Sorry, Ty Lawson. You Can’t File for Unemployment


After Ty Lawson (jokingly, we hope) tweeted about filing for unemployment benefits, the Charlotte Observer asked the experts in this sort of thing, regarding locked out NBA and NFL players: “Former North Carolina basketball star Ty Lawson tweeted an interesting question concerning the NBA lockout: ‘I wonder if I can file for unemployment.’ So we asked. Can an NBA or NFL player currently apply for unemployment due to the lockouts in each sport? The short answer is no, not yet anyway. Larry Parker, a spokesman for the N.C. Employment Security Commission, sent the following explanation in an email to the Observer: ‘The answer right now is no, NBA players would not be eligible for benefits, mainly due to fact the NBA season is not in session. There is a reasonable expectation on the players part that they may play once the season.'”