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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
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    Default Can Independent Contractors Apply for Unemployment Benefits

    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Georgia

    I'm located in Georgia and work at the Verizon HQ in Georgia but the staffing agency that hired me is located in New Jersey. I have been working for Verizon since January 2016 as a independent contractor through the staffing agency but we were notified that Verizon was getting rid of many of their contract positions so therefore my "assignment" has ended. Verizon basically got rid of the position so I wasn't fired or quit. But its been tough trying to find a replacement job and I've just been living off what I've saved but its not a good feeling when you have no income coming in. I was paid by the staffing agency (not Verizon) and received a W2 with taxes being taken out each paycheck.

    Is it possible for me to apply for unemployment benefits in Georgia temporarily while I search for a new position? I was thinking of going ahead and applying but wanted some opinions first.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Can Independent Contractors Apply for Unemployment Benefits

    Yes, you can. You were not an IC - you were the employee of the staffing agency.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Can Independent Contractors Apply for Unemployment Benefits

    Technically you are still employed (unless the staffing agency removed you from their employment rolls) although apparently you have no work assignment. Your employer (the temp staffing agency) is your employer.

    Being techinically employed is irrelevent in regards to unemployment insurance. Your income is what matters. Go ahead and file for UI right there in Georgia.

    When asked, report that your assignement ended and the staffing agency has provided no new work for you.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Can Independent Contractors Apply for Unemployment Benefits

    But there's probably going to be an issue. First of all, it will doubtless be an interstate claim, IF the staffing agency was a tax paying entity, and paying into the system for this "independent contractor." My hackles go up when this person announces that is what they were. If taxes were being taken out of a paycheck issued by the staffing agency, then you weren't an independent contractor. True contractors handle their own taxes. But go on and file, you have absolutely nothing to lose. you either will or will not have qualifying wages paid in to the state of New Jersey as an employee of the staffing agency.

    And whether or not you qualify for unemployment will have NOTHING to do with whether you need it or how low or high your other income is. "Your income is what matters" is incorrect regarding unemployment insurance. You do not have to provide any information whatsoever about your poverty level or how many people you're supporting or how much is your income, except whether or not you're doing work this week and being paid for it by an employer. Your spouse could be making fifty thousand a week, or your daddy could've left you a huge trust fund, that's not related to your eligibility for unemployment, it's not a needs based program.

    It is based on having qualifying wages, which means that you worked for an employer covered by the unemployment system who paid in unemployment tax on you based on those wages for about the past 18 months to two years. And if you have them, they'll be pulled together, regardless of what state the employer who paid them is located in, and then it will be decided if you are out of work through no fault of your own, which it stands to reason you are, and if you are able and available for equivalent work, which will be dealt with by the interstate claims agency. They'll make a decision regarding your status with the temporary agency, whether or not you have refused any further qualifying work from them. Even if you are still technically "employed" by them, any week you are not working and not being paid, you can be eligible for unemployment.

    But definitely file a claim immediately, through Georgia's system, and they'll tell you what to do next. You could've filed immediately as soon as you were no longer working. Since it's not needs based, there's no reason to wait until you are really hurting for money to try to get unemployment started. You're not using up the taxpayers money, it's not welfare, and you're not going to be approved unless they determine that you qualify, but there's no downside to filing a claim and seeing if you do.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Can Independent Contractors Apply for Unemployment Benefits

    Your income is what matters" is incorrect regarding unemployment insurance.
    boy you really took that out of context and attempted to make it into something I didn’t say.

    Whether you are technically employed doesn’t mean anything regarding UI. It is what your income is that matters. You can be on a company employee roster but if you have no earnings you would be eligible for UI (as Long as all other requirements are met)




  6. #6
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    Mar 2012
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    Default Re: Can Independent Contractors Apply for Unemployment Benefits

    Quote Quoting comment/ator
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    First of all, it will doubtless be an interstate claim,
    No employer is going to participate in the NJ UI system (it's EXPENSIVE) unless they absolutely have to. I'm sure they paid the tax in the state the work was performed. It won't be an interstate claim. Had the employer been in FL with it's crappier UI system, then I might believe there was a chance of that, but it would still be wrong and could be challenged.

  7. #7
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    Jan 2015
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    Default Re: Can Independent Contractors Apply for Unemployment Benefits

    My apologies, jk, I guess I did take this out of context, it really did sound like you were saying income was a factor the way this was worded. Whether you're actually working and getting paid or not is the factor. I guess I just spent too many years correcting people who waited till they were destitute to apply for unemployment. And so many people are out there have the misconception that unemployment is a welfare program.

    You can't just voluntarily select the state you decide you want to report your company's unemployment taxes to. Or NO employer would pay into New Jersey, would they? Would be wrong? Could be challenged? Really? So the company could challenge where they wanted to pay in their unemployment tax or the employee (if this person is an employee, not an independent contractor) could challenge what state their wages are reported in? I suggest the person file a claim and see if they're got wages reported anywhere. And no one here has the means to tell them where that might be.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Can Independent Contractors Apply for Unemployment Benefits

    Quote Quoting comment/ator
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    it will doubtless be an interstate claim,
    This discussion started because you wrote this. There is no interstate claim.

    While it is possible that an employer with a few scattered employees can opt to have one state be their UI state, they're not going to pick NJ unless they are getting lousy tax advice.

    When I said it can be challenged, that came from a real life story. The claimant was a TX worker at a one-woman office 6 miles over the TX border for a LA company. The office was closed, and she applied in TX. TWC said, "we see your wages in Louisiana. File there." LA is a crap state compared to TX. She pushed the issue. The TWC tax people told her to file in LA because they didn't want to deal with a lone employee. Then her employer called her and told her to file in LA. She appealed, and got her TX claim. 40% more than if she'd settled on the path of least resistance.

    In all probability, this temp agency is of the likes of Kelly, Adecco, or ManPower. They are going to set up their UI to pay the lowest UI rate possible, fight every claim, and by extension it's not going to be to the benefit of the claimant.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
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    Massachusetts
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    Default Re: Can Independent Contractors Apply for Unemployment Benefits

    Let's get back to the question at hand.

    Poster, file your claim. Start in the state where you actually did the work. We can always argue interstate issues if the claim is denied.

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