Has anyone had an experience with applying for unemployment after a grant-funded job ends?
I accepted a two-year research assistant position with a large university, but when I signed, it was represented to me that the fixed-term nature was solely due to funding concerns: my position would be funded by a two-year grant, so although there was no *guarantee* there would funding after those two years, if another grant could be found to support me, I would be kept on/re-signed. Unfortunately, another grant couldn't be found, so I had to leave, despite the fact that both I and my boss wanted me to stay on. However, I recently learned that the university marked my departure as "voluntary," which may cause some problems re: unemployment, etc.
In my experience/to my knowledge, this is the standard setup for grant-funded positions like this! The last job that I held like this, I *did* leave voluntarily, so I never had to try to apply for unemployment, etc. But it can't be the case that all un-funded research assistants are just left out in the cold...right?
Has anyone else held (or hired for, I suppose) a grant-funded position like this, and are/were you able to get unemployment (or the recently enacted COBRA subsidy, COVID relief pay, etc.)? Did you have to go through extra steps/is there something you would recommend that I do?
I did apply for unemployment, before all this came to light, and my claim was accepted, so the state apparently thinks that my leaving was involuntary, although I suppose it's possible they just took my word for it and didn't check in with my employer?? (It was when I tried to apply for the COVID COBRA subsidy that I learned, from the company that coordinates those benefits, that the university said my departure was "voluntary") |
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