working during retirement

by greg ny
(san diego, ca)

My wife is due to "officially" retire at the end of february; but with vacation, sick leave and such she quit working mid december. If she takes another job
to stay busy during her not working period or after her retirement; will her unemployment benifits still be in place?





Hi,

The only unemployment benefits that are ever in place .. no matter how long you have worked are the benefits you can receive based on a base period .. A base period is a look back period.

Generally speaking, a standard base period never looks back further than 18 months. The exception would be what is called an "extended base period, but not all states have that option and it is used in cases where the unemployed was disabled, injured or sick for a long period of time that left them without any wages in the standard base period.

What the subsequent employment would do though is purge the disqualification for retiring .. which is usually considered a voluntary quit .. unless a state has a provision allowing benefits when the retirement is compulsory or mandatory as this is an involuntary separation.

Of course any subsequent separation from the new work would also have to be qualifying.

By the way .. California does consider a mandatory retirement involuntary.