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Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One

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  • 10-17-2018, 12:28 AM
    li/<o
    Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One
    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: CA

    I work in a store and just today we were told our store is closing. I have been working for the company for 5 years. My hours fluctuated at times I would go as low as 15 hours a week to 25 hours to even 35 hours. I recently became fulltimer this past 3 months. Now as mentioned my store is closing its going LQ and thats it.

    My question is I have another job and been working for my other jobs like for a decade (its part time would work 3 to 5 hours a week) being easy money and good I kept the job for extra income. I am curious if I can file for unemployment? Would I still be eligible for it even if I was to keep my other job that I get 3 to 5 hours a week?

    If I am eligible to get unemployment how would it affect my eligibility? On my part time job I would make $35 to $50 bucks a week. My other main job with more hours every 15 days I would be making from $400 to $700.

    Thank in advance.
  • 10-17-2018, 05:24 AM
    DAWW
    Re: Unemployment (2 Jobs Lost One)
    You can always file. It works or it does not. Generally does not hurt you to try. The closest thing to a downside is if you are accepted, the base period just got locked in. If you are rejected, you can always try again if your situation changes.

    Based on what you have said it is not impossible you will get some level of UI benefits. The key is the quality of the termination (generally "you are fired" versus "I quit), and what your reported income is for the base period and what you are still making now. Assuming UI likes the quality of the termination, current income reduces the amount of the benefit, but does not make you ineligible.
  • 10-17-2018, 05:31 AM
    chyvan
    Re: Unemployment (2 Jobs Lost One)
    Quote:

    Quoting li/<o
    View Post
    Would I still be eligible for it even if I was to keep my other job that I get 3 to 5 hours a week?

    Any week that you earn less than you'd get on UI, you'll get the difference. However, it can be risky. I hope that they never have you skip a week. It's a pain to have income one week and then none the next. To the UI people, it will look like you got fired, quit, maybe you asked for the week off. EDD will suspend benefits until they can determine whether you were the cause of your week with no earnings before restoring them.

    Quote:

    Quoting li/<o
    View Post
    would it affect my eligibility?

    EDD will allow an exclusion of $25 or 25% of your earnings whichever is more. In your case $35 and $50 times .25 is less than $25 therefore, EDD would subtract $10 to $25 from your UI check and give you the difference.

    Depending on when the store closes, you might want to consider wanting until 1/6/19 to apply. It will allow your potentially much higher quarter of 7/1/18 to 9/30/18 to age into your base period. If you can go through your paystubs and bucket the money by quarter (date on the check determines the quarter to put the wages), you can decide if it's worth it to you after you use this table to calculate your weekly benefit. https://www.edd.ca.gov/pdf_pub_ctr/de1101bt5.pdf
  • 10-17-2018, 10:17 AM
    li/<o
    Re: Unemployment (2 Jobs Lost One)
    Thanks for the advice. I kept this part time job because it worked with my schedule and the extra income was very helpful overall. Unfortunately the store I work is closing for good its going to enter liquidtion next week I am going to make as much money as possible.

    Its also said it will LQ until January 13, 2019. I was reading about that differnce from $25 or 25%. I just dont want to be denied from my other small part time job. I dont mind getting the differnce from it.

    Just to ask is it something to consider to quit my second small part time job? Because that wont be enough to support me if I get denied unemployment because of the second part time job.
  • 10-17-2018, 11:59 AM
    chyvan
    Re: Unemployment (2 Jobs Lost One)
    Quote:

    Quoting li/<o
    View Post
    is it something to consider to quit my second small part time job?

    I'd be afraid. To be safe, you'd have to be certain that from the time you quit until the day you get let go from your full-time job that you'd earn 5 times your weekly benefit amount. If anything goes wrong and you don't earn that amount, you'd have to worry about the reason why you quit the part-time job.

    Quote:

    Quoting li/<o
    View Post
    Because that wont be enough to support me if I get denied unemployment because of the second part time job.

