Florida Unemployment And Part-Time Gig

(Florida)

Thanks for all the helpful advice on this website. Here's my situation:

I have been collecting unemployment in FL for a while. It would have ended except for the recent extension. While looking for work, I took a strictly commission gig from a company that provided no paid training, no base pay, nothing really. In fact, I had to shell out money for the supplies I needed to do the sales.

But they made me sign up with them as an employee, not a contractor.

I made my first two small commission checks from them recently and haven't even had time to report one of them because it just arrived. The other one - for less than $70 - I failed to report. (It was in Oct. so it's fairly recent but still.)

If you take into account the time I have spent and the money I've spent on supplies for these sales, I am getting far less than minimum wage, and I am still in the hole having spent more on supplies than I have earned.

FL Unemployment got the reports of those two commission checks, though, and has now suspended my benefits and is asking me to fill out paperwork describing my "employment" with this company. I really need the unemployment as the economy here is horrible.

Any advice for responding to them?


Hi,

None except to be honest. You can't hide or lie because they have things in place to detect any kind of "possible fraud".

The monies we earn are required to be reported in the week we file for continued benefits .. whether paid for or not.

I realize this doesn't always make much sense, but if you keep in mind that you should know how many hours you worked and what you're being paid .. it can be done.

So, I suspect that the state is not just interested in determining whether you have committed unemployment fraud by not reporting the earnings, but whether you were able and available for work.

When you filed .. did you report that you were working?