Hello, I am a seasonal employee in the state of New York. I work for a company that operates within schools during the school year from September to June of each year. During the summer months we are not paid or owed any kind of vacation pay or compensation and are encouraged to work various summer programs with the company.
However, this year there were no positions open for me at any of the summer programs due to some programs being canceled. I was concerned about the lack of income for the summer due to lack of employment and I was encouraged by my boss to file for unemployment as I seek a temporary job until I go back to work in September.
A few days after that conversation I received a letter in the mail from my employer stating the following (with my employer's name removed):
Your position at the -REMOVED- is classified as an A-3, seasonal employee. It is the intent of the -REMOVED- to resume your position each school year. This is to inform you that you have the reasonable expectation to return to work at the -REMOVED- commencing each September until you are notified in writing to the contrary.
Please sign and return one copy of this letter as your acceptance to the above and keep the other for your records. Thank you for all you do for the -REMOVED-.
The letter was very brief and plain, so much that I set it aside and forgot about it for a week. During this week my boss asked me if I had mailed in the letter. When I told her I have not I was informed that if I did not sign and return the letter that it would constitute my resignation from the company. So I signed the letter and returned it to my boss in person.
A few weeks later, summer hits, and I was unable to find a temporary job so I filed for unemployment. I spoke to an agent about my claim, and was verified as being eligible and started receiving my payments. I have had been claiming benefits with no problems for about a month when I received a letter in the mail from my employer.
The letter was to tell me that my employer was contesting my unemployment claim, and attached with it was a copy of the signed letter above that I had signed and turned in. The letter contesting my unemployment claim pointed to the letter posted above as the reason I should not have filed a claim. It stated that since I am a seasonal worker and that I have signed that letter above agreeing to return to work in September that I should not have applied for unemployment benefits.
I was baffled. Sure I have agreed to return to work in September, but until then my employer has no work to offer me. Is that not what unemployment is for? My boss herself had encouraged me to file for unemployment. I applied and was even found qualified and everything was going fine until I got this letter.
So I spoke to some co-workers who also have no work with my company for the summer, and have also applied for unemployment. They too have received the same letter contesting their claims, with the letter we all signed attached, and used as the reasoning for our claims being invalid. I double checked with the New York State Unemployment website and it's stated that seasonal employees are in fact entitled to unemployment benefits like anyone else. So I decided to give my boss a call about the situation.
My boss informs me that the decision about the unemployment situation was not hers, but the CEO's of the company and that she can do nothing about it. She tells me she would not tell any of her employees if they should have or shouldn't have filed an unemployment claim, or to continue claiming benefits, and that it is entirely our decision. She then tells me however that the CEO has told her that any employees claiming unemployment for the summer may or may not have their positions open for them to return to in September. In other words, the CEO has politely said that any employee claiming unemployment would be fired.
Needless to say, the situation is ridiculous. Is this even legal? I'm given the option of not signing the letter above and losing my job, or signing it and somehow forfeiting my rights to unemployment? So either way I'd have no income for two months? Ridiculous. If I were to cease with the unemployment, I would not be able to make my mortgage payment this month. If I continue with it to pay my mortgage, I might be fired from my job and have no work to go back to in September. I'm in between a rock and a hard place and I'm terrified.
So my question is, what can I do? I've qualified for unemployment, I'm entitled to it, can my employer really fire me for accepting it? Has my employer even contacted the state about the situation? The letter contesting it was dated over two weeks ago, and since then I have heard nothing from the state about the situation, and I have since received two payments with no problems. Have they really even contacted the state, or is this all just a scare tactic to try to scare employees out of claiming unemployment benefits?
What are my options?
I'm tearing my hair out over this so any help or advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you so much for reading all of this.