    You won't be denied because of your part-time job. You'd only be disqualified week-by-week if it pays you too much, or you get fired for misconduct, or you quit without good cause.
  • 10-17-2018, 12:25 PM
    DAWW
    Re: Unemployment (2 Jobs Lost One)
    Quitting the "small" job, quitting any job risks the quality of the termination. EDD wants people working. Even a little work for a little money is better then no work for no money in their eyes. People act like the rules are carved in stone tablets, which is sort of true, but at the end of the day you are going to have a lightly trained ALJ making a decision. Make it easy for them to make their decision by not quitting.
  • 10-17-2018, 03:51 PM
    li/<o
    Re: Unemployment (2 Jobs Lost One)
    Thanks guys for the advice. I dont mind if my UE gets cut because I am still making a little bit of money from my other job. I just dont want to file and be denied unemployment in the end. I am in the process of CDCR so I am trying to get an overall better job in the end.

    I do plan to look for work although its going to be tough because in the city I live work is hard to find especially after the holidays.
  • 10-17-2018, 04:59 PM
    comment/ator
    Re: Unemployment (2 Jobs Lost One)
    Honestly, there is no downside to applying. If you make less in a specific unemployment week, you'll be able to draw part of a check. If you make more in a calendar week, Sunday through Saturday, in gross pay, regardless of how you get your checks (weekly, monthly, however) than you would receive in unemployment benefits then you are not eligible, though you may have a set up and approved claim.

    You file the claim for benefits, you clearly and concisely tell them what your other job is and get a decision to approve benefits based on your being off work for no fault of your own from the separating employer. Your claim will set up for xxx amount of money per week for so many weeks. You file a weekly certification for the weeks as they pass. In each of the weeks that passes, you will, after Saturday, look back at the week, starting on Sunday, and figure how much you have worked at your second job and how much you will be paid in gross wages, (for example, if you have worked 8 hours, at $15 per hour, you will report that you made $120 on the weekly certification even if you have not received it yet or even if you receive only one check per month.)

    You let the unemployment system do the calculation of how much you're actually going to be paid in unemployment benefits. Your responsibility is to just figure out the total gross wage, for that specific week, Sunday through Saturday, the way unemployment weeks always fall. They will pay you some of your unemployment WBA, will deduct some based on your earning. This money is not lost to you, incidentally, it is tacked on to the total amount you are eligible to draw. If your original number of weeks was set at say, $xxxx amount to be drawn for 26 weeks, you may have enough money left in the claim by working and receiving benefits that you are able to draw several more partial weeks than 26.

    The system is set up to encourage people to work all they can until they find a job that pays more than they can draw in unemployment insurance, which is finite and does not go on except for a very set amount of time and money, regardless of whether you've found a job or not. But it is not set up to discourage people from signing up if they have a small part time job. Nor are they going to break their necks to take it away from you.

    The thing you must be careful about is to report the money you make correctly. Now that most of the claims are taken on line, and you don't talk to an actual human being, many people fail to pick up on exactly how to report their earnings correctly. And since the whole system cross matches, and exact amounts you have made will be showing up on your wage records to be cross checked with your unemployment benefits whether you report them or not, you can have problems if the amounts do not match up. They may ask you to contact them to discuss things. either while you are still receiving benefits, or some time in the future. Save check records of how much you're paid at the small second job, and do your best to report the wages accurately.

    The other thing that might cause trouble, also, is if you do quit the small job, or are fired from it, or even if they tell you that you are no longer needed there and lay you off. It is important, in any of those cases, that the week this happens, you report that it happened, on your weekly certification for benefits. This will stop your claim temporarily until they can explore that situation. If you quit the job while you are drawing a weekly benefit, you'll need to let the system know. There is a specific question concerning this on every weekly certification you will file.

