After 12 years with the company on March 21, 2014 was my last day with HRPLus . When I hired on in 2002 it was a Mom and Pop owned business out of Evergreen, Colorado. Since that time we have been acquired three times (I may have lost count). In this last "merger" Sterling Infosystems acquired the small background screening company. I have loved my time at the company. It has been an amazing and legitimate work from home job that was perfect for me while I raised my children. But honestly I have been looking for something else since I moved to New York City. I did not move to NYC to work out of my apartment.. Yes, I have had the part-time job at "un-named retailer", but the dream was to find one full time job here in the city. So when I got laid-off I actually breathed a sigh of relief. Now I could collect un-employment, work part-time at the "un-named" retailer and finally have time in the day to really look for that dream job. You cannot know your unemployment benefits until you actually apply and you must be laid-off to apply. You apply the first Monday after your last week of work. I did the online application but I still had questions. On Tuesday candidate's with the initial J-N were allowed to call and speak to a human. I spoke to Jim who has to be the friendliest and most informative government worker I have ever encountered. I explained that since I still have a part-time job with "un-named" retailer I was not sure how much I would be eligible for in benefits. He asked how many days a week I work for the company. I said I work about 20 to 25 hours per week. He said, "No, how many days?" I said four or five. He said he get benefits based on the days you work not the hours. You can work one hour a day and that counts as a full day. You can show up for work if the employer scheduled you and he sends you home due to lack of work and that is considered a day of work. You can work strictly on commission and work all day and make no money and that is considered a day of work. He said basically you are screwed. He said that if "un-named retailer" only schedules me for three days I can then apply for unemployment. I explained that HRPlus had laid me off of work after 12 years and 34 hours per week. He said it did not matter. He said, "You should have quit this part-time job before being given a lay-off date and you would be making more money on unemployment than if you work all week." Are you kidding?
