Quitting my job. Unemployment?
I’m quitting my job after being on personal leave. I do not like my job, simply put. I went on leave and it was like a dark cloud that has been over me is gone. I feel so fucking good. In my state there are ways to get unemployment if you quit. For example, if you have a domestic abuse situation, medical situation, are experiencing discrimination in your work place, can’t find child care, are relocating due to homelessness etc.. I have quit a job and applied for unemployment years ago and was approved. so I decided to try my luck at that again. In the meantime I plan to look for another job just in case I can’t get unemployment. I have very little money saved, I can probably live comfortable for 2 months until panic will set in. I started applying for jobs last week and got 2 emails to set up an interview today. Has anyone here quit a job and filed for unemployment? Has anyone quit a job with no definite plan B?
Jobadvisor
1. Quitting and Filing for Unemployment
- The Exceptions: Most states grant benefits for voluntary quits only if you can prove "good cause attributable to the employer" (e.g., severe unaddressed harassment, unsafe working conditions, illegal acts by the employer, or a medically documented reason where the employer refused a reasonable accommodation). Personal dislike, general burnout, or a poor cultural fit—while completely valid reasons for your mental health—rarely meet the legal definition of "good cause" for state agencies.
- The Process: When you file, your employer will almost certainly contest it, stating that you quit voluntarily and they had work available for you. This triggers an adjudication interview where you will have to provide documentation (medical records, letters sent to HR, emails, etc.).
- The Risk: Relying on unemployment approval when you quit voluntarily is a gamble. If it gets denied (which is statistically very common for voluntary quits without severe, documented statutory grounds), you could be waiting weeks or months for an appeals process with zero income.
2. Quitting Without a Plan B (and the 2-Month Runway)
- The Good News: You already have momentum. Getting two interview requests within your first week of applying is a strong sign that the market for your skillset is active and that your resume/applications are landing.
- The Reality Check: Even with fast responses, the interview, hiring, and onboarding process at most companies takes anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks. If you interview this week, you might not see a first paycheck until late next month or early the month after. Your 2-month runway is tight, but it gives you just enough breathing room if you hustle.
Recommended Next Steps to Protect Yourself
- Treat the Job Hunt as Your Full-Time Job Now: Since your savings clock is ticking, double down on applications and interview prep every single day. Convert that post-leave energy into landing one of these active leads.
- Prepare for the Unemployment Filing Realistically: Go ahead and file if you feel you have a legally qualifying reason (like a documented medical situation tied to the job), but do not budget or spend money based on the assumption that you will be approved. Treat any potential payout as a bonus, not a certainty.
- Draft a Lean Budget Today: Look closely at your expenses over the next 60 days. Cut anything non-essential immediately to stretch that 2-month cushion into 3 or 4 months just in case the job search takes longer than expected.
- Consider Bridge Income: If the interview process drags out and your savings start hitting the panic zone, be ready to pick up immediate gig work, freelancing, or temporary staffing just to keep cash flowing and avoid desperation.
Passed Up for Promotion
Just need to vent because I'm extremely frustrated.
My manager's position opened up because he left the company. My director actually encouraged me to apply because he said he thought I'd be a "perfect fit" for the role.
Went through interviews and got very positive feedback, but ended up getting rejected because "I don't have enough experience".
I am a higher level engineer that other departments come to for everything and I constantly carry my department and provide guidance to the less experienced individuals.
I don't want to leave because I get paid very well and there's a lot of freedom for me to operate how I want. But dayummm am I annoyed. I will definitely be pulling back on all the extra stuff I do.
And then, they asked me to interview the potential outside candidates that put in their resumes....
I hope the management team all poops themselves on their drives home from the office.
Jobadvisor
That sounds infuriating. Your director told you that you were a perfect fit, the interviews went well, and then you got "not enough experience" from people who rely on you for everything. And now you're being asked to interview the people who might replace you. That's a lot of salt in one wound.
Your frustration makes sense. Being told you're ready and then being told you're not, with no clear gap identified, is especially hard to take. You're also right to notice the mismatch: you're the go-to person for other departments and you mentor the less experienced people, and that work apparently doesn't count toward "experience" in the eyes of whoever made the call.
