NJ Partial Unemployment - Can I turn down job? (collecting, claim, work)

[NJ314]

This is taking place in NJ. I am collecting partial unemployment (claim is currently pending awaiting decision of a phone interview scheduled for tomorrow). My employer is the same one I have had for years, my work load was simply scaled back in October. However, the company I work for was acquired by a larger company and the only way they will keep me is by moving me to a new position.

The new position requires state licensing (was not required for my current job). The licensing classes are a 2 hour round trip drive, which I will have to do for 2 weeks- my current drive time to work is less than 10 mins. The cost of the class + testing + licensing fees is well over $700. My employer will not cover these costs, nor reimburse for travel, nor will I be getting paid for the two weeks I will be getting my licensing (but I will still be collecting partial unemployment for those weeks- so I would still be getting "paid" so to speak, just not by my employer.)

Not only can I not afford the costs for the class/test/license, but the travel costs are also going to end up being more than I can afford.

If I turn down this position, and the company lets me go entirely, will it affect my unemployment? Are there any "good" reasons to turn down a job that unemployment will not hold against you? As I had stated my current position that I was hired for did NOT require any licensing- it never has and I was never told I would need to get a license to continue working. I have worked there for years. I do have an employment contract with the employer - the one who is being acquired.

[Chyvan]

There are a bazzillion valid reasons to turn down a job. That's the quirk in the system. You can't quit a job because of them, but you don't have to take a job for them.

Everything you said about why you don't want it is almost great. The only thing I didn't like was, "Not only can I not afford the costs for the class/test/license, but the travel costs are also going to end up being more than I can afford," that gets translated by the unemployment system as "personal finances." Leave it out. You focus on the stuff the employer is making you do it. The employer doesn't get to go outside of what was agreed to at the time of hire are as modified over time where they say "we want you to..." and you agree to it by starting to do it.

However if being licensed will help you in the future, but all means negotiate. You can tell the employer that you'll do it, but that you want to be paid for your time, travel, and the cost of the classes, and that you want the money up front because you think they'll tell you what you want to hear and then renege.

The potential rub in these situation is the bad decision that a deputy can make that puts you in appeals. NJ takes quite a while to hear appeals, so if you don't have the money to afford the classes, you might not have the money to wait out an appeal, so consider that when you make your decision.