Unemployment insurance is funded by a tax employers pay on their payroll. They are supposed to pay this tax to the state on a quarterly basis. They do not run the program. They cannot choose to offer Unemployment Insurance or not. It is not up to them.

Unemployment Insurance is a Federal/State run program which was designed to help workers who lost a job through no fault of their own. UI is not a benefit an employer can withhold. The employer cannot legally prevent you from filing a claim. Only the State UI Division can determine if you qualify. You do not file UI through your employer. You file through the State.

If you file a claim and the employer retaliates and fires you, that is against the law. In order for you to be denied UI the employer would have to show just cause...i.e. have a good reason for firing you. There would have to be documentation of things like warnings, disciplinary write ups, etc. The employer has to prove you were fired with cause.

It's possible this company isn't paying their UI payroll taxes and thus doesn't want the State looking into a UI claim. If someone files for UI the first thing that happens is that the claims system looks at the wage record file to see the employee's earnings as reported quarterly on the employer's payroll tax submission. That's how they determine if you meet the quarterly earnings requirement for UI. If the employer is not reporting or not submitting their taxes that will trigger an investigation and a fraud investigator will be sent out to audit their books.

If you think something fishy is going on you can always call the UI division and tell them your company prevents its employees from filing for UI. You can file an anonymous fraud complaint.

Source: I used to work for the department that oversees the UI division.