I have had my hours cut back at work...can i get partial unemployment in California?

I’ve been working for a restaurant in California for about two years. The business is small (only four stores) and is privately owned. Recently due to the decline of business and the poor economy the owners have been cutting our shifts and giving hours to “favored” employees (all of whom are personal friends of the owners). I recently found out that one of our locations will be closing and that some of those employees will be sent to other stores which will inevitably cause more shifts to be cut. I was a full time employee prior to these shift cuts but I’m currently getting 28-32 hours a week now. Is it possible that I am eligible for some form of partial unemployment now and will I be if I loose more hours. I recently purchased a home and cannot afford to lose anymore hours. I’m barley getting by now and have been searching for a second job for several months unsuccessfully.


Hi,

Yes, California has partial unemployment when your hours are reduced. You'll need to apply to see if you qualify. It's based on determining what you'd be entitled to for full unemployment and then they have a formula for calculating the partial amount based on what you continue to earn. Everything can be found under "monetary" here.