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CAN I COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS AT THE SAME TIME?

QUESTION: I’ve been out of work, looking for a job for a couple of months. I will be eligible for Social Security next week, when I turn 66. Can I continue to collect unemployment if I’m receiving Social Security?

ANSWER: Yes, under certain circumstances you can collect both. The issues the Agency is concerned with are whether you are unemployed, whether you looking for work and whether you are able to work. In addition to being otherwise eligible, you must be actively seeking work and timely and accurately report your efforts of looking for a job to the Michigan Unemployment Agency.

Once you start receiving your Social Security checks, you can keep receiving unemployment benefits – but ONLY if you keep looking for work. You can’t retire and collect unemployment.

Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency does not take unemployment fraud lightly. Those who knowingly receive benefits to which they are not entitled are not only required to repay the benefits they improperly received, but also a penalty of up to quadruple the amount received. Taking $2,000 of benefits when you are not looking for work or not able to work could cost you not only the $2,000, but also $8,000 in penalties, plus interest!

If you get into trouble with the Unemployment Insurance Agency, you may need the help of a lawyer. The lawyers at GWINN TAURIAINEN PLLC are experienced attorneys and are happy to answer your questions. Give us a call for a free initial telephone consultation about your legal needs. For consideration of your questions in our web column, please submit your inquiry on the “Contact Us” page of our website at www.gwinntauriainenlaw.com.

Information provided on “Ask the Lawyer” is current as of the date of publication. Laws and their interpretation are subject to change. The material provided through “Ask the Lawyer” is informational only; it should not be considered legal advice. Submitting a question to “Ask the Lawyer” does not create an attorney-client relationship between the person submitting the question and GWINN TAURIAINEN PLLC. To view previous columns, please visit our website.

GWINN TAURIAINEN PLLC, is a Troy based law firm representing clients from Warren, Sterling Heights, Ferndale, Royal Oak, Oak Park, Oakland and Wayne Counties and all of Southeast Michigan

ASK THE LAWYER
By: Daniel A. Gwinn, Esq.
Attorney and Counselor at Law
GWINN TAURIAINEN PLLC
901 Wilshire Drive, Suite 550
Troy, MI 48084
(248) 247-3300
(248) 247-3310 facsimile
[email protected]
http://www.gwinntauriainenlaw.com/