Can You Collect Unemployment if You Were Given Notice That a Contract Will End?
Employment contracts have the option of having a built-in end date or date for possible renewal. Unemployment benefits have a number of eligibility requirements that vary depending on your home state. However, notice of the loss of work doesn't factor into the compensation qualifications. Instead, the state is more concerned with the reason the contract ended or wasn’t renewed and whether the work was insured under the applicable insurance laws.
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Employment Contract
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Most work is at-will employment, which means that there’s an oral employment agreement and any party can end the employment for any reason that doesn’t break applicable labor laws. In some cases, there’s an employment contract, which dictates the terms of employment, including length, salary and job expectations. Some employment contracts are indefinite, while others have a set end date indicated in the terms.
Why Not When
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When you apply for unemployment benefits, the state is not concerned about whether you knew you were going to be unemployed or not. Instead, your eligibility hinges partially on the reason for your job separation. If your employer ended your contract for just cause, or reasons attributed to you and your behavior, you don’t qualify for benefits. If you ended the contract without just cause, or reasons attributed to your employer, you don’t qualify for benefit either.
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Insured Work
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Another factor is whether the job in question was insured work, or work covered under the state’s unemployment insurance plan. Self-employment, independent contract work or work completed for a spouse are all examples not insured work. You must have a certain amount of insured work during the 15 to 18 months before you filed your claim and if the contract work wasn’t insured, you may have a hard time meeting that requirement. The actually minimum amount of insured wages varies by state.
Eligibility Date
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Another concern for workers who know their contract will soon end is the eligibility date. You can’t “pre-file” for unemployment insurance. The first available filing date is the day the work ends and you should file as soon as possible after that loss of work date to ensure you receive all the benefits to which you are entitled. However, if you attempt to file a claim before that loss of work date, the state will deny your claim. Some states have penalties for denied claims, such as a certain number of weeks before you can refile, regardless of when you can meet the state’s eligibility requirements again.
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