    If you are off work for a slow period, say they let you miss a couple of weeks on the second job due to them being slow, no longer needing you, etc., it will not cut off your claim. As long as you are working all the hours the employer has available for you, which is what they are looking for, if they have no work for you, this is being out of work through no fault of your own. But you are going to tell the unemployment system what has happened, they'll contact this other employer and make sure you are working all the hours they have available for you, have not done anything to disqualify yourself, and then you'll be back paid for any weeks you are owed, or that your checks have been delayed.

    Work with the system, and you should have minimal trouble doing this. No matter how inexperienced the workers at the agency may be, this is an extremely common situation that they will know how to deal with, and it should work fine for you.
  • 10-17-2018, 06:32 PM
    li/<o
    Re: Unemployment (2 Jobs Lost One)
    Much appreciated giving a thorough explanation. I will keep my second job and file everything they want to see. I will also save all my paystubs to keep them on record just incase they want to verify some information.

    Few other concerns the day I am laid off from the LQ from the store is the day I can call that I am unemployed? It was said that it should be over by January 13, 2019, but I think it can depend will start strong with hours, and little by little slow down when their is less inventory to sell off. So say I was let go from the LQ on January 02, 2019I have to file the next day or on the day? Thanks again for all the advice.
  • 10-17-2018, 10:54 PM
    chyvan
    Re: Unemployment (2 Jobs Lost One)
    Quote:

    Quoting li/<o
    View Post
    I think it can depend will start strong with hours, and little by little slow down when their is less inventory to sell off.

    You don't have to be let go. Any time by working, that you'll get less than you would on partial UI, that is a potentially good time to file for a UI claim.

    However, you have nonuniform hours. You were earning $35 to $50 a week on one job and $400 to $700 in the other, and then you were made full-time 3 months ago. Therefore, there is a very high probability the wages Jul 1 to Sep 30 will be a much high wage quarter than all your other quarters, and ideally if it is, then you want that quarter in your base period to draw the largest weekly UI check that you can get.

    Now, use that table and do the math so that you'll know when that week arrives that you might want to file for benefits. It could also be that your UI benefit will be so much better if you wait until Jan 6, 2019 to file, that it might be worth the wait, but do the math.

    I've seen cases where people have gone from filing immediately and getting $88/wk to waiting 3 weeks for a quarter change over getting $450/wk. I think you might be a good candidate to manipulate your benefit to your advantage.


    Quote:

    Quoting li/<o
    View Post
    So say I was let go from the LQ on January 02, 2019I have to file the next day or on the day?

    You can file that day or the next, or you could wait until Jan 6 to maybe get more money as the quarters shift.

    You're still working, I'm assuming you can still pull your paystubs to bucket the money by quarter. Don't cheat yourself and race out and file. It's so much easier to get it right the first time.
  • 10-18-2018, 08:18 AM
    comment/ator
    Re: Unemployment (2 Jobs Lost One)
    In unemployment calculations, the quarters used to calculate benefits will change the first full calendar week of the new quarter, not necessarily the date of the first day of the month, as in Jan, the new quarter will begin on Jan. 7, and that is probably going to be a better week for you to file. Of course, you could file any week that you make less than your weekly benefit amount, or you could, for that matter, file a claim immediately and set up a claim, though you would not be able to begin receiving benefits on such a claim until your earnings had dropped. But in your case, it may very well pay to wait.

    But what is at issue is that once you have filed a claim, if you have enough wages to set up a claim, any amount, even as little as $88, you are locked into that claim for the next full year. They do not let you change your claim when the quarters roll around where if, you had filed, and they had pulled in the first four of the last five completed quarters you would've drawn much more. So you need to look at the quarters, check out the CA unemployment tables, think about your past quarters of wages before you file for benefits.

