Employment Law Information

Do Not Pay To File For Unemployment

DO NOT pay anyone to file the claim for you.  There are unscrupulous people offering nonexistent services and hope you don’t notice the charges on your credit card.  Filing an application is FREE from your state’s employment development or labor department.  Save time and do it online.  If you go in person, expect a long wait.  Just use a search engine to find it.  The search term should be your state, followed by the term:  file for unemployment.  So in CA, it would be:  California file for unemployment.  Make sure the website you go to has a .gov domain name, NOT .com, .net or .org.

Reasons For Losing Your Job

There are some myths about getting unemployment benefits.  Some people think that if you’re terminated you can get unemployment.  The other myth is that if you resign (voluntarily quit your job), you can’t get unemployment.  Here’s how to increase your chances of getting the UE benefits you’re entitled to.

There are layoffs and downsizing.  Getting unemployment in that case is a walk in the park.  However, if your boss is an asshole and you just can’t stand it anymore, but you don’t want to quit for fear you won’t be able to get unemployment, you might be wrong.

Make Sure You Get Unemployment

The true test is how you lost your job.  Don’t assume that because you got fired or quit that you can’t collect.  If you got fired for stealing, horrible attendance, or you just plain suck at your job, you won’t be able to get benefits. 

What about getting terminated for no good reason?  Don’t assume that you can’t get benefits.  In an at-will state your boss can terminate you for ANY reason at all as long at it’s not an illegal reason like, but not limited to, racial, age, pregnancy, disability (the list goes on) discrimination.   

In order to collect, you must have lost your job through no fault of your own.  Remember those words and live that mantra, “through no fault of your own”. 

If you were forced to quit, NEVER write down that you resigned or quit because someone at work was an ass.  Instead, write that you were “constructively discharged”.  A constructive discharge means that your boss or some coworker made the working conditions there so intolerable that you could no longer work in that toxic environment. 

If you were terminated, ALWAYS maintain that you were ready, willing and able to work for the simple fact that you CANNOT get unemployment if you’re not. 

Do something like this, “I wanted to continuing working at [insert your company name here], but was constructively discharged by the hostile work environment created by my manager’s behavior.”  DO NOT explain how on the application.  Save that for the phone interview or in reply if your manager disputes your application. 

Or, “I wanted to continuing working at [insert your company name here], but I came into work yesterday and was told my position no longer exists and that I was not to return.”

Take this quick unemployment survey.  Vote and participate for a chance to redeem a $500 check.