• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

SBA Loan and Unemployment

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

spiderpig33

New member
Louisiana

I will try to keep this as short as possible

I am a server at a restaurant in Louisiana. During the last month, I have been working to-go shifts a couple of times a week and receiving unemployment benefits for reduced hours (I was only getting like $50 a week).

Fast forward to a few days ago, I was informed that my employer took out an SBA loan, which states that the loan will be forgiven if 75% of it is paid to employees via payroll. So they tell us that they're going to "help us out" and start paying us what we were making before the pandemic, even though most of the employees have not been working a single hour.

However, my $330 check is nowhere NEAR what I was making per week as a server. Moreover, it now disqualifies me for unemployment benefits, which were more than double what I am now getting through my employer. I am now forced to survive on 300 dollars a week, when I was receiving nearly 800 a week with UI, a number that's far closer to what I was making before.

EVEN MORE, the clause in the letter that we were given attached to our check states that "We can now pay you the GREATER of: either the actual number of hours that you are currently working, OR what your average paycheck was before we had to scale down our operations.

Simply put, even though I am still working to go shifts, while others are not, every employee is getting paid based on what they were making before. In other words, I am not even being paid for the hours I am still volunteering to work. I mentioned to my manager that there is no longer any incentive for me to come into work, and she responded saying that if anyone who was volunteering for work now decides not to come in, they will be terminated.

This seems highly illegal to me, and there is definitely something going on behind the curtains. I guess my ultimate question is, is there anything I can do about this? Not only am I losing out on thousands of dollars per month, but I am also not getting paid for the hours I am even working, and being threatened with termination if I don't show up to work for free, basically. Any help would be more than appreciated.
 


quincy

Senior Member
What was your previous base pay? How much of your previous income was from tips?

You need to be paid for the hours you work.

This is not a worker injury or worker’s compensation matter.
 

quincy

Senior Member
It is possible you could still be eligible for unemployment benefits if you are now working only part time. Your unemployment benefit would be reduced by the amount of your part time pay.

You should call your state’s unemployment office to discuss.

https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/1722
 
Last edited:

commentator

Senior Member
Don't think it is realistic to assume that there would be any point to calling any state's unemployment office right now to ask anything. The unfortunate thing is that $300 a week may not be more than the person would make in unemployment benefits (since the state is throwing on the $600 from the feds) but..... that doesn't mean that you have a right to select the thing that makes you the most money within this system.

Though they're receiving benefits supplemented by the federal government, the employee is still job attached to the job. The individual employer is still very connected to the unemployment claims from their business. Once they inform the system that so and so is now working, is being paid as if working, whatever, it will more than likely stop the claim.

As for the employee, if they refused to work and were fired it would be very complicated to get unemployment re-filed and even if, remote possibility here they were approved to draw again, it would take a really long time, which would pretty much guarantee many long weeks without any income at all. Unemployment benefits, regardless of federal supplementation, are based on the employer's having paid in, and that you have refused to work hours that the employer had asked you to work, if you did that, would stop your claim, regardless of whether everyone is having to do it or whether it was actually more than you could make not working.
 

quincy

Senior Member
There really is no easy answer here.

The unemployment systems in all states are overwhelmed with applications, money made available through SBA loans is not a cure-all (especially since so much of the money was directed to large businesses and not the small businesses it was designed to help) and employees are being asked to work at reduced wages if they want to keep their jobs.

I don’t think applying for unemployment benefits is the wrong action to take. But it might not be best action to take.

The unemployment office potentially could answer spiderpig’s questions and offer direction. And there are lawyers still working and available to answer questions. I suspect that there will not be any fast relief for spiderpig, however.
 

spiderpig33

New member
I appreciate the feedback. I've been avoiding calling unemployment because, as you mentioned, it's already overwhelmed with traffic. I filed my weekly certification online and it was ruled that my $330 was excessive, and I wasn't going to be paid benefits this week. It's a bad situation to be in, but I've accepted there's nothing I can do about this. Thanks everyone for the insight though. It is much appreciated.
 

quincy

Senior Member
I appreciate the feedback. I've been avoiding calling unemployment because, as you mentioned, it's already overwhelmed with traffic. I filed my weekly certification online and it was ruled that my $330 was excessive, and I wasn't going to be paid benefits this week. It's a bad situation to be in, but I've accepted there's nothing I can do about this. Thanks everyone for the insight though. It is much appreciated.
We appreciate the thanks, spiderpig, so thank you.

I guess the best that can be said is that life as it currently is being lived will not continue forever ... although any thoughts that life will return to its old “normal” is probably too optimistic.

Hopefully enough will have been learned - from both the successes and the failures experienced during the pandemic - that we will not be so unprepared in the future.

Good luck.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top