I’ve got some dumb questions about the military and pensions. In twelve years I’ll get to retire with a pension, but I’ll only be 44. If I choose to retire at that time, will I be eligible for unemployment? Since I’m pretty sure the answer is no, here’s my second question: if I don’t retire at 20 years, I think I can stay in for a max of 30 years, at which time I’m pretty much forced out. If I can’t find another job, will I be eligible? Or does receiving any type of pension automatically make me ineligible?
Also, getting away from the pension question, do you know if the manner of departure from service affects eligibility? In other words, does it matter if someone resigns, versus gets kicked out with a dishonorable/other than honorable/administrative dishcharge? I’ve been part of courts-martial juries where this info would have been nice.
Flyboy88, I see you are in VA so I don’t know how much of this applies to you but if you were in New Jersey I believe that the the following would apply
If your pension is from a non-base year employer we don’t care about your pension
Example. You worked for company X from 1980-2000 and then retired so you are collecting a pension. You were bored not working so you took a hob with company Z who laid you off. Your claim would be against Z not X so your pension from X does not play a role
If you are collecting a pension from the base year employer and you did not contribute anything to it, you are ineligable to collect unemployment (based on what I leared in training)
If you paid partially into the pension plan then there is only a 50% reduction in your benefit amount. (based on what I learned in training)
If you coluntary leave a job you are ineligable to collect unemployment untill you work somewhere else for at least 4 weeks and earn 6 times or more what you would have made on week of unemployment, then lose that job through no fault of your own
If you are forced to retire then I believe you are able to collect. However because I am not a claims examiner I am not 100% certain, and I do not know the laws of your state
The type of discharge does matter for Unemployment in NJ. If you are let go for Misconduct at a job you can not collect for 6 weeks. If you are discharged for Gross Misconduct you are not eligable to collect against that employer at all. I assume the same applies to court marshal’s. I don’t know for certain because I never had to process a claim with those issues
Duckster, it isn’t a pregnancy issue. The employee in question has to undergo a six-month course of Interferon. Which will most likely make her too ill to work during that time. I have been trying to help her find a way to pay her bills during her upcoming treatment. She is a single mother and has no resources other than her paycheck. Hence, my question to Manny.
truthbot, I would look into for her , or have her look into the requirements for disibiality. If you were to lay her off while she was able and available to work she could collect unemployment until she was too ill to be able and available for work. If she is on disability she can collect until her doctor says she is able to return to work.
Hi Mannyl. I have two questions I can’t find an answer to on the FAQ’s on the State site. I am suspended at work because I accumulated 5 points from calling out over the past year when I was sick or had an emergency, so I am now suspended pending an appeal. Can I collect unemployment while I am waiting up to two months for the appeal to be heard? If so, are they required to give me a pink slip so I can get benefits? also, I am in school taking four classes. I worked out my schedule so I could still work full time. I work at a casino and went in at 4pm-12pm and had thurs and fri off. Will this keep me from collecting unemployment because I won’t be able to take a regular day-time job with these classes. You are providing a great service. Thanks.
Suszeekay I do not represent the Department of Labor in you state and I am not a claims examiner, so the information I provide may or may not be correct for you. With having said that. If you were in New Jersey and filing a claim I would tell you that your issues boil down to, Able and Available for work, and case of dismissal. If you are let go for any reason other than lack of work (ie, you call out sick too many times and they let you go) or poor work performance you have to have an interview before you can collect anything. We try and sechedule an interview 11-14 days from the date you filed the claim so we can talk to your ex-employer to get their side of the story, then we have up to 72 hours ( I believe) to make a determination. In the mean time you will have already called in to claim credit for the weeks that past. If it is decided in your favor then we cut you a check for the weeks you have credit for. If we decide against you, you are able to appeal the decision. In New Jersey if you are attending school for less than 20 hours a week we consider that part time and it usually does not affect your claim. If there are other jobs that you qualify for in your area that are also 4pm-12pm But I think you might have meant 4pm-12am then that is not normally an availibality issue. Even if the classes are a problem, you may still qualify for unemployment if your state is like NJ and have a list of approved classes for in demand occupations and you are taking a class on the list. If you have more questions just ask. You also may want to call the information line for Unemployment in your state and talk to an agent.
Manny, should I be sent a W2 or some sort of statement on the money I collected in 2002 (so I can do my taxes) or is that something I would have to call up and request? As I understand it they’re reported the figure directly to the government(US, we don’t have state income taxes), but I don’t know the exact figure myself.
Pardon my butting-in: elfkin, you should have received such a form for unemployment collected last year. The figure will be on it. I received mine recently. You should not have to ask for it–though of course you would be forced to do so if it doesn’t show up soon.
I work for a firm that trains computer engineers (Cicso classes, CCNA, CCNP and CCIE, to be exact). With the market the way it is I figured there’d be a lot of unemployed dot-commers and general computer geeks who might be interested in bettering themselves rather than sitting around.
Can the unemployment office help me with this? Can I call a representative and say, “Hey, we do this service, I bet you see people that might be interested, keep this in mind”?
