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Holiday Work While Claiming Unemployment

>>AMY SUSAN: Gifts aren't the only thing being exchanged during this holiday season. Hi, I'm Amy Susan, Communications Director for the Missouri Department of Labor. And we will talk about how the unemployed and underemployed Missourians can give their best during this holiday season by working a part time job in hopes it will turn into a full time one. And I'm joined here with Janet Lepper. She's the Chief of Unemployment Insurance for the Division of Employment Security. Janet, can you tell us what types of seasonal jobs you see during this time of the year.

>>JANET LEPPER: Of course there's always the retail positions out there, but we're seeing that there's positions in warehousing, shipping, also there would be positions available in restaurants, banquets, that sort of thing. So there's a variety of things that people can check into for seasonal jobs. We are also understanding that requests are coming in for tax preparers who are looking for people to fill those positions at this time of the year already.

>>AMY: So a lot of opportunities exist?

>>JANET: Yes they do.

>>AMY: Our field reporter visited with a business to talk about the benefits of holiday part time work, especially for the unemployed.

>>LISA MONTGOMERY: Working at Target, it's I mean, being seasonal versus being a full time team member, is the exact same. So you get um, I know we do a lot fast fun friendly events. You get a lot of great development opportunities within the store to potentially do more within the store. Um, after seasonal hires, um, and then too there's some great retail experience to put on a resume as well. So for us, um, with your seasonal team members like, we want to keep as many of them on after seasonal as possible. Um, and it's all performance based. That's the really cool part so if a team member's doing really well, we want to extend an offer for them.

>>AMY: How can seasonal part time work affect those who are receiving unemployment?

>>JANET: Well they may be entitled to partial payment of benefits if the earnings for the week is less than excessive. And if it is excessive, it may extend the period of time that the person would be able to collect unemployment benefits whenever they're no longer exceeding their weekly benefit amount and the earnings that they receive for the week.

>>AMY: Okay, and we actually have a part time benefit calculator that they can go ahead and type in the wages that they earned to see how it does or can affect their benefits. That's helpful and that's at the bottom of the screen. How does one claim benefits while they're working part time?

>>JANET: Whenever you're making the weekly certification, you will answer that you have worked during the week and then you will include your wages for the week, which you can-you will have to use whatever the wage is per hour times the number of hours you worked and be sure to report that the week in which it's earned, not whenever it's paid. That's the important part to remember.

>>AMY: Okay, so the week that they earn it is when they need to report it?

>> JANET: Right.

>> AMY: Not when they get the paycheck?

>> JANET: Not when they get the paycheck.

>>AMY: Okay, thanks for clarifying. Do workers need to continue looking for full time work despite the fact that they're working part time?

>> JANET: Whenever a person is claiming benefits and making a weekly certification each week, they would be required to continue to make the work search. So they would be looking for full time work while they're continuing to work part time.

>> AMY: Okay. What are some of the things that unemployed Missourians should consider before taking that part time work?

>> JANET: Well make sure that you're matching your skills to the kind of work that you're applying for, and then it shouldn't be a problem. You should be able to continue to work that job as long as the employer has work available.

>> AMY: Lastly, knowing that this is seasonal work, does an employer have to have a reason to release that part time worker who's also receiving benefits?

>> JANET: If the employer should run out of work ahead of time or find reason to release the person before the job was actually planned to end, if they can-they can do that. But uh, what you need to remember is whenever a person accepts a part time job like that, they need to plan to work it until the job actually ends, until the employer tells them that they're being laid off and because if they should quit ahead of time, it could jeopardize their ability to continue to collect unemployment benefits. And they may not be able to collect any longer.

>> AMY: Okay. Regardless though, um, if you are offered a full time or a part time job during the seasonal holidays, you should take it because it's a great opportunity to put your skills to the test and it may develop into a full time job, which is what we want at the end.

>> JANET: Right.

>> AMY: Great. Well thank you. If you have any other comments, questions, or concerns please visit the links below. Thanks.