Unemployment and self-employment

[Church of One]

I live in Michigan, and I am receiving unemployment due to termination on 10/9/18. I have agreed to work with an insurance agency to write a request for proposal and provide analysis on a short-term, 1099 basis. Do I report the hours I spent preparing to meet the agent, meeting the agent, reviewing the scope of work, and answering questions (landing the job), along with the hours that will be spent actually performing the work? The UIA says I should report the hours worked each week, but I'm not sure if that would include the initial meeting. I will not submit for payment until I've completed the job - so how would I report the wages? I did incur some small expenses in obtaining this work, so I would deduct that from any earnings. I'm not finding much information on the Michigan UIA website, and what's posted here is old. Thanks!

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/uia_UC1901_76146_7.pdf Page 12.

You aren't asked for hours worked you are asked for gross wages paid to you. You are required to report them for the weeks they are earned not paid.

They may ask for the hours you worked to reduce the days you were available for work.

 

[Chyvan]

I am receiving unemployment

I have agreed to work with an insurance agency to write a request for proposal and provide analysis on a short-term, 1099 basis.

You are just asking for trouble. Do NOT do this kind of work if you want to keep your UI benefits. So much can go wrong.

Besides that MI has a crap partial UI formula. In MI, you are allowed a MAXIMUM OF 20 payments. If you file for partial UI and get $40, once you get 20 payments that's it. A whopping $800. The remaining balance is lost to you.

It's really obscure https://www.michigan.gov/documents/uia_SeverancePay_109001_7.pdf

"and the claimant’s balance of weeks of benefits will be reduced by 1 week, if the claimant claims benefits for that week"

This applies to part-time work even though this is about severance. Most people don't find this out until after claiming for 20 weeks collecting tiny payments and then finding out they were cut off with a balance remaining on their claim, and then complaining about it. I'm letting you know up front so there are no surprises.

https://www.michigan.gov/uia/0,4680,7-118-52610-78504--,00.html

"
After all of the certifications have been completed
To Inquire –
MARVIN:
If you would like to know your last payment date and check amount, Press 1.
If you would like to know the balance of weeks payable, Press 2.
If you would like to know the date of your most recent certification, Press 3.
To return to the main menu, Press 4.

If you Press 1, MARVIN will say:
Your last pay date was ________ for the amount of $______.

If you Press 2, MARVIN will say:
You are entitled to _______ weeks, and the number of weeks that you have already been paid is ___ weeks. Your balance is ___ weeks."

It's also documented here. It's so subtle of MI to hide it like this. Most first time claimants don't know this, and it's not the norm for most any other state.

Look for a REAL job about as good or better than you had before.

https://www.michigan.gov/uia/0,4680,7-118-52610-78504--,00.html

"we will need the number of Regular hours you physically worked"

MI does ask about hours. It's one of the states that treats a certain number of hours per week as an able available issue even if you earn less than what you'd get under the partial UI formula.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

@Chyvan You have no idea how much @Church of One is being paid for this work nor what it could lead to in the future. You might as well advise him to suckle off the public tit as long as possible.

 

[Chyvan]

@PayrollHRGuy, you have no idea how bad @Church of One needs these UI benefits. You might as well advise him to put his finances at risk without knowing the pitfalls.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

@PayrollHRGuy, you have no idea how bad @Church of One needs these UI benefits. You might as well advise him to put his finances at risk without knowing the pitfalls.

Neither do you. And I will generally advise people to better themselves when at all possible.

 

[Chyvan]

And I will generally advise people to better themselves when at all possible.

I also don't consider UI benefits "the public tit." The benefits are charged against the reserve account of the employer(s) that put him in this mess in the first place. Every employer knows or should know that each separation is a potential UI claim, and if they didn't want to pay the cost, they'd have kept him in his job. Since they didn't, by rights, he is allowed to look for suitable employment to try to be put back into the same condition he was in prior to the separation, not scramble for stop-gap work that might very well cause more trouble than it's actually worth.

