Q: I worked for 22 years at an assisted-living facility, developing close relationships with fellow employees, with residents, even with their families. Then new owners took it over. After a few months, they told me my salary would be cut by almost 50%. Then a few weeks later, they fired me. I applied for unemployment compensation and received it for two weeks -- and then I was told the payments were stopping because my former employer said I had quit. It’s totally untrue. Even after the salary cut, I intended to stay. I know there will be a hearing about this - but what if they keep lying? -- W.R., via e-mail
A: Not to worry. You have a stronger case than you realize.
Let's start by reviewing the basics about unemployment insurance.
This state-provided coverage pays temporary weekly income to eligible workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and are actively looking for work. State law determines how much you get, and for how long. In New York, the maximum benefit is $405 a week. (You may get much less, however, depending on what you earned in your last job.)
Normally, New York benefits are payable for up to 26 weeks. But the federal government helps to underwrite a benefits extension during severe economic downturns. Last summer New York took advantage of federal assistance to extend benefits for an additional 13 weeks.
Your weekly unemployment check isn't paid directly by your former employer. The money comes from a tax levied on all New York employers. Their tax rate depends on the size of their payrolls, and on how many of their workers have collected benefits. (After a lot of layoffs, a company's tax rate is likely to rise.)
When a worker files a claim, his former employer has an opportunity to contest it - and yours did. The next step is a hearing at which an administrative law judge listens to both sides and decides who's right.
In your case, it sounds as if you'd be entitled to unemployment benefits even if you had quit your job, says Kevin Mintzer, a New York City labor lawyer.
It’s true that a worker who quits is ineligible to collect unemployment benefits. But a "coerced resignation" - i.e., being forced to quit - is a different matter.
"You would be entitled to benefits even if you had quit because your employer did something that was tantamount to firing you – cutting your salary by 50% would fit that description to most people," says Mintzer.
Bring all the relevant paperwork (including copies of e-mails) to the hearing. For expert advice, consider enlisting the Unemployment Action Center - a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free legal representation year-round in New York City and on Long Island to people who've been denied unemployment insurance.
The UAC trains volunteer advocates - law school students from Brooklyn Law School, Cardozo, Columbia, Fordham, Hofstra, New York Law School, and New York University to represent workers at Department of Labor hearings. For more information, go to www.uac-ny.org or call 212-998-6568.
Mintzer, himself a former UAC volunteer advocate, doesn't think you should be too anxious about the fact that your former employer has already lied. "In my experience, employers who tell an initial lie don't find it so easy to continue lying when they're under oath in front of an administrative law judge," he says.