by Anonymous
(Missouri)
I drive a school bus full time, so every summer I pull unemployment benefits when I’m not driving.
I picked up a part-time job, privately owned, no tips. I get anywhere from 8-32 hrs a week, not guaranteed…
Anyone with a home, family, and multiple other responsibilities knows that you can’t survive off such hours, barely making over minimum wage… When I filed my unemployment, my part-time boss received a letter from them. I didn’t see the letter myself, but I think it was something my boss simply needed to verify.
Anyways, He was very angry with me, but didn’t explain exactly why, just that he was going to give them a call. Does me drawing unemployment from my full-time job affect my boss at my part time job financially or something? I dont understand his frustration.
Chris’s Reply
Hi anonymous bus driver … I can only speculate about his anger and frustration and I can show you how partial unemployment benefits are designed to work in Missouri (a state that has changed law to reduce the duration of benefits from 26 weeks .. to 20.
I think your part-time boss doesn’t really have a reason to be angry. At least not about your yearly unemployment claim as a bus driver.
What’s to be angry about if he actually understands your earnings from him can not only reduce your weekly benefit amount when you report earnings on a weekly continuing UI claim, but must also be included to calculate the amount of your weekly benefits if paid during your base period .. and that he’s not a chargeable employer.
Earnings from part-time jobs must be used to establish the weekly benefit amount you’d be owed if you were TOTALLY unemployed to work the partial benefit formula on. See the monetary entitlement state UI law comparison chart for MO’s Partial FORMULA.
Unless …. his anger may be explained because it was your claim that made the state aware he hasn’t been paying unemployment taxes on your wages .. or any other employees.
And then his anger would be explained by the fines and penalties assessed to even employers found guilty of unemployment insurance fraud in Missouri.
Just as a warning however, .. if someone is collecting even partial unemployment because of a part-time job and they quit the part-time job to collect TOTAL unemployment benefits .. quitting the part-time job will be the demise of benefits if the quit is without good cause .. and even a discharge proven to be for misconduct would do the same thing .. because it’s the separation from the last employer .. even if not a base period employer that control the remaining right to collect the remainder of weeks of benefits.
If he is paying unemployment taxes .. then he’s just freaking out over nothing, or what he doesn’t understand about how UI really does work.
He should not be a chargeable employer for any portion of benefits you may receive for a lack of work claim from the bus driving job as that’s the employer that is charged ..
Chris