Can you get jobless pay if you've sold a business?

DEAR CARRIE: I sold my business a year and a half ago. The terms called for me to receive a percentage of sales for 10 years in lieu of payments. I am also able to take quarterly dividends for several years. Because I no longer had a job, I thought I would be eligible for unemployment benefits. I applied, but the unemployment folks told me I wasn't eligible since the corporation is still open and I am a stockholder in it. Is this correct?  -- Who Benefits?

DEAR WHO: Your being a stockholder in the company doesn't make you ineligible for unemployment benefits, according to the New York State Labor Department, but certain other factors related to your situation, including the payments you continue to receive, may mean you don't qualify.

"It is not true that just being a stockholder of a corporation . . . still open disqualifies a person from receiving unemployment benefits," said the department in response to the question.

But it added that "the specific circumstances and nature of this individual's sale of his business and the nature of his continuing payments in connection with the sale would need to be investigated in order to make a decision on eligibility."

For example, the department said it would need to know whether you remain a principal of the corporation or if you perform services in exchange for the percentage of sales and the quarterly dividends. That could make you ineligible.

Also when you became truly unemployed would affect your eligibility for benefits. When you applied for benefits, your resignation date in the sales agreement or the stipulation about when you would stop performing services for the sold business could have all affected your eligibility for benefits, the department said.

That's a lot to consider but worth revisiting. If you still believe you are eligible, contact the department's unemployment benefits telephone claims center at 888-209-8124. As you may know, the automated system requires a lot of patience.

DEAR CARRIE:  My company is leaving Long Island at the end of this month, and I will join the ranks of the unemployed. Will I be eligible for the federal COBRA subsidy? If so, what percentage will I have to pay? -- COBRA Subsidy?

DEAR COBRA: As things stand now, you most likely aren't eligible for the federal subsidy but not because your company is leaving the state, said Ellen Storch, counsel at Kaufman Dolowich Voluck & Gonzo in Woodbury.

The last cutoff date for subsidy eligibility was May 31. So workers who lost their jobs between Sept. 1, 2008, and May 31 this year could be eligible for the subsidy program, which reduces laid-off workers' COBRA health insurance premiums by 65 percent for up to 15 months. Workers whose hours are reduced could also be eligible. (COBRA stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.)

Don't give up hope, though. Congress has enacted a couple of extensions and could well enact another.

If the subsidy is extended again, you could become eligible retroactively, Storch said, even though your company is moving away.

"If the subsidy is extended, and assuming you were otherwise eligible for it, you would not lose that eligibility simply because your termination was the result of your employer's relocation," she said.