll definitely have issues with unemployment, due to the fact that you are not supposed to be traveling out of the area while drawing unemployment unless you are looking for work, because you have to be able and available for work each week.

If you are filing a claim and you go visit someone for a few days during Christmas, this isn't an issue, but if you're going to Bejing for three weeks, you should not be filing for unemployment during those three weeks anyhow. You should stop your claim and re-open it when you return to the area.

And each week that you file, you will have to answer the question, "Did you quit a job, get fired from a job or refuse to accept a job offer this week?"
And if you do not report the quitting of your part-time job, you'll be committing fraud, and you will eventually be found out and will be asked to repay all the unemployment you might have drawn after this event.

No matter when you quit the job, as soon as they find out, they will ajudicate your claim based on the last place you worked, which will be the part time job. But this will seriously affect your chances of getting to draw unemployment.

Is this a seasonal job? If so, you could keep working here until you are laid off after the holidays, or you could ask your p.t. employer to let you leave after the holidays, or ask them to let you go as soon as they need to cut the staff. If they give you a lack of work lay off, it will not hurt your claim.

But frankly, if you go to the unemployment office and say I quit my part time job because I'm going to have to travel this next month and I'd prefer not to work part time, just to draw my unemployment, and it will cut into my job search time (after I get back from my holiday travel) you're not going to come out very well on unemployment.

Wow, thanks for the detailed response. Let me ask you this. I'm only planning to be gone during the Thanksgiving holiday, but the retail job refuses to let any employees schedule vacation during that week (read: a very busy time). If I tell them I can't work, I will surely get terminated. How would the unemployment office handle it if I got fired because my employer refused to give me days off where I had already scheduled expensive travel?

If I am forced to keep a p-t job, then I have one other option, but I need to know how this would affect my unemployment: another p-t employer, with more flexible hours/date, has also offered me a job. Can I quit the retail job and move to the more flexible p-t job without hurting my chances of getting unemployment? Both the retail and flexible job are outside of my career field.

The one thing I do not want is my case getting adjudicated. This happened to me once before, and even though I won, it took months to appeal the EDD decision, get in front of a judge, wait for a verdict, and finally receive my retro-checks. I do not have enough savings to cover many months of government red tape.

What can you advise?

 

[commentator]

Have you already filed your unemployment claim? If so, you are going through an initial determination, an ajudicator is making the initial decision to approve or not to approve your benefits regarding your leaving the 3 week job. As I said, it wasn't a simple lack of work. It was a performance issue, and you'll have to wait several weeks on the decision. That's why having the part time job might really help by giving you a little stream of income while you're waiting.

But what you should do, if the other part time job is available for you is take it right now. That's right, accept it, get a date to start, with the understanding that you have to be off that time around Thanksgiving, or that you'll begin right after Thanksgiving if you can swing it. Then you can leave the job you have now, and you'll report to the claims office that you did quit a job this week, and they will request that you call in and they investigate, and you will tell them that you quit because you have accepted and are beginning a better and more appropriate part time job. That would not stop your benefits. You don't have to be very specific about whether the new job pays more or when it starts or anything. I don't think they'll look much past the "left to accept another p.t. job".

But being off Thanksgiving weekend is going to be tough to swing in any retail situation, because of course this is by far their most busy time of year. If you refuse the days and are fired for it, it will probably ruin your unemployment claim. I can't say for sure, but it's a pretty good bet. They do not take private plans and expenses into consideration at all in unemployment issues.

This is all allowing for the fact that you have already filed your unemployment claim, of course. If not, you can do all sorts of maneuvering, quit your p.t. job, get the next p.t. job, and then file based on your 3 week full time job. But if you've already filed, and are somewhere in the approval process, you will need to be very cautious because you are making those certifications for each week, answering the questions about quitting jobs and earnings.

 

[Carterman32]

Have you already filed your unemployment claim? If so, you are going through an initial determination, an ajudicator is making the initial decision to approve or not to approve your benefits regarding your leaving the 3 week job. As I said, it wasn't a simple lack of work. It was a performance issue, and you'll have to wait several weeks on the decision. That's why having the part time job might really help by giving you a little stream of income while you're waiting.

But what you should do, if the other part time job is available for you is take it right now. That's right, accept it, get a date to start, with the understanding that you have to be off that time around Thanksgiving, or that you'll begin right after Thanksgiving if you can swing it. Then you can leave the job you have now, and you'll report to the claims office that you did quit a job this week, and they will request that you call in and they investigate, and you will tell them that you quit because you have accepted and are beginning a better and more appropriate part time job. That would not stop your benefits. You don't have to be very specific about whether the new job pays more or when it starts or anything. I don't think they'll look much past the "left to accept another p.t. job".

But being off Thanksgiving weekend is going to be tough to swing in any retail situation, because of course this is by far their most busy time of year. If you refuse the days and are fired for it, it will probably ruin your unemployment claim. I can't say for sure, but it's a pretty good bet. They do not take private plans and expenses into consideration at all in unemployment issues.

This is all allowing for the fact that you have already filed your unemployment claim, of course. If not, you can do all sorts of maneuvering, quit your p.t. job, get the next p.t. job, and then file based on your 3 week full time job. But if you've already filed, and are somewhere in the approval process, you will need to be very cautious because you are making those certifications for each week, answering the questions about quitting jobs and earnings.

Thanks again for the timely and educational response. I am a little confused about the having already filed vs. having not already filed for unemployment scenario. I was fired from the f-t job after 3 weeks on this past Thursday. I was planning to quit my p-t job on Friday, but with the Thursday firing, I figured it would affect my unemployment. I filed for unemployment on Friday and stated that I was terminated from my f-t job, but still carry income from the part-time job. Since filing on Friday, I discovered that another p-t job, that is significantly more flexible, is willing to hire me, albeit with irregular hours (10 hrs some weeks, 2 hrs others). In this scenario, what can I do to switch the p-t job without affecting unemployment?

Also, just so I understand for future situations like this, if I hadn't already filed for unemployment, would I have been able to quit my p-t job on Friday (even though I was fired on Thursday from the f-t job)? I just didn't understand the part in your last paragraph where you said I could've done "all sorts of maneuvering"? Once they see I was fired from the F-T job, wouldn't quitting my p-t job have influenced my unemployment?

THANKS A LOT!

 

[commentator]

When you file, you are always filing based on the last place you have worked Even if it was one day after you were fired from your other job. If you had been quick enough, you could have called your part time job that day (Thursday) and said you wouldn't be in and that you'd be quitting, making both jobs end on the same day, and you could've listed your "real" job as the last place you'd worked. Then it wouldn't be an issue. No answering of questions like "did you quit a job, refuse a job or were fired for a job this week."

So by not quitting before the claim was filed, you moved the job with you into the unemployment area, and now you are filing your claim and working part time. If you quit the job, it will have to be for a "good cause" reason, or it will affect the claim.