If I quit my job due to having to work excessive hours, am I still be eligible to collect unemployment benefits?
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If I quit my job due to having to work excessive hours, am I still be eligible to collect unemployment benefits?
My employer has been paying me as an independent contractor for 10 years. The IRS audited them and fined them $7000 for misclassifying their 2 employees 1 of them me. Around that time, I agreed to take on more work for some extra money. I told them I would try it and see how things went. After a couple months I went to them and said that things needed to change. I went from working 4 hours per week to 80 hours a week. I said I’m not being paid enough for it. They said to bad that’s all the money they had to give. I asked several times if they could take over some of the job responsibilities but they wouldn’t. I couldn’t take the stress of work any more so I quit. I have 4 kids to care for and couldn’t care for them with all that work. UI?
Asked on September 14, 2015 under Employment Labor Law, Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
No, that does not make you eligible for unemployment insurance. Employers have the right to make you work as many hours as they like, or to define a job as involving 50, 60, 70, 80, or more hours, subject only to--if you are hourly--paying you for all hours worked and for overtime when you work more than 40 hours in a week. If you can't or choose not to work that many hours and leave, that is a voluntary resignation and you are ineligile for UI.
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