Given Option to Quit or be Fired in FL

by Melissa
(Orlando, FL )

I have had a target on my back for sometime due to budget cuts. I have known it has been coming for a while. My new manager who is under pressure to reduce cost from corporate has done his due diligence to make me look as though I am not performing. I have been given the choice to quit or be let go. Can I still collect unemployment if I know I am going to be fired? I know you have answered this question before and referred someone to a link that answered the link but when I clicked on it the link was not there. Thank you for your assistance.


Hi Melissa,

I can't imagine where the link was that would have been useful for someone in Florida. The state of Florida provides very little useful information to unemployment claimants, but that's okay .. I'll begin again.

As long as the employer has made the decision to fire you and there is nothing you can do about it, quitting in lieu of discharge as far as unemployment goes is considered a discharge and would be adjudicated as such.

So, if the employer can prove misconduct for performance issues that extend beyond "an inability" on your part, you still may be denied benefits.

If you decide to offer your resignation letter it is a good place to state that you are tendering your resignation because you have been presented with the choice to quit or be fired and any reasoning you feel appropriate which would serve as rebuttal that the reasons the employer has chosen for discharging you are not with good cause showing misconduct.

In addition, I think counter documenting while being disciplined is well advised too.

If the employer has not made this offer and has only implied that you will be discharged in the near future .. that would be considered a quit in anticipation of discharge and very likely a disqualifying quit.