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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    3

    Default Is it Legal to Hire Somebody to Make Them Eligible for Unemployment

    My question involves unemployment benefits for the state of: New Jersey

    Situtation: I work for a state university. They laid someone off in my department that was allegedly a "Type 4" employee (hourly, no benefits). After this person was laid off they discovered that they could not collect unemployment because they were listed as a student worker (thus, no unemployment insurance taxes take out of paycheck). Clearly a mistake on the university's part. However, my boss is now hiring this person back as a Type 4 for 6-months simply to make this person elgible for unemployment benefits at the end of her 6-month employment (they plan to lay her off again after 6 months as a Type 4). Is this even legal?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
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    24,521

    Default Re: Is it Legal to Hire Somebody to Make Them Eligible for Unemployment

    Why would it not be?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    Default Re: Is it Legal to Hire Somebody to Make Them Eligible for Unemployment

    Quote Quoting cbg
    View Post
    Why would it not be?
    No idea. I'm not in the legal profession and don't pretend to know such things, which is why I posted this message on the board.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    2,357

    Default Re: Is it Legal to Hire Somebody to Make Them Eligible for Unemployment

    Not necessarily an error, unless the worker was NOT a student. I wasn't clear what the "error" was assumed to be. Under specific circumstances, student workers CAN be exempt from UI coverage/taxes.

    If, in fact, taxes were not withheld in error, because of a coding or other error in payroll, the worker should file an appeal if denied unemployment benefits.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
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    Default Re: Is it Legal to Hire Somebody to Make Them Eligible for Unemployment

    But if the question is, can the employer legally hire back the employee so that she will eventually be eligible for unemployment, the answer is yes, they can legally do so. If the employer is willing to pay the unemployment, the state is certainly not going to say that he can't.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    2,357

    Default Re: Is it Legal to Hire Somebody to Make Them Eligible for Unemployment

    I don't disagree. Although if that was the case, it would have been a lot easier for the employer to just correct the error on the system and start doing it correctly.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Is it Legal to Hire Somebody to Make Them Eligible for Unemployment

    I agree. Which makes me wonder if there is more to the story than the poster knows.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Is it Legal to Hire Somebody to Make Them Eligible for Unemployment

    To my knowledge this person was not an active student when she started (she already had her degree). Sometime back in 2010 the university HR came out saying that because of the unions, type 4 employees that have been with the university for > 9 months (or so) are to be laid off. The reasoning behind this is sketchy to me... So her employment status from the beginning was messed up. It's confusing why they're going about it this way, instead of simiply correcting the error. The state budget is already in the toilet and they're wasting even more money by doing it this way (not to mention the fact that they claimed that laid off type-4 employees could not return to employment as a type 4 in the future).

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