Can I draw unemployment?

by Geena
(Indiana)

I accepted a "retirement" package last year from my employer. The company downsized by offering this package. With that in mind, I accepted it, for fear that I could lose my job in the future and be left with nothing. Now I find that I'm not eligible for unemployment because I voluntarily quit.
Is this correct, that Indiana unemployment is not something I can collect since I agreed to leave?

I thought that once the money from my package was "earned through", then I could file unemployment. But now I am being told that in order to file unemployment, I would have needed to work for 8 weeks, then be laid off, then file.

So it seems like I'm screwed as far as ever filing unemployment for my job I worked at for over 20 years.

Is that right?


Hi Geena,

It's because it wasn't a compulsory retirement. You had a choice which is why the "quit" is without good cause. Some states may provide for examining what was said to the employees when the offer was made, but I can't say for sure if Indiana is one of them. I suppose it's worth a go since you have nothing to lose.

Needing to work 8 weeks is Indiana's quit disqualification. It means you need to return to work for at least 8 weeks and earn wages at least equal to your weekly benefit amount in each of those 8 weeks .. then you'd have to lose that job for a qualifying reason and then you could collect something .. but only from your 20 year employer if you still had wages that showed up in your base period.

So, is anyone in agreement with me yet that the lack of information about a complex system is a strategy to give us just enough rope to hang ourselves????

Sorry Geena, it's been a long day with very few questions I could give a positive response to.

Chris