Again, I'm referring to people who got laid off not quit from their jobs and now make much more on unemployment. He told his employer who offered his job back that he already got another job. He's still collecting those unemployment checks. Our State unemployment office is swamped with claims and doesn't have time to enforce this. Hawaii's a very Liberal State and giving away taxpayers money is what they do. It's not coming out of their pockets and it's just extra work for them so its way down the priority list.
I have no recent and almost no experience ever collecting unemployment. but, your post peaked my curiosity, because I was under the impression one only gets a portion of what they were earning from when they were employed. So, since you are referencing unemployment in Hawaii, I looked up how it works there (the program varies from state to state). Here is what I found out:
In Hawaii, "If you are eligible to receive unemployment, your weekly benefit will be your total compensation in the highest-paid quarter of the base period divided by 21. The current maximum benefit amount is $648 per week (in 2020); the current minimum is $5 per week. You may receive benefits for a maximum of 26 weeks."
According to my calculations, if a person earned $3,000 a month in their highest quarter for a total of $9,000 and you divided that by 21 you come out with a weekly payment of approximately $430. or $1,1714 per month which is a little more than half what you were earning before taxes.
Unemployment benefits are fully taxed as income in Hawaii. The Feds also fully tax unemployment benefits as income. It is possible some people don't realize this until they are hit with personal income taxes.
It is certainly possible in the example you gave, that the person may have still had unemployment insurance benefits due them when the started their new job. So for a brief time period they could get both a check from working and one from unemployment, but it wouldn't last more than a week or so. Even though there is a waiting period/processing time with unemployment, once it is approved a person is back paid what they were due from the date of qualification.
I think the person talking to you is either in for a big unpleasant surprise or they were lying to you.
Workers Compensation has some similarities to unemployment insurance which aren't always fully explained to the person collecting it. For example, it too is fully taxable. However, workers comp comes with some extra added wrinkles that do not benefit the employee. I have more experience with worker's comp because I represented fellow employees who were fighting for this benefit. Many employers and the workers comp representatives will say and do almost anything to cheat the employee out of their rightful benefits. If you ever find yourself in need of workers comp agree to nothing and sign nothing, get an attorney. Your attorney is not allowed to charge you for representation if they lose and if they win their fees are paid by workers compensation insurance companies.
