I have found that when it comes to the Unemployment Insurance Law, just about every state follows the same basic Federal guidelines. What is different from state to state is the percentage of monetary compensation that an employee can expect to receive when he or she is on unemployment collections.
Basically unemployment is something that some workers can collect. The insurance for unemployment is paid for by employers, not by tax-payers or by social security. Therefore, there is some confusion sometimes about who actually stands to benefit from the unemployment, as many people confuse it with social security.
In general, there are some basic requirements that you must meet in order to ensure that you are eligible for unemployment benefits. First, you must have first been employed. You must have received a base pay for a base period of time. Next, you must be determined to be unemployed through no fault of your own, as defined by the Tennessee law. In general, this means that you may have been laid off or maybe your work place has closed.
Once you have been determined to be eligible to begin collecting unemployment benefits, you must file ongoing claims in order to ensure that you stay eligible. Each week, you must report as to which jobs (and how many) you have applied for. There is a minimum number of jobs that you must try to get. If you do receive a job offer, you must have a good reason for turning it down if you do turn it down.
If you receive a part time job offer, you may still be eligible to receive partial unemployment benefits. In general, the amount of your pay will be subtracted from the amount of money that you would normally receive through unemployment. If any agent ever asks you for a report or inspection of your situation, you must also oblige them in order to continue receiving benefits.
A detailed description of Tennessee’s unemployment laws are available on the Tennessee Complete Labor Law poster.
