Hey Everyone!
I’ve been lurking on the sub for a bit, hoping I would never need to post, but here we are lol
I’ve worked for this company since 2018. I won’t get into it, but they are very shady. In 2022 I decided that I wanted to move to a different state and told my boss, who I was close with, that I planned on moving. She mentioned this to The Owner of the business who offered me to keep my current position even after I moved. This is because she wanted to expand the business into that State and having someone reliable there already would be helpful. I tried to get some kind of contract for the position, because I do not trust The Owner, but she refused saying she doesn’t do contracts. The company never expanded into the State that I moved to due to fears of the looming economic recession, but I stayed with the company working for them remotely.
Flash forward to today I got a text from my boss asking if I had time to talk. On the call she let me know that The Owner has officially decided not to expand into the state that I live in, and because of that she can’t keep me on as an employee because she would have to pay additional taxes (or something, it was very vague and I didn’t really understand). She then offered to keep me on as a 1099 employee, but my hours would be reduced to 15 a week and the pay would be $20/hr. This is beyond insulting as I currently work 40hrs a week and make about $65k/yr. She then asked me if I could continue to get the same amount of work done in 25 hours less a week. That’s when I lost my cool a little lol
I’m applying for unemployment first thing tomorrow. My fear is that the company will somehow screw me out of it. Is there anything I can do now to help protect my chances of qualifying for unemployment?