This from the Virginia EU handbook may come into play. "If you receive a pension, retirement, Worker's Compensation, or other annuity, it will be deducted from your weekly benefit amount if it is paid by your most recent employer of 30 days or 240 hours or more, or from any employer in the base period of your claim (as shown on your monetary determination). These payments will be deducted dollar-for-dollar from your weekly benefit amount. If your weekly pension, retirement, or annuity equals or exceeds your weekly benefit amount, you will be ineligible for unemployment benefits for that week". Other things to think about unemployment would only last for a short time unless another job is found. Is the person due any pension benefits or payment larger than their final paycheck. Having gone through the hassle of our state office I would advise just forgetting about applying for EU and look for another job on their own. Looking at temporary agencies even with the mountain of documentation now required may be another option for part or full time work.

I'd apply and go through the motions of Job Interviews to satisfy VA's requirements to show you are seeking employment, even if not intending to work.

Thank You Everyone for the replies.

Just to let you know .. my lady friend is heart-broken to be leaving a company that she has worked for since the day her husband passed over 25 years ago.

She is a good and kind lady that deserves a break in life.

After working every day for over 25 years, she might have difficulty adjusting to full time unemployment. A part time job or volunteer work might help her through the transition.

JM$.02W

Does she not have any money saved?

If it were my friend I'd go there to the unemployment office with her to provide moral support, and just ask the questions. You can read the gobbledygook from the various official websites and still not really understand. Normally at those offices the people are halfway decent, or at least someone there will be, even if it's not the first person you talk to. Most want to help. When people report bad experiences at this or that government office it usually is because they went in with a chip on their shoulder. Not always but usually.

Make a day of it. Go have breakfast, head into the office and just be prepared to sit around for a while. That way she'll have someone to talk to.

I think not applying would be a big mistake; she's paid into it and thereby helped others for all these years. Now in her time of need it would be foolish not to at least look into it.

"she's paid into it and thereby helped others for all these years."

I won't speak for all locations but federal unemployment tax is imposed only on and paid for only by employers, not by employees, and the same is true in most states for state unemployment taxes, if any. She's may not have paid anything at all but if so, it's probably not much.

I agree that checking into possible benefits is always a good idea but there should be no attitude in doing so about it being done to recoup prior payments because that's unlikely to be the case for most (but not all) people.

If an employer pays it, which I believe is correct, then that's money that wasn't available to pay employees. It's like employers and employees splitting Social Security taxes. Essentially it makes no difference who's technically paying what because they're factoring all of the various benefits and taxes into what's left over to pay the employees.

"Essentially it makes no difference who's technically paying what because they're factoring all of the various benefits and taxes into what's left over to pay the employees"

Unless you're talking about a very small and/or struggling unsuccessful business, it really doesn't work that way.

Well this one is going belly up so it might meet the standard of a "struggling unsuccessful business"! But I'm not sure I agree with the general premise because we hear all the time that corporate taxes, regulatory fees, etc., etc., are slowing job creation. So if the money to pay this stuff comes from somewhere else, why do so many companies say that fewer taxes and regulations would spur job creation? I think any company large or small is going to look at the total cost of hiring and keeping an employee.

But it doesn't really matter. We agree that she should learn about these benefits and take advantage of them if possible. I'd be thrilled to know that my taxes, or my employer's taxes, depending on how you look at it, would go to help a 77-year-old woman who worked and supported herself in a time of her life when many others were retired.

But I'm not sure I agree with the general premise because we hear all
the time that corporate taxes, regulatory fees, etc., etc., are slowing
job creation.

My experience after a career as a business advisor is that other than development concessions and specific project accommodations that are sometimes available (like for competitive site selection matters, etc), most governmental actions and non-actions have very little to do with business growth or job creation. Businesses do what they do and governmental taxes and requirements are just things that need to be dealt with. Comments you hear are mostly from politicians, no? Who mostly don't understand or know what they're talking about when it comes to the economy and the effect of government thereon.

So if the money to pay this stuff comes from somewhere else, why do so
many companies say that fewer taxes and regulations would spur job
creation?

Because companies, whether privately held or publicly held, want to make as much profit as possible. The reduction of any tax and the reduction of regulations to comply with reduces their costs and improves their profitability. It has nothing to do with subscribing to particular dogmas or politics, in my experience.

I think any company large or small is going to look at the total cost of hiring and keeping an employee.

In a stripped down view, in a for-profit business, employees are machines that perform the necessary tasks to run a business that offers products or services for customers to pay for. More revenue or expansion requires more employees. Total costs are considered and managed in every business, yes, but payroll costs and taxes are like regulations - they're there, they need to be adhered to and can't be avoided.

We agree that she should learn about these benefits and take advantage of them if possible.

Absolutely!