I live in Florida and am a full time employee. In July 2009 my Salary was reduced by about 40% due to financial issues with the company from about 58K down to 35K. Would I be eligible for partial unemployment as now we are not even getting paid at our regularly scheduled pay dates (I am currently owed 2 paychecks.)
Please advise. Thank you.
Hi,
I need to address a couple issues I think will stand in the way of benefits.
Firstly, you are working full-time. You must be at least partially unemployed to receive unemployment benefits. A reduction in hours is when partial unemployment benefits become a possibility.
Secondly, a reduction in pay of 40% may have been good cause to quit in July or shortly after it happened, but now in November it will more than likely be determined that you accepted the new and “substantial reduction in pay” .. therefore a quit now for this reason would probably be found without good cause.
But unpaid wages is another subject that alters things again.
Normally, I would look for your state’s labor department to see if the employer is violating the state law by not paying you .. and direct you to that page to investigate further or file a complaint, but you live in Florida and they do not have a wage and hour division .. so I need to direct you to the Federal government’s Wage and Hours Division.
You’ll need to find a Florida office ( I think all state offices are listed under “Most Requested”.
Now that you are having trouble getting paid at all, you should make an attempt to collect your unpaid wages and exhaust all alternatives in trying to get paid first .. in case the worst happens and they just stop paying you, lay you off or you need to quit because you can’t afford to work for free .. and will have to rely on Florida’s nearly poverty level unemployment benefits.