<prompt> Human: Hey PF,As the title says, I was just laid off today. I have been with the company since January, and was told today that my contract was not being renewed. It is a small transportation business, employing about at one point 6 office staff, and a few dozen seasonal fluctuating drivers. Over the last few months, we had 2 employees fired one for poor work quality, the other for using company assets for personal use. The office is now down to 3 staff after laying me off.Some history about my time with the company:I was hired to work sales and help with dispatch. I received my salary, and was content with what I was offered. About a month in, I was told my skillset was valuable and I was offered a promotion Ill get back to why this is in quotes later and was given an increase in responsibility and a new title, but was told we would not be discussing pay at this time because I was brand new to the company. This new role put me in charge of safety and compliance, ensuring our drivers performed their jobs to federal guidelines. Several months later around May I once again brought up the salary and promotion and was again told it would be discussed at a later date. My thought was now that I had been doing my new role for a while, they were able to see I was competent enough to do it and the raise would come in time. Wrong. Flash forward to July, and our HR employee was fired. I was given this workload as well, and didnt bring up anything about raises until September, about a month ago. At that point, I had a conversation with the owner of the company, and she told me that she didnt view any of my extra workload as a promotion, and merely considered it professional development to which I was speechless. I had taken on major responsibility and role increases, but it seemed likely that I would never see a raise for any of it. I decided to counter with a salary increase after yet another task was thrust on me sales for large wedding clients, which I know upset her, and prompted the next point. She brought up the fact that we could review my contract a month later today and I agreed. The salary I had requested was 8,000 higher than my current salary, and would still be lower than the average for both my field and the area.Fast forward to today, and I have been laid off. The reason cited was the salary request I submitted was higher than they were willing to pay, and after consulting their business analyst, they decided they are spending too much on administrative costs and would not be renewing my contract.I was thanked for my time, told that I would still be receiving my bonus on the condition I return all company property Ive telecommuted the last 2 months and would receive both personal and professional references that are positive if I so choose, from both the CEO and the Manager of the company. I asked specifically if I was fired, because I know classifying this is important, and was told I was not. They had decided not to have my contract renewed, and that I was laid off. I am honestly very relieved about this decision, as I knew there was no future at this company and it caused me considerable stress every day. I have never had to deal with this before, and wanted to seek advice here to make sure I handle this the best way I can.I have about 3 weeks of pay in the bank, with another week coming in. I will be calling my student loan provider to defer my loans until I have another steady income, and will be paying the minimum on all accountscard.First off, I assume regardless of firedlaid off status, I can qualify for unemployment and this should be the first move I make.If anyone has any experience with this, I would greatly appreciate it.  <response>: Sounds like you escaped a sinking ship!If you didnt have a proper contract with an end date, file for unemployment. It looks like the fact they referenced your previous request at an increase could help you there. Next steps: minimize all expenses dont eat out anymore, dont drive unless necessary and start applying for jobs 8 hours a day. 