Unemployment & multiple part-time jobs

[lms66]

re: unemployment (MA).. Last year through this past Feb I had a part-time job (employee for Empl.A) for 24 hours/week PLUS I ran my own (legit-tax-paying) business (MyBus.B) as a consultant (same field) concurrently. I have run the consulting business for 9 years, long before the part-time job.

Sometimes I worked my 24 hours for Empl.A and then did 30-40 hours for MyBusB, other times, it was just the part-time work or maybe even 60 hours for Empl.A.

Just before I was officially laid-off from Empl.A, I had been working "on-call" for Empl.A so under the unemployment rules I am considered an "on-call worker" meaning that any week I work even 1/2-hour for Empl. A I am not eligible for unemployment.

In the mean-time work or no work from Empl.A, I am still operating MyBusB 30-40 hours/week as have always been.

So... the question is am I eligible for unemployment for Empl.A when Empl.A has no work for me while I still running my business? I see them as two completely separate situations.

 

[army judge]

All you have to do is apply.

Your state will give you a decision based on the information you provide and the information they can verify.

 

[lms66]

i have applied...the agent was so confused about the circumstances about the part-time work, by the time I was done with that I was too exasperated to explain about self-employed work...clearly it was beyond her comprehension. I am a professional and I get the distinct impression that whole idea eludes them.

 

[cbg]

In MA, if you work a certain number of hours per week for your own business (it's been five years since I needed to know this but I seem to remember it was 20), then you are not eligible for UI for that week, period, regardless of anything else. At least, that's the way it was when I was running my own business.

But a simple way to look at it would be this. Regardless of how many jobs you worked, you are entitled to earn only so much money before it affects your benefits. In MA, it is 1/3 of your benefit. After that, there is a dollar-for-dollar deduction from your gross pay. Not per job, total.

As an example, for easy arithmetic, let's say your benefit is $300. You can earn $100 in gross pay without that $300 being affected. Doesn't matter how many jobs were involved or how much from each - the first $100 you earn does not affect your benefit. If you earn $101, you will get $299 from the DUA that week. If you earn $105, you'll get $295 in UI benefits. And so on.

But if you've put more than (I think) 20 hours a week at your own business, you don't get UI for that week.

I don't know if you were talking to someone on the phone or went to one of the walk-in centers, but I have had FAR more success at the walk-in centers than I have with the CSR's on the phone lines.