I once got called at home the Monday after I'd left a company to hear that I'd been "laid off". The previous Friday had been my official last day (planned exit, I was going off to college), but I had banked a bunch of unused vacation days, and they were calling to let me know that they wouldn't be able to pay out the remainder of my vacation pay.
Much later, when I got into the workforce for real, I learned that I could've collected unemployment checks for this, and that if I'd played my cards right, I could've been drawing unemployment for my first year at college. Ah well - one of my coworkers told me "If you'd done that, I might have to hate you. Unemployment is for workers who need it, not college students who take a gap year at a dot-com."
Additionally, California has additional protections for workers, such as requiring immediate payment for all wages, including accrued vacation, upon termination: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_paydays.htm
It was Massachusetts. A number of people told me later that I could've collected, and a quick glance through Massachusett's Unemployment Insurance FAQ shows no mention of being a student other than UI not covering student work-study programs for financial aid:
I didn't because it never occurred to me - as far as I was concerned, I left my job normally to go to college and they just didn't pay out the vacation pay. I wasn't hurting for money then or now (I was still living with my parents at the time), so I don't really regret it, but it does appear to be a real, genuine loophole in the system.
Even worse, when I worked at "chip manufacturing plant", the construction crews would _regularly_ be laid off, unemployment would be drawn, then magically re-hired months later. Working the system...
Much later, when I got into the workforce for real, I learned that I could've collected unemployment checks for this, and that if I'd played my cards right, I could've been drawing unemployment for my first year at college. Ah well - one of my coworkers told me "If you'd done that, I might have to hate you. Unemployment is for workers who need it, not college students who take a gap year at a dot-com."