Not sure where to post this. I guess this forum would be the closest.

FWIW i have never collected in my life. People told me i should apply for it so i did. I worked at my job from 1995-2010

Unemployment office just called me and said, "We were notified by your employer that you quit".. Technically i didn't quit. I took a voluntary package so i wouldn't get laid off. He says, "Okay im going to approve it but keep in mind your employer might appeal this"

Anyone familar w/ unemployment? Can you get it if you leave voluntarily?

where do you live? kinda matters

Massachusetts

it's specific by state.

you aren't exactly unemployed if you're playing poker.

if you don't file as a professional poker player i think you could slide with this.. just claim your winnings as "gambling" winnings, but i would be careful if you start making significant amounts becaues they are gonna want to know where your getting all this money if your claiming unemployment

I'm pretty sure in MA you don't get benefits if you quit. However I don't know if that is changed based on the nature of the package you took. If they put it through then it should be +EV because a company has to be pretty motivated to appeal it.

Hmm, how about New York?

Just keep saying you were nudged out. Your employer probably won't appeal. There's very little in it for them and a lot of hassle. Like someone else said, obviously you can't file as a poker pro or that goes down as work.

Why help him cheat the system? Unemployment is for those who need help. You went pro be a man and do the right thing, you clearly do not need the government to financially support you if you just went pro.

+1
hope you don't get it

-deleted-

Edit: OK, I see title of thread is where he said he 'left work to play poker', so issue is muddier than I thought...

Sounds like it is up to his company to qualify the status of his departure and he should probably accept whatever they decide.

OP Unemployment benefit is for people that cannot support themselves without a job.
Unless your question is "Left work to play poker but failed miserably and now i'm busto. Am i eligible for unemployment?" then fyq

Actually, that's welfare.

Unemployment benefit is for people who are terminated without cause and have not yet found employment.

OP says he's playing poker, but doesn't say he's winning, so, not sure if it is a hobby or employment.

Maybe he sucks. How many people run hot for a while, think they're going pro, then barely make any money?

Also if you think the primary purpose of unemployment is to help people, it's not. That's a side benefit. The primary purpose is to keep the economy from going into a death spiral, or at least dampen the effect. (People get laid off, can't buy goods and services, which cause more people to get laid off, who can't buy goods and services, etc.) This is why the extensions get almost unanimous consent. If it was purely for humanitarian reasons they would have cut it off a long time ago.

I don't live in US but isn't welfare for people who are unavailable for employment ie single mothers and unemployment benefit for people who are available for work but don't have a job?
OP is neither of those.
In the U.K. an individual must be unemployed, be actively seeking and available for work and have less than x in cash/investments.
I think x is something like £10k.
I would presume the US has a similar acceptance criteria and OP would be expected to declare his bankroll.

He willingly quit his job to play poker, we can assume he is winning.

I think that extending unemployment is an economic broken window fallacy, its also quite obvious why its politically appealing and I would argue that its completely unrelated to its economic viability. Special interests are very popular politically does that mean these are economically suitable options too?

I agree there's a huge political component to it. But I think there's also a pretty significant economic one. I can't count the number of friends I have on unemployment who would be a) not contributing nearly as much to the economy and b) competing even harder for the few jobs that are still out there. Yeah it's a perverse incentive and I agree those are effed up. But just like welfare is ultimately more about keeping more poor people from rioting than anything else, I think unemployment is more about cushioning the blow on our consumer-based economy.

Btw it's really nice to be able to have this discussion in reasonable tones without having to deal with snide comments from people who believe roads and police should be privatized. (cough Politics cough)

Who cares about whether welfare is good or bad in theory, the fact is this guy appears to be engaging in welfare fraud.

Sounds like his boss said:

"Here's the situation. We have to cut people back. If you want, you can leave your job now and take this compensation package we are offering. Otherwise, you can reject the package and we'll fire you and give you nothing."

Then the guy accepted the offer and decided to go play some poker with all his new free time.

Little different from quitting your job to play poker.

It's only fraud if he lies or misrepresents the situation. I don't know the state laws where he lives or the exact terms of his departure from his job, but it is possible that he is eligible for unemployment benefits.

Obviously if he is winning $25k/mo playing poker and has no intention of seeking other employment, he shouldn't be getting it. But if he won $2k last month and sent out a resume or two, it's a little fuzzier.

OP, it can't hurt to try. You might as well. Don't listen to the other posters about gaming the system. The system is set up to be gamed, and most of the people who are on UE could get jobs, but they choose not to because they make too much from UE benefits to take that job down at taco bell.

there are a lot of scummy people ITT...i hope you go busto and then can't get unemployment

/mini moral diatribe

There's a big difference between gaming the system and welfare fraud. What it sounds like we're talking about here is OP having a good paying job but claiming to be unemployed to draw benefits. I'm pretty sure this is actually a crime you can serve time for.

Also assuming you pay taxes you are telling the OP to take money out of your pocket (admittedly a fraction of a penny).

I was able to get unemployment benefits in NY after quitting, when my employer wanted to to cut all salaries across the board by 33%. I received benefits for four months, and played poker during this time as I had for the prior year as well. Then when they wanted me to come to some lame jobs thing, I dropped the benefits instead.

Yeah, I don't feel too guilty about getting back far less than 1% of what I paid in taxes up to that point in my life either.