Help Wanted: Pensions and jobless benefits

DEAR CARRIE: My husband has been a county bus employee for 21 years. He recently received a letter stating that as of Dec. 31 he will be terminated. Since he turns 55 on Dec. 7, he has attended a retirement interview. They told him he should retire now because he would lose money by waiting until age 62. Unfortunately, we are not in a position for him to retire now, so he will have to get another job. If he retires at the end of the year with a pension, can he collect unemployment benefits? Will his employer have to pay him for unused vacation and sick days? Would those payments affect his unemployment benefits? -- Bus Stops Here

DEAR BUS STOPS: Collecting a pension doesn't automatically disqualify him from receiving unemployment benefits at the same time, as long as he is actively looking for work.

But certain unemployment-benefit reductions come into play when an employer pays more than 50 percent toward its employees' pension. Those workers' unemployment benefits would be reduced if they also receive a pension from a business that employed them in the 18 months before they filed an unemployment-benefits claim and if that work increased their pension benefit.

That doesn't appear to be your husband's situation now. But it is worth keeping in mind as he looks for work.

Whether he is paid for unused vacation and sick days will depend on what a union contract or company policy states.

If the payout of the unused time means that he will continue to receive his full salary and benefits until he exhausts that time, he could be ineligible for unemployment benefits for the weeks he receives those separation-related payments.

You didn't ask for advice about the best age for your husband to retire, but I think an important decision like that cries out for a second opinion from a financial planner.

DEAR CARRIE: I am a health-care worker who is also an independent contractor. There is some noise that we have to provide our own workers' compensation insurance. I have no employees. What gives? -- Overinsured

DEAR OVERINSURED: If you are truly an independent contractor, the company that contracts your services can require you to carry workers' comp insurance, even though you have no employees, said Joseph Cavalcante, a spokesman for the state Workers' Compensation Board.

By contrast, companies must pay for the mandated workers' comp coverage for their employees. "A business can never directly pass on the cost of workers' compensation to its employees," Cavalcante said.

A larger question is whether you are truly an independent contractor. Several state and federal agencies have their own definitions of independent contractor, Cavalcante said, "and each uses slightly different criteria to determine if one is an independent contractor for its own purposes."

"A worker can be . . . an independent contractor for tax purposes and still be considered an employee for workers' compensation purposes," he said. "So whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor for workers' compensation purposes is key here."

According to the board, an employee is someone: who works regularly or exclusively for a business; whose hours, duties and place of work are set by a business; who uses the business' materials and equipment and is someone who performs the same services that the business does.

"Ultimately, if there is a dispute on an injured worker's claim, the Workers' Compensation Board will hear the case and determine if an injured worker is an employee or an independent contractor for workers' compensation purposes," he said.