Pulling back on the extra work is a reasonable response, as long as you're doing it deliberately. You might want to keep doing the parts you enjoy or that are visibly valuable, and let the rest go quietly. It could also be worth asking your director for specifics: what exactly was missing, and what would the next opening need? That gives you something concrete to work toward, or tells you the goalposts are somewhere else.
How are you feeling about the interview requests? Is that the part that's making you angriest?
Pay reduced, no reason given, job stayed the same
Heyyy...
Idk if this is the right sub. Anyway, this happened to a friend of mine.
They left a company A for better pay at company B. They worked for roughly 6 months at company B until Company A called and asked them to come back for $18/hr and they worked out that they rate would be $23/hr at the understanding the job would allow movement. After 2.5 months, they were informed their pay would be reduced to the initial $18/hr offer without reason and job duties would not change. If anything, additional work was added.
Of note:
- they have had no formal write ups
- they train every new employee
- minus the short term leave, they've been with the company for a total of 5 years
- they do not call out
This really rubbed me wrong so I brought it to reddit bc it makes me so angry to hear about. I have no idea if any of this is legal or could be reported to the labor board at the very least but thats the story.
Jobadvisor
I'm not a lawyer, and the answer depends on where your friend works, but here's the general picture, mostly for the US.
In most US states, employment is "at-will," so an employer can cut pay without giving a reason. A pay cut alone usually isn't illegal. It becomes a potential legal issue if it was motivated by something protected, such as:
- Discrimination based on race, sex, age (40+), disability, religion, national origin, pregnancy, or another protected characteristic.
- Retaliation for complaining about pay or working conditions, asking about overtime or wage violations, reporting harassment or safety problems, filing a discrimination claim, or taking protected leave.
Your friend's situation has details that could matter. The pay was reduced after they'd accepted a higher rate on the understanding that the job would allow movement. If the offer was in writing, it may matter what it said. Depending on the wording and state, there could be a contract or promise-based claim, though those are often hard to win. The clean work record, five years of service, and extra training duties make the cut look unjustified on the surface, but "unjustified" isn't the same as "illegal." The important question is whether something protected is connected to it, like a complaint, a leave, a protected trait, or a wage question they raised.
Some practical steps they could take:
- Gather documents: the original offer, pay stubs before and after, job descriptions, performance reviews, and any emails about the change.
- Ask for the reason in writing. Employers sometimes give a clearer answer when it has to be put in writing.
- Talk to an employment attorney. Many offer free or low-cost initial consultations and can tell them quickly whether a claim is plausible.
- Contact the right agency if there's a specific violation. The US Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division handles unpaid wages and overtime. The EEOC handles discrimination and retaliation. Your state labor department may have additional protections. A pay cut by itself usually isn't something these agencies act on.
If you tell me the state or country, I can point you toward the specific rules and agencies. And if any of this is about your own situation, the same framework applies, so I'm happy to go through that too.
I feel like many “ life skill job program “ are just an excuse for free labour. Disabled people deserve to be paid, not forced to volunteer
Ok, this is coming from someone who been to over 7+ life skill job program and only 1 been actual that, even then it barley passed. Sorry if the spelling is bad, I have level 1 autism and just wanted to share my life with you guys.
What I noticed is that many of these life skills programs don’t actual help disabled people a lot of times, in most cases I learned they just make you feel guilty for being disabled and you need to kiss the floor of the people that hire you. Heck in some cases, they just say “ volunteer as much as you can “, which I honestly hate now because it made me believe I was never worth anything. Even my mother ( which now I moved out ), had forced me to volunteer even when I was being harassed by my co worker at those programs. I am going over a few of my crazy experiences in different programs that come to mind.
Now here is where I draw the line and why I hold this belief very strong, I paid over 4000 dollars to go to “ life skill program “ for disabled people to help me get a job. The issue was, most of the companies they made us volunteer at were big companies that clearly could have paid us. I felt bad because I was the only one that got to work with a local business, only for me to find out it was closing it door in 3 months and it wouldn’t be my résumé. The only thing I did love about that local business is they lied to the program and gave me tips because they knew I deserve some kind of money.
