Can I collect unemployment for being forced to quit?

by Emma
(New Orleans )

If my employer is getting rid of my department telling all of the individuals in my department that we either need to take a pay cut and take a lower job title ( in which I can not perform the duties) or just quit. Is this grounds for collecting umemployment?


I can be, but it usually depends on the details. The amount of the pay cut and the new job and it's duties. Whether the new job would be "suitable work" is what you need to look into.

Your employer may protest your benefits something like this:

Continuing work was available. The claimant voluntarily quit by refusing suitable work.

Because you would be the one quitting, the burden would of course be yours to prove how the employer substantially changed the conditions of the employment that made the work no longer suitable to you therefore possibly giving you good cause to quit.