by Edwin Mwai | 2012
According to the New York Times, the number of individuals seeking unemployment benefits has been on the rise. However, the broader trend over the last few months’ shows that this year job growth is expected to pick up. A survey that was carried out by Associated Press on 36 economists predicted that they believed that the economy would be able to generate an average of 175,000 jobs a month as from January 2012. While this is good news, there are some factors that make you ineligible for unemployment benefits.
Unemployment benefits are availed to workers who have been separated from their jobs or who have had their working hours reduced through no fault of their own. There are however some reasons that may make you not be able to claim your unemployment benefits.
Quitting your Job Voluntarily
These are One of the reasons why you could be denied unemployment compensation is if you quit your job voluntarily without sufficient reason or good cause. Quitting your job out of a personal preference is not considered as a sufficient reason neither is it a good cause. To be considered as good cause, quitting your job must have been made out of necessity. Additionally, before quitting your job you must have acted in good faith and informed the company of the problem and given it adequate time to address the same.
Some situations that may be considered compelling grounds to quit your job include financial difficulties, family circumstances that made it impossible for you to continue working, misrepresentation or false employment conditions, unacceptable working conditions, refusal by employer to release payments, conduct by employer that is seen as being offensive including profanity, vulgarities and abusive language, discrimination based on sex, age or race or unfair accusations. Other reasons include hazardous working conditions, better employment opportunities, problem of transport and quitting job based on the premise that an average person in your condition would have acted in the same manner.
Getting fired from your Job
If you lost your job or your services were no longer needed by your employer due to gross or willful misconduct on your part, or any other legitimate reason, you will not be eligible to receive unemployment benefits. In case you fill in appeal, this burden of proving this lies with your employer.
Other disqualification criteria
The state can deny your claims for a variety of reasons including failure to disclose other income that you are receiving while on employment, failure to accept suitable work, failure or unavailability to work, incarceration as a result of a conviction and participating in a strike.
If your employer disputes your claim, The practice is that once you have filed a claim, the state verifies this claim with your former employer. This is because employers pay into the unemployment insurance fund. If your employer disputes your claim, it may result to you not receiving your benefits.
Right of Appeal
You have the right to appeal if you are disqualified or denied you unemployment benefits. The State will advice you on your appeal rights within the established time frame to lodge an appeal as stipulated by law. The burden of proof here also rest with your employer to establish beyond any reasonable doubts the grounds that make you ineligible to receive unemployment benefits.
