Legal Question in Employment Law in California

No. If an employee quits, you get no EDD. If an independent contractor, you get no EDD. If you contend you should have been an employee, you can bring a lawsuit or a claim with the Labor Commissioner for unpaid compensation and benefits. If serious about doing so, feel free to contact me.

If you are classified as an independent contractor, the EDD will not have you listed as an employee for which the employer has paid into its reserve account, which means no benefits to you. The way around this is to contact the EDD and tell them you believe you have been misclassified. You will be put through to the audit department which can investigate your employer to determine whether or not you have been misclassified under the law. Employers who misclassify employees are subject to fines and will have to reimburse employees for lost social security and other tax contributions. But I would not advise you to quit without knowing more.

You can never get unemployment if you quit. You must be fired for a reason other than those constituting "good cause."

Mr. McCormick is very wrong about the law, in his second sentence. "Good cause" is not sufficient to deny a fired employee unemployment benefits. The benefits will be denied, only, if the fired employee committed "misconduct." �Misconduct� is defined on a case-by-case basis, but generally can be defined as willful or wanton conduct demonstrating a disregard for the employer�s interests. This is a much more difficult standard for the employer to meet than "good cause." For example, if you are fired because you are frequently late, that conduct would likely be good cause to fire you, but it would not rise to the level of misconduct, denying you unemployment benefits.