Yes. All employers you worked for in the base period (the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters) are contacted by the employment security investigators to see if you were eligible to receive benefits from having worked for them>
You have the right to file for unemployment, but if you receive a severance package from your employer you may be violating the terms of your severance package by filing for unemployment.
You would file in Rhode Island, the "liable state", because it is the one who collected unemployment taxes from your employer.
The employer pays its unemployment taxes to the state the employer is located in. You might file your claim with the state you live in, but your state would then process the claim through the "liable state".
Under the Interstate Unemployment Agreement provisions you could file in either, but preferably in New York since it is the "liable state" which collected the unemployment taxes from your employer.
Actually, you cannot file for unemployment if you were terminated--you are only eligible if you were terminated without cause. Even so, some jobs may not be eligible for unemployment benefits. The easiest way to find out would be to ask your former employer.
Only you have access to your unemployment status. However, the people at the Unemployment Office do have access to your information. Also, your previous and sometimes next to last employer are aware that you are filing for unemployment & they receive a copy of what you say when you file for unemployment, but that is all. For example, if when you file you state that you are "laid off due to a lack of work", that information will be sent over to your employer so they can make their response for the reason (s) that you are no longer employed with that company.
An employer may do any number of things, but that does not mean its legal, ethical, or allowed by the state's unemployment office. When you file your claim, the investigator will check out your story with the employer and vice versa to determine the truth of the matter.
You file for unemployment from the "liable state" which collects the unemployment insurance from the employer you worked for. In this case, the "liable state" is New York. You can file in Pennsylvania, as the "agent state", but it is New York that Pennsylvania would contact in your behalf.
Accusation is one thing, proof is another. File your claim with the unemployment office and their investigator will check out all the facts.
One can file for unemployment any time they are laid off, furloughed, or terminated from an employer covered by unemployment insurance. Whether that person receives unemployment benefits or not is dependent on the the conditions of separation, federal, state and local law, and sometimes the outcome of an appeals process, or special circumstances that temporarily alter benefit eligibility. Such circumstances may be a decree from the President or Governor due to widespread economic hardship, or massive layoffs from a key employer.
No, the employer cannot call you at home to demand that you get off unemployment. When you begin drawing unemployment, the employer does not pay directly - there is a fund in which employer deposits are being placed and that fund is where the unemployment payment comes out - nothing to do with your ex-employer. If your ex-employer is harassing you; however, you should call the police and BBB.
Until you have worked for the new employer for one calendar quarter, the state unemployment commission does not know you are employed there - the employer has not yet paid UI taxes associated with your name and SSAN. Any UI claim will be charged against the former employer ... or just denied.