I was talking to a friend about Mark Kirk and he told me that Kirk was collecting unemployment benefits after resigning from his County job. If this is so, it is a result of a planned administrative decision to place Kirk on unpaid leave instead of paid leave after his indictment and arrest by Devereaux and Lamberto. This would allow Kirk to claim that his resignation was "involuntary", and that he was entitled to unemployment benefits. The County being in on the plan from the begining would not contest Kirks claim. Try this if you quit the County for any other legitimate reason, it wont fly. Taking care of their own after they have been arrested, the good old boy network continues to work in San Bernardino County.

Kirk resigns from county post amid bribery charges
June 15, 2011 3:52 PM

Natasha Lindstrom
Daily Press Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO • While facing felony charges for his alleged role in a $102 million bribery scandal, Mark Kirk has resigned from his post as San Bernardino County director of governmental relations.
Kirk, former chief of staff for 4th District Supervisor Gary Ovitt and a 2008 Hesperia City Council candidate, announced he was resigning “effective immediately” in a brief email he sent Monday to Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux and Human Resources Director Andrew Lamberto, county spokesman David Wert said.
The county had placed Kirk, who made nearly $138,000 a year, on unpaid leave immediately after he was indicted by a special criminal grand jury last month, Wert said.
 

How do I get unemployment?

 

Well, first you have to be unemployed.  In other words, there is no "double dipping." You are NOT allowed to be working and also collecting unemployment benefits.  "Not allowed" is a nice way of saying it's a FELONY to defraud the EDD into giving you money.
  Generally, you have to have been fired or laid off to qualify for benefits meaning if you resigned or quit you will NOT be eligible to receive money or checks.
  Keep in mind that even if you are initially deemed eligible for benefits, before receiving a first check the employer may contest or appeal your eligibility by filing a Notice of Appeal [see below].
  My employer fired me because I was always  late and I did not make sales quotas for each month.  I have to admit, I was often late and my sales were down.  Can I still get unemployment benefits?
  This is one of the most misunderstood areas of unemployment benefits.  Typically, a fired employee thinks that if an employer had good reason for firing the employee, then he or she is not entitled to unemployment benefits.  Generally, this is NOT true.
  In California, to NOT receive unemployment, an employee must have been fired for "gross misconduct."  An employee fired for being a dumb ass, lazy, negligent, poor performer, or "light" misbehavior should still be entitled to unemployment.  The EDD, NOT your employer, determines if your conduct "sunk" to the level of "gross misconduct."
  Generally, "gross misconduct" means a willful act that either caused, or could have caused, the employer to suffer significant injury or harm.  For example, imagine the employer catches one of its truck drivers operating a Company vehicle while intoxicated.  Even though he did not cause an accident or otherwise get caught by the police, the employee is fired.  Most likely the EDD would consider the employee's drunk driving gross misconduct warranting a denial of unemployment benefits.
  Other examples of gross misconduct might be: 1) selling drugs at the workplace; 2) stealing employer property or money; 3) assaulting a coworker; or 4) accidentally causing a building to burn down.
 

How much money will I receive and for how long?
 

You will have to contact your local EDD office for that information because both the dollar amount and total months you can receive money change at times.
  As to how much money YOU may receive, when you first file a claim, an EDD administrator will ask you questions about income level, hours worked, employment history, likelihood of finding a job, etc.  The EDD will then refer to a "benefit table" to come up with a weekly benefit amount and that is what you will receive during the time you are unemployed [weekly payments up to the maximum number of weeks allowed by law].
  As to how long YOU can receive unemployment, as said above, the duration is set by federal law.  The law can change the maximum period from a few months to longer.  Sometimes the Government changes the law to provide longer benefit periods during times of economic downturn.  For example, a few years ago, the government extended the maximum benefit period to 12 months.  But, the max period is usually about 6 months or less.
 

The place where I worked was extremely unsafe.  The employer violated many laws on workplace safety, such as OSHA.  One of my coworkers quit because of the unsafe working conditions.  Another was severely injured due to the same unsafe conditions.  Seeing all this, rather than risk inevitable injury, I quit.  Can I still apply for unemployment, even though I quit?
 

If you tell the EDD you quit, but did so "involuntarily," the EDD will inquire as to why you did so.  If the EDD determines that under the circumstances your quitting was reasonable, meaning a reasonable person would have quit rather than suffer, or continue to suffer harm [due to the employer's wrongful conduct], the EDD may consider your quitting equivalent to the employer firing you.  If the EDD makes this determination, it should award you benefits.  In a sense, the EDD would have made a decision that you were "constructively discharged," meaning that even though you quit, workplace events and the law consider the employer to have fired you.