Unemployment Check ‘Helps Pay Rent’ for Ducks’ McSween

An unemployment claim filed because of the NHL lockout by the Mighty Ducks’ Don McSween has been approved, and McSween received his first benefits check this week.

McSween filed his claim Oct. 2, the Monday after the season was supposed to begin, under California law that makes locked-out employees eligible for unemployment benefits. This week, he received a check covering three weeks at the maximum benefit of $230 a week, payable to workers making the equivalent of a little less than $30,000 a year or more.

“In my position, I feel like I’ve got to make use of everything available to me,” said McSween, 30, who was a career minor leaguer making $30,000-$50,000 a year before he broke in with the Ducks last season, making about $100,000. Last summer, he agreed to a contract that was to pay him about $300,000 this season.

“We pay into the system and are eligible to make a claim, and obviously they feel we are eligible (because the California Employment Development Department approved the claim),” he said. (Unemployment benefits are actually paid by employer payroll taxes.) “I’d hoped hockey would be going by now, but this helps pay the rent. If the season is canceled, then I’ll go look for other work. But as long as my ability to work in my field is stymied and I’m not working, I’m eligible for benefits for 26 weeks.”