If I quit in the state of MI for another job and it does not work out can I still collect unemployment benefits?

by Anonymous
(MI)

I am 31 and have worked since I was 15. I never had to collect unemployment until just a few months ago when my job had a mass layoff due to the current economic conditions. I only ended up collecting unemployment benefits for one week. Then I felt fortunate to have an interview with a company who told me the job was going to be doing accounting for two separate companies.

I accepted the job based on all of the information the owner had given me. Now two months later I still am not doing any of the work they hired me to do. The other person in the office is rude and makes snide comments as the company did not tell them they were hiring someone else so they think I am here to take their job. No one wants to help train or teach me anything. The general manager just states how hard is it to figure it out...To boot their is no vacation, the morale on the floor is the worst I have ever seen and no one respects anyone. I cry everyday because I hate going to work...most of the time I sit at my desk and do absolutely nothing. I feel like I am a waste of company time and resources. I have never ever felt like this at a job in my entire life. So I guess my question is that there is another company who is interested in interviewing with me and if I take that job and it doesn't work out can I go back on my original claim or no? Please help me...


Hi Anonymous,

I think I need to create a page that talks about the issue you could create for yourself if you quit a job you took after being allowed unemployment benefits, because I get a lot of questions from people who have taken the first job that came along just to get off of UI benefits and regret it.

It's true that when collecting unemployment you are asked every time you certify for continuing benefits "did you refuse any offers of work?"


When you answer yes, this raises an issue for the department and it's called "refusal of "suitable" work". There is a short overview on page 25 - 30 of the Nonmonetary Eligibility chartbook There are disqualifications imposed for refusals of suitable work, in Michigan it is the week of refusal plus 13 more.

If you are afraid of this issue .. you should be truly concerned about what can happen if you take the first job that comes along and find yourself in the position you now find yourself in because it is the "last job separation" that controls whether you will get the benefits back to which you had been entitled. If it is found you do not have good cause to quit you will have to serve the voluntary quit disqualification. In Michigan this is that you must return to work and earn at least 12 x your weekly benefits amount and still have a valid separation which allows benefits.

If you quit the job the issue would become one of whether you voluntarily quit with good cause.

On page 7 of that same chartbook linked to above it say Michigan has a law which prohibits disqualification if a worker voluntarily quits unsuitable work within 60 days, but you must prove it was unsuitable.

If you take another job and it doesn't work out .. it's the same thing all over again except the quit from the first job may not be an issue if you have purged the disqualification.

It's confusing to begin with and becomes even more confusing because it all varies from state to state.

So you need to know if the work is considered suitable or not.

Michigan's unemployment decision digest. Chapters 10, 11, 13, and 14.

Here's a short answer. If you quit your present job to accept a new job, whether you will get unemployment benefits back or not depends on why the new job didn't work out and if you earned enough wages in the new job to purge the voluntary quit from the first job.