<prompt> Human: I have 6 months contract for Assistant manager position in a hotel that is salaried. My boss is telling me that when it ends in October , he wont be renewing it, but he can offer me to work as a maintenance man which has nothing to do with my current position. Any idea if he can prevent me from claiming unemployment till I find similar employment? This is for the state of Wisconsin.  <response>: States make this determination, not employers or employees.There are cases when employers do not pay into unemployment as they should. They discourage workers from seeking unemployment because if you apply then the state will discover they have not been meeting their obligations.In general, if the state considers you self-employed performing a business service for this company then you will not be able to get unemployment benefits. If the state considers you an employee of this company then you will be able to. Whether your company is meetings its obligations, deliberately avoiding them, or is genuinely in the dark is none of your concern. Even if they try to guilt you out of applying that is materially the same as them trying to guilt you into working off the clock there as a volunteer. Ignore their input- its not up to them.If you do not consider yourself to be working for your own company then you should apply for unemployment and let the state sort out what is owed.Every state has its own criteria for this determination. It can be complicated and vary quite a bit case by case. Youre best off ignoring any speculation here about whether you are or arent an employee vs independent contractor. Unless you have your own business, apply and let the state sort it out. 