Accepting a PRN job and Unemployment

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I am a nursing student who has been employed full time at my current research position for over 4 years. This position is ending in August and I have had a hard time finding a full time job with flexible enough hours and high enough pay to support my family while I finish school. I will qualify for unemployment once I am let go but have been offered and accepted a PRN job as a tech.

Will I still be able to apply for unemployment once my full time job ends and collect when my PRN hours are not sufficient? I have never been on unemployment before.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

It depends upon your state. California, for instance, reduces your benefit the more you work. If your UI check is supposed to be $400/week and you worked that week for $250, you keep the first $25 and then subtract what you earned. In other words, your UI benefit will now be $175, not $400 for that week.

Other states may do things differently. They may base the UI on 40 hours @ min wage. Make more than that and no benefit... so check with the department that deals with UI and see what the laws/regulations are for your state. It very well could be that if you make too much one week, you might have to petition to keep that UI going. You might find that you may have to turn down a shift or work a shorter shift precisely to keep the UI active, as odd as that sounds. In California, as long as they have to pay something for each week, you don't have to petition to keep the UI going.

And yes, UI can be taxable. Keep that in mind... especially if you're going to be on it for a while. It would not be a good thing to suddenly find you owe Fed or State taxes on something you thought was tax-free...

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Best bet is to discuss this with a UI rep when you apply for benefits. But in general, your benefits are deducted from when you work. The more you work, the less benefits you will receive. And benefits are taxable. You will receive a notice at tax time that states how much benefits were reported to the IRS and state tax authority.

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Specializes in medical surgical.

My state works like California. Right now my (former) hospital is trying to deny my benefits but I am going to appeal. The labor department told me this though: If you accept a position, work one day and it does not work out, you will loose your benefits. This is for a full time position. Reason: because unemloyment is based on time worked at company. It would look like I worked only 1 day (new hosp.) rather than 3 years (old hospital).

I was done so completely wrong at last hospital that I only want to ever work PRN or travel again. I never want my hospital floor to be like family. When the adminstrator let me go--I not only lost my job but I lost my friends who were like family. NEVER AGAIN.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
My state works like California. Right now my (former) hospital is trying to deny my benefits but I am going to appeal. The labor department told me this though: If you accept a position, work one day and it does not work out, you will loose your benefits. This is for a full time position. Reason: because unemloyment is based on time worked at company. It would look like I worked only 1 day (new hosp.) rather than 3 years (old hospital).

I was done so completely wrong at last hospital that I only want to ever work PRN or travel again. I never want my hospital floor to be like family. When the adminstrator let me go--I not only lost my job but I lost my friends who were like family. NEVER AGAIN.

Been there done that.....((HUGS))

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Specializes in Emergency.

see if your school has resources/personnel who can talk to you about unemployment. They work for the school (and are thus on your side) instead of the state - which you will find to be a hassle (read LOTS of redundant paperwork)

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I had this exact situation come up as a PRN employee.

Depends on your state.

In PA you can get unemployment if you find any job that is less the 40 hours (you would get a partial check) as long as you continue to look for full time work. The amount of your check would go up or down depending how many hours you end up working. I believe that this part of the program, though run by the state, gets federal money from the Recovery Act or one of those bills. So I would think you qualify no matter where you live.

I recommend calling your local UE office to check what their requirements are.

Good luck!

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Similar boat as you gettingbsntomsn a few year back. Worked for a County LTC home that was in financial trouble. They would rather fire you then lay you off so they dont have to pay for unemployment..a ton of people were fired around the same time. In my case it was my word against someone elses, and I had not prior history in 3 years of any writups or incidents besides a few latenesses, forgot to take someone off a bedpan once.

Anyway they appealed and I had to go to a hearing..and I thought I was going to have to pay them 1500$ back. But I won...because the burden of proof is ALWAYS on the employer to prove that you did something wrong :)

Was this still something that was a setback for me? Yes...Totally derailed my plans in nursing because I was a new grad and this was the only job i could have listed for work experience. But I was so happy that this part of the system actually worked for me anyway. It pays to make meticulous records and notes.

Guess what kind of work I am doing? PRN haha. I work for 2 agencies just in case..lol.

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