Getting unemployment for called off

Nurses General Nursing

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I am new to floor nursing and was wondering if anyone who works in Pennsylvania has successfully filed for unemployment for days they were cancelled and what is the process for doing this. Thanks.

I guess it may be possible but not likely. I'm in PA. I was able to get unemployment when I left my position after having a baby. It was a change in life circumstances and I asked for reduced hours and the NM refused and insisted I work my previous commitment. I quit and was able to collect unemployment. I eventually went back per diem. I still received unemployment based on what I made previously and what I was making each week as a per diem. So I've learned...sometimes anything is possible.

Wow....you were able to collect unemployment after quitting, and not being available to work (post-baby, that is)? In NY, if you are not ready and available to work at any moment, you don't qualify for unemployment. You CAN collect if you quit under a few severe and specific circumstances, but staying home with Baby isn't one of them. Not sure if this is a great thing or a bad thing....guess it depends which side of the unemployment line you're on: receiving or paying!

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Specializes in Inpatient Oncology/Public Health.
I guess it may be possible but not likely. I'm in PA. I was able to get unemployment when I left my position after having a baby. It was a change in life circumstances and I asked for reduced hours and the NM refused and insisted I work my previous commitment. I quit and was able to collect unemployment. I eventually went back per diem. I still received unemployment based on what I made previously and what I was making each week as a per diem. So I've learned...sometimes anything is possible.

Are you sure this was unemployment and not disability pay? In NY(and a handful of other states), you can get disability pay while on maternity leave. I received it with both my kids and it was based on my pay when I went off on leave.

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Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

In Illinois you can file if your income falls below a certain threshold due to a lack of work. There is also an exclusionary period after you file. I'm not sure that a nurse would fall below the income threshold unless they were low censused frequently.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
Wow....you were able to collect unemployment after quitting, and not being available to work (post-baby, that is)? In NY, if you are not ready and available to work at any moment, you don't qualify for unemployment. You CAN collect if you quit under a few severe and specific circumstances, but staying home with Baby isn't one of them. Not sure if this is a great thing or a bad thing....guess it depends which side of the unemployment line you're on: receiving or paying!

In PA they allow for a significant change of life issue and having a baby is one. I also had another issue pop up but the baby alone counts. I requested reduced hours several times and my NM refused stating she needed me to work what I was working when I went out to have the baby. In PA if you have a significant change of life issue and you request to continue to work but with different hours and your emoter refuses...you qualify for unemployment. I couldn't just quit and get it. If my employer was willing to cut the one shift I was requesting...I would have worked and not qualified for unemployment. The reality is...this is good because moms should have more time home with their baby for a variety of reasons (including increasing breastfeeding rates).

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
Are you sure this was unemployment and not disability pay? In NY(and a handful of other states), you can get disability pay while on maternity leave. I received it with both my kids and it was based on my pay when I went off on leave.

100% certain it was unemployment. I was not able to get short term disability because the state doesn't allow it. I received unemployment. My sister lived in NY and she was able to collect disability...doesn't happen in PA.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

Yes, but she was SCHEDULED to work and they cancelled her. She was available, ready and willing. In my state she'd have a heck of a successful shot at it!!

I'm not sure how you could do that. You are not unemployed - you simply didn't work one day (each occurrence). How could you claim unemployment?
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I think if you are consistently cancelled and losing like 30-40% of your expected income, you may have a case. I live in PA. It seems to me several years ago, that some nurses I worked with looked into this when they were getting cancelled for low census. You know what, if you arrange your life thinking you think you have a certain income level, it is like being partially unemployed. The hospital cannot expect you to be at their beck and call and not paying you. This is often what they do. I say check in to it and go for it if you are able.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Yes, but she was SCHEDULED to work and they cancelled her. She was available, ready and willing. In my state she'd have a heck of a successful shot at it!!

I find that very strange. We have come to such a sense of entitlement in this country.

A missed day of work (or 2 or 3) for a reasonably well-paid nurse (no matter the state, nurses have a very decent earning ability) leads to an unemployment claim? This thread has really opened my eyes to some realities of American life of which I was unaware.

Claiming unemployment because you decline to return to your prior employment obligation after giving birth? When there are tens/hundreds waiting in line for your job?

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you should be able to claim partial benefits, I have worked agency for over 10 years and when my hours go beneath 32 hrs I can claim my partial benefit

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PA has fairly liberal unemployment laws. I know the one floor in my previous hospital was the first one to get closed (and most likely to stay closed the longest). Those nurses could collect a partial if they dropped 50% of their budgeted hours for 2 weeks or more. The hospital did their best to reassign them to floors where there were holes (or call off other staff to rotate the time off) so they didn't have to worry about being cut that much.

oh and my BIL was able to collect unemployment. He left his position to take care of my disabled nephew because his employer refused to work with him regarding hours and travel.

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A friend of mine lives in PA, and we were commiserating that we were living in two of the highest-taxed States in the Union......starting to see one of the reasons why!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
I find that very strange. We have come to such a sense of entitlement in this country.

A missed day of work (or 2 or 3) for a reasonably well-paid nurse (no matter the state, nurses have a very decent earning ability) leads to an unemployment claim? This thread has really opened my eyes to some realities of American life of which I was unaware.

Claiming unemployment because you decline to return to your prior employment obligation after giving birth? When there are tens/hundreds waiting in line for your job?

I had a life changing event and those hours didn't work for me. I tried to get my employer to work with me but they demanded I work the hours they wanted. There may be many who wanted me job...doesn't mean they were qualified. The reality is I had 2 life changing events and so for me it wasn't just the birth but I was informed that was enough. I wasn't saying I didn't want to work. I was saying I needed a change in my hours and my NM refused. All she had to do was let me drop one shift and she wouldn't.

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