GM worker able to collect unemployment?

Question

My husband is a GM temp in Michigan who was hired in mid-June. There is a rumor going around that there may be a layoff at the end of September. My husband earns $14 an hour and has worked 40 hour weeks since he has started, he even worked overtime. I am including that because I know that there is a dollar amount that you must reach before collecting. Does anyone know if he should have made enough to be eligible for unemployment by the end of sept? I

Answer 1

It will depend on how much he earned in each quarter period and also what his employment history was prior to when he started working at GM.  If the GM job is the only one, he might not have made enough to qualify.

For more information, please see the brochure in the following link:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/uia_Cl...

"Qualifying requirements

The UIA will look at your standard base period to determine if your earnings qualify you for unemployment benefits. The standard base period includes the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters prior to when you filed your claim. The four calendar quarters in a year are:

January – March, April – June, July – September and October – December.

If you cannot qualify based on your standard base period, the UIA will check your earnings in the “alternate” base period, which is the four most recently completed calendar quarters.

There are two ways in which your earnings may qualify you for unemployment benefits:

• “Regular” qualifying method: (a) For benefit years beginning 1/6/2008 through 1/3/2009, you must have wages in at least two quarters in your base period. In one quarter, your wages must be at least $2,774; and (b) total wages for all four quarters must equal at least one and a

half times the highest amount of wages paid in any quarter of the base period. ($2,774 x 1.5 =$4,161)

OR

• Alternate Earnings Qualifier (AEQ): (a) You must have wages in at least two quarters; and (b) total wages for all four quarters must equal at least 20 times the state average weekly wage (SAWW). For 2008, the AEQ amount is $16,400.80. [20 x $820.04 (SAWW) = $16,400.80]"