Another program which was free was a life skill program that was more label has a job then life skill, even then I learned no life skill from this program. Pretty much the program was working on a farm, which the program was allowed to run on because the owner and the owner of the program were friends. Now the issue here wasn’t the owner of the life skill program, it was owner of the farm that treated level 1 autistic people has extreme labor force and screamed at us. Including not allowing woman to pet the horses, only allowing the men to do that. I was around 16 and got targeted a lot because i reported abuse by one of disabled men that the farmer liked. I was abled to leave that program, also from what I heard later on that program shut down due to many reports from different disabled people that the farmer was too cruel to disabled people.
Now I do want to share one thing, I do think there is some value in volunteering, but it should always be by the disabled person choice. Volunteering is how I got my foot in the door with getting a full time job with the help of an organization that help disabled people get paid jobs. Also when doing research on programs do never ask the parent or guardian of the disabled person, ask the disabled person has they were the one in the program.
Jobadvisor
Thank you for sharing this, and please don't apologize for your spelling. Your message is clear, and your experiences matter.
What you describe is a serious problem. Paying over $4,000 for a program that was supposed to help you get a job, then being sent to volunteer at big companies that could have paid you, is exploitative. Being harassed at a program meant to support you, and being pushed to keep volunteering while it happened, is worse. And the farm situation, where a disabled person was treated like free labor and then punished for reporting abuse, is the kind of thing that should be reported and investigated. I'm sorry you went through all of that, and sorry that it left you feeling you weren't worth anything. That belief is a lie created by how you were treated, not a fact about you.
Your point about choice is important, and I think it's right. Volunteering can be valuable when the person chooses it, sets the terms, and gets something real out of it. Being told to volunteer "as much as you can" with no pay, no protection, and no say is something else entirely. Your own experience shows both sides: the local business that gave you tips and treated you as someone who deserved money, and the organization that eventually helped you land a paid job.
Your advice about asking the disabled person rather than the parent or guardian when researching programs is also practical. People in these programs are the best source on what really happens.
If you're interested, a few things could be useful. Some programs that charge fees or use unpaid labor may be subject to state consumer protection rules or workforce regulations, and reports to your state vocational rehabilitation agency or the Department of Labor can matter. Under US law, for-profit employers generally can't use unpaid "trainees" in place of employees unless specific conditions are met, and disabled workers have protections under the ADA. If you ever want to write up your experiences, to share with others or to report, I can help you organize them clearly.
And I'm glad you have a paid job now, and that you've moved out and are building your own life. Would you like to tell me more about how you got that job, or what kind of work you do?
The culture in the office I’ve been working at for nearly 5 years is starting to shift to sacrificing personal time…
And I refuse! I work 32 hours a week as a licensed insurance CSR, with almost a decade of experience, making a measly $35k a year. I will not show up before my scheduled time, nor will I stay after 5pm. And I will not surrender my breaks. I will be MIA before 8:30am, immediately after 5pm, during weekends, holidays, vacations, and the entire hour of my breaks.
I’ve noticed a shift, ever since we hired this over-achiever a year ago, that everyone has been showing up before our 8:30am scheduled time (because she started to and and started complaining about the leniency in our office), not taking their breaks, and sometimes not leaving until well after 5pm. “Call me if you need anything” before they leave on PTO.
Yeah. Not me. No way. My personal time is valuable, it’s mine, and I’m not giving it away for free. The culture can change without me. I do not care. No job is worth sacrificing your health and well being over. Money returns. Time is precious and does not. These people who give so much away for free must not realize or care that the employer can decide they don’t want them anymore without warning. At least I can say I didn’t treat my position in vain.
Jobadvisor
Your boundaries make sense. You're paid for 32 hours, and your time outside work is yours. Your point about loyalty is also sound. Employers restructure, cut staff, and change pay with little notice, as you've seen in the stories you've shared, and people who give extra for free often get the least protection in return.
Still, I'd guess the new hire's effect on the office is frustrating in a different way. She didn't ask anyone to work for free, but once she started coming in early and skipping breaks, the people who were fine before now feel pressure to match her. That's the part that's unfair, and it's not really your job to fix it. You can't control her habits or your coworkers' choices, only your own.
It might help to think of your boundaries as a quiet form of solidarity rather than a standoff. Each time you take your full break and leave on time, you make it a little easier for others to do the same, and you show what a reasonable schedule looks like. That's a legitimate way to protect your time without making it about her.
Has anyone in the office said anything to you directly about the change, or is it mostly something you're noticing from the sidelines?