We have not had a layoff or shutdown since 2002 and I am not totally understanding of the unemployment rules. We will be shutting down the week of Thanksgiving and I know that I will have many employees asking if they can use this as their week waiting period for unemployment. Unfortunately, I have received two different answers from the Department of Labor so I was hoping that someone could help me determine the correct answer. I was told the first time that employees may use this as their waiting week for unemployment even if they received Holiday Pay. Then I was told that if they receive Holiday Pay or Vacation Pay that would disqualify them from using this week as their waiting week. I could understand if they used vacation and holiday pay totaling 40 hours that this could disqualify them from their waiting period, but if they only receive 16 hours of Holiday pay would this also disqualify them from their waiting week?
I appreciate any input that anyone can give.