Two days ago my boss scheduled a last second meeting at the end of the day with me. They told me they were terminating my position, effective immediately. I asked why, as this was unexpected, and they said that my job was at-will so they don't need to explain why. They simultaneously emailed me an official memo of my termination, which was just a few sentences long and reiterated that they could terminate me without cause because my job was at-will.
So, ok, I filed for unemployment benefits the very next morning. If approved, I'll get about $400 a week, or $1,600 gross a month. After taxes, I'll end up receiving about $1,328 a month total.
I live in a fairly high cost of living area. My rent and utilities total are about $1,400 a month, meaning that if I am approved, my unemployment payments will come just slightly under, and leave nothing for food or other basic living expenses. My lease still has several more months until it's up, so I can't just quickly move somewhere cheaper, and moving itself can also be expensive and time consuming.
Now the real slap in the face is that if, in any given week, I make more than just $50, they'll subtract that money I earn, dollar for dollar, from my UI payment that week, meaning that until I am able to find a permanent, new, salaried job, I'm totally screwed when it comes to making some extra money with gig jobs to pay for groceries, toiletries, and other basic expenses, like the cost of riding the bus/subway, or paying for my medications.
Coincidentally, I have a good friend who said she could potentially connect me with a little bit of data entry work, just as a one-off side gig, to help me pay for food, etc. That was before I found out about the $50 a week cutoff. So if I took that data entry gig job my friend offered (while I continue to job hunt), and I make $200 a week from it, the state will basically take $150 of those $200 by reducing my UI payment that week. This means there's no reason for me to take that job, it would just be a waste of time and energy.
I've always known the American welfare system is awful, but this is such an infuriating situation and it makes my job hunt situation harder, not easier. Punishing someone by not letting them earn a little side money while unemployed so they can afford to buy food, isn't actually helpful, shockingly.