Is this legal?

hyperJulie
Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:18:02 +0000

2college2college: This is something I’m trying to understand as part of employment law, not only in this case but for future reference.

My understanding of at-will employment is that a company has the right to terminate you as an employee at any time without any reason. However, I thought that in order to deny unemployment benefits, that a company had to have a reason to fire you. In the case of my mom, at one point she was let go from her job due to downsizing. Her entire shift was laid off, but she was able to collect unemployment.

Do businesses need a reason to deny unemployment, or can they do it just because they feel like it? That’s what I’m trying to understand.