Here is what's happening: I took a job selling furniture. My commissions have dropped so low that I filed for unemployment. I have only been on this job for a few weeks when I filed, although now its been 2 months. My prior job was selling mattresses but we heard that they were closing the store that I was working in. So before they closed it, I left and worked for my current employer. The unemployment people say that I left my previous by quiting that it was for personal reasons and therefore cant collect. I say what does my previous employer have to do with this claim? They take money out of my pay for both employers. So now I have my hearing comming up, what should I say in front of the hearing people. Can I cite any laws?

What state are you in?

Actually, it has much, if not all, to do with your previous employer because they are an interested party and may be liable for at least a share of potential unemployment benefits. In fact, at the time you filed, you were most probably not employed long enough to exempt your previous employer.

Please be advised, not a penny of your taxes paid goes to an unemplyment fund. Rather, state unemployment funds are entirely funded by employer taxes.

And in reference to your separation from your previous employer, I would submit you did quit for other than good cause. Unless you can provide the state with something other than rumor and innuendo that the store was closing, then it will be a difficult argument to demostrate that you had a good faith and reasonable belief that your separation was imminent.

Unless, you secured job #2 prior to quitting job #1?

The state will help with the procedures because each state may differ somewhat. Who is the employer listed on your notice of hearing?

Knowing that the store was going to be closed, I got an offer to work for my current employer. Ten days after I left the job, they closed the store. Now I cant pay my bills because the company that I work for is doing so bad and it is being reflected in my commissions, and the commissions of everyone else in the company that sells. Last week I got a check for $70 gross. I need this unemployment bad.

I worked for a mall based store chain called (deleted by moderator), otherwise known as (deleted by moderator). They sell memory foam mattresses. I liked the product but the employee turnover was really bad and their sales were going down the drain. Anyway, I got an offer to work for a company called (deleted by moderator). Now my checks are just terrible and I work on straight commission. But I still have to answer the phones, vacumn, make price signs, etc., and be there at specific times with working at least 9 hours per day, except for Sunday, which is 5 hours.

It asks me if I am going to bring some type of representation and if I need to supena any records. Should I tell them that I am going to bring an attorney? How about the records, should I ask for the sales of the store which were going down, from the company?

It turns out that because the company was going to close the store, it was OK for me to quit. You have 60 days to quit within once you have been informed that you will not have a job.

Just a couple of questions to satisfy my curiosity:

1. Who was the employer listed on the hearing notice and decision? The employer from whom you quit or the employer for whom you currently work?

2. What state do you reside in?

Sorry but the moderator has already censored my responses to your question so I will not be able to answer your question. But I do live in NJ. And I won.

rjc didn't ask for the NAME of the employer. :rolleyes:

Then how can I answer his question?

Thanks Patty. :p

I don't need the name, but just answer my original question as is, ie, the "employer from who you quit" or "your current employer"?

Or is it easier: employer #1 or employer #2?

Oh, the previous employer was the employer that the unemployment cared about. This kinda of angered me because here I was working on my current employer for less than minimum wage. I figured that they would be interested in the employer that really put me in the situation that caused me to file for unemployment--which is my current employer--I work on straight commission selling furniture and it is so slow that I think that the company is going out of business. But when I went to the hearing, the man told me that my current employer was not the issue. I begged him to understand that my wages under my current empployer has fallen to the point where I couldnt pay for my bills. But the issue was the separation from the previous employer. The previous employer was closing the store. I had to prove that I had previous knowledge that the company was closing the store. So I did give dates and times. The fact that the company closed the store down 10 days after I left was a real asset to my case. Interesting, I thought that the appeal tribuneral was going to be a group of people asking me questions, instead it was a single person with a tape recording device.

Actually, it makes more sense to me that your previous employer was the "interested party" because at the time you filed your claim you probably had no base period wages with your current employer.

The ruling makes sense given that you were able to demonstrate that you knew the store was closing, however I never heard of the 60-day rule referenced in your post.

Learn something everyday ... :o