    If you were to file a claim right now (in the Oct, Nov, Dec 2018 time frame that the system is in right now) the system would go back eighteen months and pull up quarters of wages. Contrary to what many people think, unemployment insurance does not take in your whole work life, like the social security programs. They only go back a few quarters, roughly 18 months. Each time the quarters change, a quarter is picked up and one is dropped from figuring your amount of unemployment benefits you'll qualify for. The system does this calculation based on their wage records supplied by employers.

    From what you have told us, there might be some small earnings quarters for you there back in 2017, which would result in your getting set up for a very small amount of weekly benefits. Then since you were given more hours later, there will be bigger quarters of earnings as we move forward. If you wait until the first full week in January to file, the first of those old quarters will drop off, and they'll pick up the more recent quarters, for possibly a larger Weekly Benefit Amount. So as has been advised, you look, you think about your earnings, you decide when to file, and remember, you'll be stuck there for a year, you can't re-file the claim once it is filed.
  • 10-18-2018, 08:51 AM
    li/<o
    Re: Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One
    Quote:

    Quoting chyvan
    View Post
    You don't have to be let go. Any time by working, that you'll get less than you would on partial UI, that is a potentially good time to file for a UI claim.

    However, you have nonuniform hours. You were earning $35 to $50 a week on one job and $400 to $700 in the other, and then you were made full-time 3 months ago. Therefore, there is a very high probability the wages Jul 1 to Sep 30 will be a much high wage quarter than all your other quarters, and ideally if it is, then you want that quarter in your base period to draw the largest weekly UI check that you can get.

    Now, use that table and do the math so that you'll know when that week arrives that you might want to file for benefits. It could also be that your UI benefit will be so much better if you wait until Jan 6, 2019 to file, that it might be worth the wait, but do the math.

    I've seen cases where people have gone from filing immediately and getting $88/wk to waiting 3 weeks for a quarter change over getting $450/wk. I think you might be a good candidate to manipulate your benefit to your advantage.




    You can file that day or the next, or you could wait until Jan 6 to maybe get more money as the quarters shift.

    You're still working, I'm assuming you can still pull your paystubs to bucket the money by quarter. Don't cheat yourself and race out and file. It's so much easier to get it right the first time.

    Thanks for the advice I will definitely wait until January 6, 2019 and beyond. At this point I will still have work until we LQ everything, but it was said that January 13, 2019 would be the final day to LQ everything (they might let some of us go I would say depending how the LQ is going) either way I don't plan to file until January 6, 2019 and beyond. I have been doing some math and I think I know where I stand that will do until I find something else (which will be hard since in my area its just hard to find jobs especially after holiday season). Also to confirm yes my low end job was my part time job $35 to $50 and my main job (became FT the last 3 months) was around actually $500 to $700 (altough before around $400 to $700 being part time sometimes I get more hours sometimes less just depended on the demand).

    @comment/ator
    I appreciate the advice I wont file at all until January 6, 2019 and forward if it will help me even better.

    I am happy for everyone that is giving their advice definitely a big factor for me to wait until January 6, 2019 I am sure I will be let go around that time so that really helps a lot to stay and work hard on the LQ.

    Once again thanks everyone for your wonderful advice I do really appreciate it!
  • 10-18-2018, 11:28 AM
    chyvan
    Re: Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One
    Quote:

    Quoting li/<o
    View Post
    I will definitely wait until January 6, 2019 and beyond.

    No, you don't definitely wait, you do the math so that you know for a fact. For all you know, you had a past quarter where you worked consistently 35 hours a week, and this prior quarter isn't materially better. It only seems like it could be because of what you said, but without numbers, it's just a guess. YOU have to know these things to do what's right for you. If you just go out and file without planning, EDD will just give you what you get.