This was just a thought that wandered into my head the other day and then you show up. Nice timing.
Before we moved to Vegas, my mother was fired from her job as the business manager of a large medical practice by a part-time consultant/administrator who the doctors saw fit to endow with canning power. This woman claimed that my mother was “causing disruption” around the office by well, doing things that had been a normal part of her job prior to the advent of said c/a. There was no written policy, and my mother had no reason to think she was doing anything wrong, but she still was denied benefits. This woman basically trumped up a “for cause” reason to fire my mother specifically in order to keep her from being able to collect unemployment benefits.
How common is this practice, is it hard to “catch” employers at it, and how hard is it successfully appeal in order to collect benefits?
You know although I had a MCSE for NT 4 I needed to upgrade my skills to 2000 and the state sent me to a school where I knew more than the instructors did and didn’t gain anything out of it. in New Jersey we have a list of approved schools that employment services will send people to for training in demand fields. I know Networking was a demand field I do not know if it is still. I’d suggest contacting your state’s Department of Labor and see how your firm gets on the approved list. I wish when I was eligable for training from the state there was a place approved that offered Cisco I would love to get any Cisco Certifications I can.
Again I can only speak for New Jersey, but here if you are let go for Misconduct you are not able to collect for six weeks. If you are still unemployed after six weeks you can start collecting from that point. if you are let go for gross misconduct then you can not collect against that employer at all. Honestly the claims examiners and appeal tribunal people are human and some times it boils down to who do they belive more. In New Jersey you can appeal decisions all the way to the Supreme Court of New Jersey. I hope this answered your question if it didn’t let me know and I’ll try to provide a better answer.
(and I thought this thread was dead. It was just dormant)
I used to handle unemployment claims for a company in NC (we were the home office of a franchisee of fast-food restaurants, with restaurants located in SC, VA and NC). My job was to research why a certain employee was fired or why he/she quit their job. Sometimes we would have someone that was currently employed by our company but had quit/been fired/been laid off their second job, and they would still be able to collect unemployment benefits (although they were termed “Noncharging” by NC definition). Why would something like that be approved? The person has another job, therefore they are not unemployed. Also, we would have (mostly NC) employees who were fired who recieved unemployment benefits (again, termed “Noncharging”). Why would these people be eligible for benefits? I know you are a NJ employment officer, and it seems as if NC has a different system of choosing who is and is not eligible for unemployment benefits, but if you could clarify this, I would greatly appreciate it. Note that this was a couple years ago so laws and such may have changed since then.
In New Jersey we also have charging and noncharging catagories. If someone is working mutiple jobs and no longer works one of them through no fault of their own (basicly anything but gross misconduct ir quitting) we put the employer they are still working for on hold so they don’t get charged and let them collect. The reason for this is because if you were working mutiple jobs you obviously needed the money from all the jobs so we are not going to peinalize you for still working one job. As long as you work less than 32 hours and earn less than your partial benefit rate which is 120% of your weekly benefit rate you can collect if you are working . In New Jersey if you are fired depending on the reason (poor work performance) is one of them you can collect unemployment. The employer is releived of charges because they had a valid reason to let you go, but you are still eligable.
Manny, the Federal Govt. did extend the TUEC (Sp?). I will run out of compensation in a few weeks. Is the extension automatic?
Is is for 13 weeks at the same rate I’m getting now? I’m in NC.
As Mr. Cynical said, this a valuable thread, Thanks.
Here’s one from California. (I have very little – and no recent – experience with unemployment insurance.)
I hate living in California, but I’m a native. I’ve applied to many positions in Washington state, but I’ve been getting signals that it’s extremely difficult to get a job there unless you live there. (Little things like “Puget Sound applicants preferred”, and anecdotal evidence from acquaintances.) It seems the only way to find a job in Washington would be to move to Washington. Unfortunately, my employer has decided there will be no more lay-offs in the foreseeable future, and one woman I work with who asked to be laid off (new baby) was refused. And although I could do my job remotely (it’s all computer-based, and I’ve cleverly arranged to rid the department of printouts – saving about $20,00 the first year), Management is loth to allow me to relocate to a desk in the Washington office – let alone a home office.
So the question is this: Is there a way to voluntarily quit my job in California so that I can pursue a position up north, and also be elegible for California unemployment payments; or am I a virtual prisoner unless and until lay-offs come again?
The original TUC expired on 12/28. When Congress came back they passed a bill extending it to May something. In New Jersey the extension is automatic if you qualify for it, not everyone does qualify. It is for half the length of your claim ( I believe) so if you had a 26 week claim it would be 13 weeks at your old weekly rate.
If your initial claim was based on less than 20 weeks of work you do not qualify
If you were on the TUC already you do not get a new TUC. What this means is lets say your original claim ran out in Oct so you went onto the TUC. You can continue to collect the TUC you were on until you run out of funds, then you are done.
If I failed to answer part of your question please let me know, again I am not speaking on any offical capacity
