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Is this legal?

Gibson486

Gibson486

Lifer
So, I filed for unemployment. I do not want to sit on my ass all day and do nothing. Would it be illegal to do volunteer work at a company while collecting? I tried do EE work on my own, but the expense is just too high. Also, you can only do so much with a Launchpad micro controller.
 
Gibson486 said:
So, I filed for unemployment. I do not want to sit on my ass all day and do nothing. Would it be illegal to do volunteer work at a company while collecting? I tried do EE work on my own, but the expense is just too high. Also, you can only do so much with a Launchpad micro controller.
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I don't think it matters if you're not collecting too much (or $0) income from anywhere other than your unemployment benefits.

IIRC, you can even earn below a certain amount of money per week and still collect unemployment benefits also. I think it has to be below a certain percentage of the benefits you are receiving.

Might want to check the web to see for your area though, each state might be different.
 
Gibson486 said:
So, I filed for unemployment. I do not want to sit on my ass all day and do nothing. Would it be illegal to do volunteer work at a company while collecting? I tried do EE work on my own, but the expense is just too high. Also, you can only do so much with a Launchpad micro controller.
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I thought you're expected to seek employment, which means you wouldn't be "sitting on your ass."
 
Ichinisan said:
I thought you're expected to seek employment, which means you wouldn't be "sitting on your ass."
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Yeah, I send out resumes and do networking, but when the majority of the jobs want 5 years experience, you can only do so much. The past month has consisted of me talking to hiring mangers and sending out resumes. While I have made some progress, their has been no immediate need. One manager really liked me, but he said he really liked me, but it was going to be another 2 months before they open up a a req for me.

However, if you have this big gap on your resume and the employer asks, what did you do in that gap, they are going to expect more than "Oh, I was looking for a job".
 
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It's not illegal over here you can volunteer or work up to 18 hours a week while in unemployment benefit.
 
Unemployment rules depend on the state you live in.

I'm in TX and I collected unemployment for a while. I even went to school (FT some semesters, PT others), worked an internship, and was still able to collect unemployment.

So doing volunteer work shouldn't be a problem. You aren't collecting any income from it. I'm going to assume that the only requirement other than not collecting too much income would be to submit a minimum # of job searches per week.
 
Wyndru said:
I don't think it matters if you're not collecting too much (or $0) income from anywhere other than your unemployment benefits.

IIRC, you can even earn below a certain amount of money per week and still collect unemployment benefits also. I think it has to be below a certain percentage of the benefits you are receiving.

Might want to check the web to see for your area though, each state might be different.
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I was able to make a small income from an internship but that income was always lower than my weekly employment amount so the texas workforce commission just gave me the difference of what I had earned that week.
 
Gibson486 said:
"The volunteer work is for a charitable, religious or cultural organization;"

So, anyone know any charitable organizations that need EE work done?
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Maybe find an Engineers Without Borders team at a local school that is doing electrical work (a good chunk of EWB projects) and mentor them?

There are several similar organizations.

edit: haha, similar minds.
 
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Search for jobs (online, newspaper, connections/people), work on skills, work on resume.. go to interviews, search other states you'd consider moving to, etc ...

Being unemployed and looking for work is a full time job.
 
Lithium381 said:
lol

being unemployed and being paid for it provides no incentive to go "look for a job".
if you don't qualify for free cash monies then yes, by all means go look for a job.
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That's bullshit.
In Illinois, the maximum I can get for unemployment is $385 per week.
My mortgage is $1600 per month (including prop insurance and taxes)
I also have a car payment, and would need to pay health insurance too if I were to lose my job.

My "costs" of just paying bills (if I stopped all unnecessary spending) is around $2500 per month. (~$575 per week)

Sure, unemployment would help buffer that, I'd only need to spend about $190 per week from my own savings.... however, I wouldn't be saving anything for retirement, I wouldn't be able to spend any money on non-necessities, it would really really suck. It would be like being poor.

So yes, if you want to be poor, then you don't have to work, but unemployment only pays enough money so that you can survive and be poor.
 
Wyndru said:
I don't think it matters if you're not collecting too much (or $0) income from anywhere other than your unemployment benefits.

IIRC, you can even earn below a certain amount of money per week and still collect unemployment benefits also. I think it has to be below a certain percentage of the benefits you are receiving.

Might want to check the web to see for your area though, each state might be different.
Click to expand...

When I as on unemployment I could make up to like $150 a week without it affecting my unemployment.
 
Ask Spidey. He loves to bitch about wastes of life leeching off the system and cheating tax payers when they could be working while he sits around leeching off the system and cheating tax payers.


...not that I'm saying you're leeching or a waste of life; but spidey would. 😉
 
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