It's debatable whether doing self-employment "betters" anyone with a valid UI claim. I know that I will not do it. Too risky, too much work, and too little gain.

 

[adjusterjack]

And I can testify that doing any work for an insurance agency part time pays very little for the hours worked. I agree with Chyvan's admonition not to do it.

But, of course, that's up to OP.

 

[Church of One]

I've always been pretty well paid, working in employee benefits - especially as I'm not degreed. I'm at the max UI benefit, but once I get past 10 weeks of benefits, I have to take whatever crap job I'm offered, or lose the benefit. I'd rather take the 1099 gig for a couple of weeks, and waive claiming those weeks, and hopefully leverage my work into something more regular with this agency. I've been 1099 before, so I know what I'm getting into. I'm just not sure if I report gross earnings, or after my expenses.

If I stay in my particular line of work, I'm faced with the issue of the jobs paying comparable wages being 45-60 minutes commute each way. That's an extra 10 hours of my life wasted on the road. And no, I'm not considering moving. Or, try and move into another line of work, but without a degree, it sucks to only find jobs with a 50% haircut.

Oh well, everything you need - just when you need it. That's always been my motto, and hasn't failed me so far.

 

[cbg]

I also work in employee benefits, and my commute is two hours each way. I'd kill for a commute as short as 45-60 minutes.

 

[Church of One]

I also work in employee benefits, and my commute is two hours each way. I'd kill for a commute as short as 45-60 minutes.

Oh, Laura Mercy! Two hours of traffic, or two hours of distance? Mine is all traffic.

 

[cbg]

Twenty minutes driving to the train station, an hour on the train, change to the subway, six stops on the subway, a five minute walk. The rest is platform and parking time.

 

[Chyvan]

I'm at the max UI benefit, but once I get past 10 weeks of benefits, I have to take whatever crap job I'm offered, or lose the benefit.

This isn't entirely true. Lots of states use double talk to make claimants believe this. You are in FULL control of the jobs you apply for. Apply for good ones Then you don't have to worry as much about a crap offer because you didn't apply for crap work. It's not impossible to get a crap offer like when your neighbor tries to help you out by telling a friend that calls you for a job, but you just don't tell people so they won't "help" you.

Also, you have protections of "prevailing." If you're a laid off doctor, in your tenth week of UI, and get offered what MI says is the minimum pay you have to accept, you'd still be able to refuse because that pay is nowhere remotely close to what doctors get paid as in it's less than "prevailing."

I'd rather take the 1099 gig for a couple of weeks, and waive claiming those weeks, and hopefully leverage my work into something more regular with this agency. I've been 1099 before, so I know what I'm getting into. I'm just not sure if I report gross earnings, or after my expenses.

Have you been 1099 while collecting UI? This decision is so much easier to make after you draw your last UI check. If you're going to waive claiming, then you don't have to report anything, but when you REopen the claim after the "job" ends, it's going to be a new adjudication.

By all rights, if you report, you have to take what you're going to get paid and distribute that income (even though it's looking like a lump sum) over all the hours you worked. It's an accounting nightmare. Then you have to bucket the money to the week the work was performed.

 

[commentator]

Unemployment always wants gross, not net earnings. If you have a 1099 to file at the end of the year, rest assured that if this money is not reported somewhere to the unemployment system during the time you were receiving benefits, you'll be hearing from the unemployment system then, when it is far too late to re-do it correctly. My suggestion is that you find a living human to speak with in the system, discuss with them how you deal directly with your specific case. Or don't do the work at all. Or take a break for a few weeks and then reopen your claim. A "new adjudication" is not really the crisis indicated here since it would be for a non covered very temporary contract, which does not require a new eligibility decision.

 

[Church of One]

Twenty minutes driving to the train station, an hour on the train, change to the subway, six stops on the subway, a five minute walk. The rest is platform and parking time.

I see. You've obviously not in Michigan, where we don't have transit. It's all cars, all the time.