<prompt> Human: This is a throwaway because my ex-coworkers know my main account. Im in California.I worked full time remotely at a company for 5 years. My wife is a stay home mom and we have two kids a 2 year old, and a 6 month old. In the final two months of my employment, I got fewer and fewer projects to work on. In April, my boss emailed and told me they were going to change my full time employment to part time, dropping me from 40 hours to 8 hours or less per week, and that I will also lose all of my benefits. He said they didnt have have enough projects to keep me busy. I cant afford to lose my hours and medical benefits it is what covers my family!, so I emailed my boss and pointed it out to him that cutting my hours from 40 hours to 8 hour or less is a lay off. That I would rather he just laid me off so I can start looking for a new job. He agreed and told me he is going to process my lay off per my request. I applied for unemployment and during the phone interview for unemployment eligibility, the interviewer told me my boss told them that I quit my job because I was not satisfied with the work. I told them that was not true as I was laid off. The interviewer told me they were going to investigate. Today I called the EDD office to follow up, and they told me my claim was denied and that I would a denial letter within a week. I have been applying for jobs and have couple interviews lined up. I also have enough emergency funds to cover for expenses while Im looking. But I do need the unemployment money in case I cant find a job in time.Do I have a case for an appeal?Edit: Yes, I have all of the emails copies. Is email evidence enough to proof my case or I should hire a lawyer?Edit 2: Wow, more than 7000 upvotes!! Thank you all! Didnt expect this will get so many attentions. Let me answer some of the questions here:1. I forwarded the work emails to my personal email account before they took over my work email.2. I pointed out to them that what they were doing cutting my hours from 40 to 8 is consider a lay off and I rather they just do it. I didnt mentioned I am going to look for a new job.Assistant: Absolutely; being moved from a full time job with benefits to a part-time job with no benefits and scheduled for less than eight hours a week is almost certainly constructive dismissal. Just document everything and provide it to the EDD office as per their process when you appeal. Human: Thank you. I have all of the emails regarding the lay off. I just wasnt sure if my boss could claim I requested a lay off after cutting my hours significantly resulted in a voluntary quit in EDDs eyes.  <response>: I see a lot of people telling you to appeal, definitely do that. You have an easy appeal.One tip is to make sure you continue filing weekly or whatever is normal for your state. When they side with you in the appeal arbitration youll get all that back compensation, but only if you continue to file like normal.EDIT: Also double and triple check any and all forms and questions you fill out. I was denied a claim once because of a typo on my initial filing. Lost a ton of money because of that. 