What are the disadvantages of unemployment benefits?

How to file for unemployment benefits for temporary layoff

• How can my husband collect unemployment benefits for temporary layoffs, in Illinois? Mister joleta works for Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). Due to Dept. of Energy http://www.fnal.gov/pub/today/FY08budgetimpactonFermilab.html and lack of funds, the lab is requiring all employees to take rolling http://www.fnal.gov/faw/furlough/ rather than close down the lab entirely. As a salaried exempt worker, my husband will have to take one week of unpaid furlough every two months for an eight-month period (February through September). Things will be tight, but we'll survive. One of the FAQs on the Fermilab site says that furloughed employees can apply for unemployment benefits, but I can't find any information on the IDES web site about intermittent temporary layoffs of one week duration, other than than the following (see pgs 43-44 http://www.ides.state.il.us/info/pubs/uiact-guide.pdf): "A local unemployment insurance office may instruct a claimant that he or she is exempt from registering in person with the employment service office for one of the following reasons (56 III. Adm. Code 2865.100): . . . "2. The claimant’s unemployment is due to a temporary layoff that does not exceed four weeks in duration." This implies that one can receive unemployment compensation for temporary layoffs, but I can't find anywhere that explains how this is done. I know that in Illinois you don't get unemployment compensation for the first week of unemployment (the "waiting week"). But with intermittent layoffs, each furlough week is the "first" week, unless they can be somehow strung together into one period of unemployment. Can someone point me to a link explaining how this would work or give actual experiences. Three weeks of unemployment benefits is better than nothing.

• Answer:

  illinois unemployment is pretty easy to navigate, and you can file online http://www.ides.state.il.us/individual/default.asp. i've applied several times, collected benefits and never went to an unemployment office. when he files, he should do so on his first day off of work. In two weeks, he'll certify--that is, call in, and report 1 week of unemployment, and 1 week of returning to his job. illinois won't pay for the first week. he won't call in again until the next break. On the first day of unemployment for the second break, he needs to refile. In two weeks after filing, he'll certify one week of unemployment, and one week of employment. illinois will then send him a check for that second week. repeat until funding comes trough for fermilab again.