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Comment by oeuhoenth | Hacker News Reader

You're getting down votes, but my ex is in HR, and says that as soon as the very generous unemployment came out she had dozens of people quitting. A lot of people prefer unemployment to menial jobs.

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In the United States you cannot collect unemployment if you quit without good cause, which varies by state. Most states are pretty strict, and generally "good cause" is limited to things like documented sexual harassment, domestic violence, illness, disability or caring for a family member.

I obviously wasn't privy to all the details, but some of the situations she described was that after last March they furloughed (laid off? not sure) a lot of people that they subsequently couldn't get to come back when demand improved.

Your original comment:

> .. as soon as the very generous unemployment came out she had dozens of people quitting. A lot of people prefer unemployment to menial jobs.

This comment:

> ...after last March they furloughed (laid off? not sure) a lot of people that they subsequently couldn't get to come back

Did it not occur to you that your statements are entirely contradictory? What actually happened here? Did people quit to get that sweet, sweet government lucre or were they "furloughed" ("no, we're not firing you, we're just not going to pay you or give you work for an indefinite period") and then decide that, gee, maybe they didn't want to come back to work for a company that kicked them to the curb the second things got tough?

So they didn’t quit, they were furloughed or laid off? Why the hell does the employer expect those people to come back? They shouldn’t have stopped paying them in the first place.

Shhh, don't ruin the narrative with facts...

Either you or your ex is lying. You don't get unemployment if you quit.

I know, I expected the ideological downvotes ;) Hearing the same from a restaurant owner friend, and have seen another friend free-riding for the last year. He’s been taking cheap vacations and going on hikes and road trips. Anecdotal, sure, but with no requirement to even be looking for a job like before, and extra money, it’s quite rational to not work for many people.

That's not how unemployment works. You can't just quit because you don't feel like working then collect unemployment.

That's not how normal unemployment works, but this is different, and you actually can do that, and many people are.

You don’t get unemployment if you quit.

You can, if you claim you were too scared of COVID to work.

This is not true, the DoL addresses this question specifically: https://www.dol.gov/coronavirus/unemployment-insurance

See the answer to “My employer has remained open because it is essential. I’m not sick, nor is anyone in my household sick. I do not have children or care for someone who cannot care for themselves. However, I’m afraid of getting coronavirus from customers coming to the store, so I quit and filed for unemployment. Can I obtain benefits under the CARES Act?”

Perhaps the ones that quit in op example have children or older folks to care for, these are fairly common scenarios after all.

Sure but I would say that’s a fairly good reason to quit your job, what do we expect people to do in those scenarios? Live on nothing?

I don't have opinion either way, just saying it might have looked to op they just quit without cause and still collected unemployment benefits, since these reasons are not usually considered causes , op may not have understood it well.

I think the reason they had to add that question in the FAQ is because lots of people were saying that that was their situation, while it actually wasn't.

I don't have actual data, which is obviously not a great position to be in, in a discussion, but I saw a TON of stories from restaurant owners who could not open solely because all the employees left since they made better money by not working.

Or they added it because a lot of people like you have misconceptions. Either way they would be rejected applying for unemployment.

I’ve seen restaurant owners saying they can’t hire people, I haven’t seen restaurant owners saying people quit for unemployment. If it’s the case that the restaurant furloughed or laid off people I don’t see why they expect the state to intervene to help them. Socialism for me, but not for thee?

I'm curious, what field of work is this? And what kind of jobs more importantly?

This was a prepared food supplier that serviced a major fast food chain.

It's work in a hot environment where you have to wear pretty significant PPE all day. Very uncomfortable, manual labor.

great anecdote that definitely is proven by data!

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