I was laid off after 4 1/2 years working at a call center on April 12th, 2011, so I started getting unemployment benefits, however on May 16th, I stated a temp job for a large insurance company for a CSR position. 2 days into it, I knew this job was way too unrealistic, and complicated and it just wasn't worth doing it as a temp with low pay and not benefits and really no likely hood of getting hired on, so I quit. I know the right thing to do is file another claim for benefits, because I actually started working, however I'm afraid since I quit my job they will not let me draw unemployment. My previous claim was good all the way until Oct 2011, so that claim is still opened. My question is this: Can I still use my open claim for unemployment benefits that I currently have open and just report Sunday that I didn't return to full time work? I don't even know if the temp agency is going to pay me or not, as we had to do our own time cards. Would the VEC know that I went back to full time work or not?

You cannot start a new claim, because 2 1/2 days of work is not enough to qualify for a new claim, and also because you can only start a new claim once every 364 days (52 weeks). You can only collect from the old claim, and you may do so only if you tell VEC what happened and they agree that you had a good enough reason for quitting.

You are allowed to work limited hours and still draw unemployment only if you report that you worked those hours and you report how much you earned. If you do not report both those things, then you are not allowed to draw unemployment.

If you do not report that you worked and the temp agency pays you, then VEC will know that you lied (and that you did work) because the temp agency tells VEC them who it paid.

If you report that you worked that week, and report that you did not work the next week, then VEC will ask you why. You must tell them the truth. Depending on your reasons for quitting, they may or may not stop you from collecting on the old claim. It is important to tell the truth, and they will attempt to veirfy your answer.

You cannot start a new claim, because 2 1/2 days of work is not enough to qualify for a new claim, and also because you can only start a new claim once every 364 days (52 weeks). You can only collect from the old claim, and you may do so only if you tell VEC what happened and they agree that you had a good enough reason for quitting.

You are allowed to work limited hours and still draw unemployment only if you report that you worked those hours and you report how much you earned. If you do not report both those things, then you are not allowed to draw unemployment.

If you do not report that you worked and the temp agency pays you, then VEC will know that you lied (and that you did work) because the temp agency tells VEC them who it paid.

If you report that you worked that week, and report that you did not work the next week, then VEC will ask you why. You must tell them the truth. Depending on your reasons for quitting, they may or may not stop you from collecting on the old claim. It is important to tell the truth, and they will attempt to veirfy your answer.

Yes they will know that you went back to work full time when the temp agency sends in your 2 days worth of the unemployment insurance they had to pay. No, you likely will not continue qualifying for benefits since you voluntarily left a full time position. Chances are good you could get away with claiming benefits for some time, but eventually it will come back to bite you when you have to repay the benefits you improperly received.

You're correct that since you were there such a short time, it wasn't long enough to get unemployment from that job, so it would go back to being based on your previous job. And you're also right that if you work just part time, it might be possible to get unemployment while you're working. But since you had a job and quit, you're very unlikely to be eligible for unemployment when they check on WHY you're no longer working, and find out you quit..