Is my wife eligible for unemployment?

Question

We live in New York. My wife worked at one company for five years. Then she switched to a new company six weeks ago, and was fired on Friday. Will she be eligible for unemployment?

Answer 1

You can go to the NYState Department of Labor website, and look under unemployment benefits. It should let you know how many 'quarters' need to be worked consecutively in order to be eligible for benefits, and calculate how much it should be. She may or may not be eligible - it depends on why she was terminated from the company. In any case, she can make an application online, and the DOL will determine if she is eligible or if the case needs to be appealed.

Answer 2

Eligibility for unemployment insurance is based on two things - earnings during a prior period of employment, and circumstances under which the last job ended.

In general, the eligibility period is the two fiscal quarters prior to the quarter in which the applicant became unemployed. Assuming this standard applies, your wife is eligible under this criterion because she had employment earnings then.

The other criterion is tricky - she will have to tell her story to an unemployment eligibility officer, who will then inquire of the firing employer about the circumstances of the firing. There are three outcomes - if the firing was for criminal activity, she may be ruled ineligible. If the firing was for proper cause but not illegal activity, eligibility will be delayed one or more weeks compared to that for a person 'laid off" for business reasons. If the firing was arbitrary and unwarranted, in the opinion of the eligibility officer, the officer may even waive the normal one week waiting period for benefits to start (this actually happened to me once in California!)

There is no way to know what the eligibility officer will do until your wife has the interview. She should apply right way, tell her story factually and unemotionally, and hope for the best.

Answer 3

Unless you wife was fired for "gross misconduct" she should have no problems with unemployment. Most employers who terminate someone within the 90 day probationary period, will not fight unemployment unless it was for gross misconduct since it does not go against their experience rating.

Unemployment is based on the 1st four of the last 5 quarters. In your wife's case the will look at her earnings from January 2006 through December 2006.

In order for her not to lose any benefits, she needs to file immediately. Here is the link for her to file online: https://ui.labor.state.ny.us/UBC/home.do?FF_LOCALE=1

Answer 4

Yes, it ges against the previous employer's unemployment insurance. Unless, of course, she was fired for cause by either employer. In which case all bets are off.

Answer 5

It will depend on the reason why she was fired? If it was just a layoff, she probably would be eligible.