    It's not that hard do if your paychecks show year-to-date earnings because you can pull the checks at the tail end of the quarters and just subtract to get the full quarter gross.. For a claim filed now, it's Jul, 1, 2017 to Jun 30, 2018. On Jan 6, it's Oct 1, 2017 to Sept 30, 2018.
  • 10-23-2018, 12:53 PM
    li/<o
    Re: Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One
    Quote:

    Quoting chyvan
    View Post
    No, you don't definitely wait, you do the math so that you know for a fact. For all you know, you had a past quarter where you worked consistently 35 hours a week, and this prior quarter isn't materially better. It only seems like it could be because of what you said, but without numbers, it's just a guess. YOU have to know these things to do what's right for you. If you just go out and file without planning, EDD will just give you what you get.

    It's not that hard do if your paychecks show year-to-date earnings because you can pull the checks at the tail end of the quarters and just subtract to get the full quarter gross.. For a claim filed now, it's Jul, 1, 2017 to Jun 30, 2018. On Jan 6, it's Oct 1, 2017 to Sept 30, 2018.

    I am kind of confused though. I can't file yet until I am laid off for good no? I am still here until LQ after that (which I don't know when I will be layed off for good). Also which math the main job I am losing or the part time job?
  • 10-23-2018, 12:58 PM
    flyingron
    Re: Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One
    If you're not being allowed to work in a week and get paid, you are eligible for UI. Temporary layoffs are just as valid in California as permanent ones.
  • 10-23-2018, 02:02 PM
    chyvan
    Re: Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One
    Quote:

    Quoting li/<o
    View Post
    I can't file yet until I am laid off for good no?

    Not necessarily. Your store is closing. There may come a time where they're only letting you work one day a week. You don't have to be "laid off." It's any time you earn less by working than you'd get on UI that you consider applying to get UI to make up your lost wages.

    Quote:

    Quoting li/<o
    View Post
    Also which math the main job I am losing or the part time job?

    UI doesn't go by the job. They use ALL wages in the base period from ALL jobs to do the calculation. If you don't know your different weekly benefit amounts based on approximations by using the different start dates of a claim, you'll never know when the optimum time to file is or if you're going to earn LESS than you'd get on a partial UI formula.
  • 11-08-2018, 09:00 AM
    li/<o
    Re: Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One
    Thanks the responses again guys. Thats the unknown thing as of now I been working the full amount (40 hours they don't want to give any OT). Its their you can kind of see the store with less merchandise as time passes by. The good thing is I am full time so they can't really keep me under 29.5 hours I remember a co worker went to labors commission and they got in trouble. I would assume the same would apply here.
  • 03-18-2019, 04:53 PM
    li/<o
    Re: Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One
    I would like to just update my status with UE. Everything in the very end went smooth. I was working until 1.11.19. I filed asap I had some hiccups here and their. Just a weeks ago I was paid past weeks that I was past due. Overall everything seem easy in California being my first time on it. Also I got severance pay for one month and just to aware people or don't know the answer to that it doesnt go against your UE benefits you have to report it, but you don't get affected by it.

    Also still having my other part time job I report the hours kind of sucks it goes against my benefits, but its a small amount.
  • 03-19-2019, 07:29 AM
    comment/ator
    Re: Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One
    Bravo to you for coming back and giving us a follow up report! It sounds like you did just what you were supposed to, and reported everything quickly and honestly and asked the right questions and everything went smoothly as could be expected. That small weekly amount that comes out of the U.I. due to the part time work, remember, you're not really losing it, it stays on in the total that is in your claim to be drawn, so you can possibly go on doing the partial thing longer if you need to. But hopefully, you'll soon find something better and be back up to fuller income soon.
  • 03-25-2019, 06:11 PM
    li/<o
    Re: Can You Get Unemployment if You Hold Two Jobs and Lose Only One
    Thanks I appreciated everyone that helped me here I never been in UE nor do I plan to stay on it. I applied for a Law Enforcement job and I hope everything goes well I am basically waiting to get called for an offer. Believe me it was a headache in the very start until everything was resolved which took a few weeks before it was. Where I live its hard to find a good job I just hope I get a call soon so I can head to something better. Thanks again!
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