UI dilemma - what is the best thing to do? (claim, work)

[OOCat]

I started a new thread with a different title and the same question because it isn't a straight freelancing question.

Ugh, this whole system is so stupid. Here is my dilemma:

I was laid off in June of last year after just one year at a job I was RECRUITED to from my old job. Great, they suck. My husband has a good job and I had been finishing my graduate degree part-time, so I decide to look for work and finish the one class I had left so that I had a degree in my pocket. So far so good, degree is done, applying for jobs.

I had several interviews in the fall, but nothing worked out. I was hired for a part-time temporary job that I like a lot but definitely won't turn into full-time. I reported this job and collected the difference in my benefit, but in early December they increased my rate of pay so that I was basically making the same as my unemployment benefit, so not wanting to take UI when I had work, I stopped filing. I am still looking for a full-time job. I think I probably have 3 or 4 weeks left on the original 26-week claim. I was actually taking home more money when they were paying me less and I was claiming the difference, but whatever, I'd rather be working the same number of hours for an appropriate rate of pay.

This was all great until my husband also lost his job (in November) and his employer for reasons unknown decided to contest his unemployment (long story, not important). He has a hearing soon, and we think they will be reinstated, but can't be sure.

In the meantime, I am continuing to interview for jobs and I've been offered a great freelance project to start in January at a local business. They person who wants to hire me for this thinks there could be a lot more freelance projects here, and he's offered me the choice between going on payroll as a part-time, temporary worker just to complete that project, or billing him as an independent contractor.

Here's the dilemma -- if I go as an independent contractor, there's a good chance I can pick up more work there, but it isn't guaranteed. But if I go on payroll, the business' rules say I can't take on more IC work there for six months after I go off payroll. There's no guarantee that other departments would be willing to put me on part-time payroll even if they wanted to hire me for other projects, and this department has no more money in its budget this year so this project is definitely it for them. But they were pretty positive there could be more work, and it is a great organization to be a part of.

So you would say, go IC and keep yourself open for more freelance work. However, this project will end in February and my other part-time work are scheduled to end in March. My understanding is that in PA, if I report that I've taken on IC work there's virtually no chance I can re-open my claim, because I'll be considered self-employed - and there's even a chance they might try to re-claim all the benefits I've gotten already. I also have to deal with all the IC tax hassles.

If my husband still had his job, or even knew for sure he'd be getting his UI, I would just go the IC route and cross my fingers and try to make it work and plan on not refiling for UI. But we have a mortgage to pay, and guaranteed income is better than no income. The idea of us getting to March and having zero money coming in is scary, to say the least.

So, some questions:

would you take the project as an IC and hope for the best? Or take the payroll option and lock yourself out of future opportunities?

do you think I would be able to re-open my claim in March if I had no other income?

given the newly-extended benefits, assuming I could re-open my claim in March, how long could I continue to claim benefits? would they continue to be based on my employment prior to June of 2011?