Is it legal to apply for unemployment insurance from a state I did not work in?
I’m asking only because my friends are contractors who live in illinois, were sent out to work in Texas, got laid off and drove to Massachusetts to collect unemployment (only becas Mass. has the highest insurance rate). I’m only asking because it doesnt seem right to me.
5 Responses
John H
24 Oct 2009
rayray21_99
24 Oct 2009
from experince I know you have to collect unemployment in the state in which you work. So they would have to collect in TX. this does not mean that they have to live in TX. I live in MO but collected unemployment in KS cuse i worked in KS.
Mike
24 Oct 2009
if it sounds like fraud… it probably is….
towanda
24 Oct 2009
You have to go back so many quarters and have worked then to collect unemployment. So you just can’t work a little bit and then apply for unemployment because you’re not going to get it. They’re pulling your leg.
Mel
24 Oct 2009
They must collect UI from the state in which they worked. The employer in that state pays into UI on their behalf, so when they collect, they draw against that employer’s account.
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Contrary to popular belief unemployment is paid into by the employer not the employee, therefore the unemployment office has the employees complete work history. You can draw unemployment from one state and live in another but the unemployment is coming from the state worked in. Sounds like your friends are trying to slip through cracks in the system that don’t exist.