I was denied benefits because I said there was lack of work and my employer said i quit

Il request to appeal the decision made regarding the denial of my unemployment compensation benefits from the State of New York the letter sent, dated May 11, 2016, states that I was not eligible for these funds. The facts provided to you by the employer are false.

I filed lack of work, my employer said I quit.

I was a Print Producer for an d Agency and the Client I serviced drastically reduced the budget, hence, someone had to be let go. I spoke with my Supervisor and told her that I was considering semi-retirement and explained to her that perhaps I could help save another person’s job by offering to leave. My Supervisor was not only supportive and understanding but extremely grateful that she was now relinquished of the burden of having to lay another employee off. In a jester of gratitude, I asked about receiving unemployment and if company would consider it a Layoff due to lack of work and as such, Supervisor said Company would absolutely make no attempt to contest an Unemployment claim. That being said, you can imagine my disbelief that the company is now reneging on their word. For that reason I am respectfully appealing this decision.

1 answer  |  asked May 13, 2016 4:28 PM [EST]  |  applies to New York

Answers (1)

V Jonas Urba
No good deed goes unpunished. Your offering to help your employer by resigning is not good cause. Especially since you were considering retirement.

When you retire you leave work and cease to work. Since the unemployment laws require you to be available for work you must be available AND looking for work because it is extremely rare for someone to secure a job when not actively looking.

Unfortunately the DOL may consider your statement of "lack of work" as not a reason which was lawfully available for your use unless you owned the company. Of course the company could use it but unless it authorized you to state that reason then you quit. And quitting without good cause is not a valid basis for being awarded unemployment benefits.

You may recall that a few years back the federal government had extended UIBs for longer than 6 months due to the overwhelming number of people looking for work and the frightening deficit. The unemployment rate has good down in large part due to people working several part time jobs concurrently and the discouraged workers (those who simply gave up or retired). None of those persons recover UIBs simply due to lack of $ by state governments and the fact that no government forces labor unless someone is out there looking for work and has not voluntarily given up a job they could still be working.

It's not like a war where you might get rewarded for saving another person's life. The job market is about saving your own and whether that is good or bad is for our future politicians to decide and law make.

It never hurts to ask for a hearing and explain your situation to an ALJ and if the employer does not respond and does not show up for hearing and the judge decides in your favor and the employer does not have good cause to appeal there is a chance you could recover.

posted by V Jonas Urba  |  May 14, 2016 03:51 AM [EST]

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