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I was laid off from my job in December 2008. After using my state benefits, & some of Tier 1, my employer hired me back for a freelance position on a si month assignment.
When the assignment ended in February 2010, I tried opening up my old claim. The rep said I needed to open a new claim, and so I did that, and was collecting on my Feb 2010 until about October of 2010, when it suddenly just reverted back to my December 2008 claim. I thought they just adjusted my claim, since I was really just trying to use that claim to begin with.
Well, I just exhausted Tier 4 of the December 2008 claim last month, and when I go to check if I have anything left, it's now showing I can claim off my February 2010 claim, which was in the middle of Tier 1 or 2.
Is this a common or normal occurunce, or did the Unemloyment office screw up? I certainly want what I'm entitled to, but it seems like I'd be over 99 weeks now if I continue this claim. I don't want to be apart of anything illegal, or any sort of fraud.
Is this a common or normal occurunce, or did the Unemloyment office screw up? I certainly want what I'm entitled to, but it seems like I'd be over 99 weeks now if I continue this claim. I don't want to be apart of anything illegal, or any sort of fraud.
This IS a common and normal occurrence in the event of multiple claims. It is possible to collect EUC benefits on two or more claims, depending on the circumstances. The unemployment office did NOT screw up and you are NOT part of any fraud.
With the protracted period of unemployment, there are multiple claims occurring every day and multiple tiers of EUC benefits. EUC benefits from earlier claims need to be exhausted before the later claims.
If you were paid as a W-2 employee, not as a 1099 contractor, you are eligible to receive unemployment.
The state DOLs are scrutinizing 1099 employment for possible fraud on the part of the employer attempting to avoid payroll and UI taxes.
Multiple claims happen all the time. It is a bit odd your employer chose W-2, if he did, under the circumstances. They could just as easily have paid you on 1099 and avoided this claim and not be scrutinized - unless they were making a habit of it.
Just to let you know, I had the exact same thing happen pretty much and you've done nothing wrong. Let me explain my complicated situation and I think you'll realize that what happened with you is completely minor:
10/2009- Lost my job and made an unemployment claim, eventually winning.
11/2009- Got another job but didn't make over my benefit amount every week. Therefore, the weeks that I didn't make my benefit, I received the difference, little as it may have been.
04/2010- Job goes off season and GREATLY reduces my hours.
06/2010- I exhausted my regular benefits, having no idea that the Federal EUC program even existed or applied to me.
07/2010- moved to Panama City Beach (I live in Orlando) to work for the summer. In the meantime, my sister receives a letter for me from Unemployment telling me I was eligible for EUC. She'd opened it 6 weeks after it came, so I had to claim those weeks immediately before I lost benefits altogether. Claimed those weeks and received my check.
08/10- I claimed my 2 weeks in July that I worked in PCB, which were well over my benefit. No benefits issued. I claimed the next 4 weeks I worked in August, 1 of which I didn't make more than my benefit so I received a check (the week before Obama visited PCB, funnily enough).
09/10- My job in PCB lays me off after Labor Day weekend, as that's when the season ends. The restaurant stays open through November, but layoffs are done in order of seniority, so I was low man on the totem pole. I inform unemployment and continue claiming on Tier I of my 2009 claim.
10/10- My year is up and I'm forced to file a claim against my PCB employer. I wasn't sure if I could even get it since I only worked for them for 6 weeks. But the claim is based off the 4 previous quarters and since I'd worked and reported, I'd made enough money to file. Meanwhile, my PCB employer wasn't even going to be responsible for my benefits. HOWEVER, because of this, I receive no benefits while still claiming my weeks, as I wait for adjudication.
11/10- I STILL haven't heard from my adjudicator and at this point, have been claiming for 6 weeks. Florida Unemployment tells me they're so backed up with claims that it's taking 8-10 weeks to adjudicate. I didn't understand, since I was laid off and the employer wasn't even going to have to pay the benefit.
12/10- The adjudicator finally calls and I find out that my PCB employer had the NERVE to LIE and tell a story about my last day of work when a customer walked out on their bill (None of which was my fault- it was 100% management's fault and another server, who yanked a chair out from their table and hit my customer's wife in the leg) Either way, everything that my employer said was a total fabrication and when I told my adjudicator the truth, she immediately knew that they were lying. Not only that, but she told me on the phone right then and there that she was finding in my favor (which they NEVER do) and to expect my check within the next few days. I received $188 that I was still owed on the old claim AND over $1000 that was due on the new claim. After over 2 months of being flat broke, believe me, it felt good and I NEEDED it. Badly.
02/11- I take a job at a Pizza Parlor because I'm so bored and desperate to work. I didn't make my benefit amount, so I received the difference of each week (my benefit was 208/wk and I was getting about 138/wk)
04/11- The girl who's job I took comes back from maternity leave returns to work and I'm offered 1 shift a week, which I take, since A)I'd lose my benefits for refusing the offer of work and B)in the hopes that I'd eventually get more hours
06/11- I exhaust my initial claim benefits and go to Tier I. HOWEVER, I notice it's my old benefit amount of $188. I call and find out that I have to exhaust all 4 tiers of EUC benefits from my '09 claim before I can collect my EUC on my '10 claim.
10/11- I'm STILL working 1 day/wk at my employer and have consistently looked for work and can find nothing. I'm on Tier III of my EUC from '09. I'm told by Unemployment that I need to file a new claim, which I didn't understand because nobody had fired me or let me go so I didn't know who I was claiming against. I make the claim and I find out I'm eligible for a measly $90/wk, which I CAN'T live on. HOWEVER, I find out there's a loophole to where if you're on EUC and your new claim is worth either $100 less than your EUC or 25% less than your EUC, you can stay on EUC until it's exhausted.
01/12- I exhaust Tier IV of the '09 EUC, getting less than 1 full week of benefits. Unemployment sends me forms for my 2010 EUC Tier I, telling me to claim on the coming Tuesday. I go online to claim and the system says I have no weeks to claim. I call Unemployment to find out what was going on and they say that the 2nd week was my waiting week for my new claim. I explain to them that the paperwork I received for them stated otherwise, saying that I'm to begin 2010 EUC Tier I. A day later, I FINALLY get someone on the phone who has a clue. She says that the computer generated two claims for me, they can't tell which one is correct, and that she's never seen this situation before, her supervisor hasn't, and I said I had never received incorrect paperwork from Unemployment either. She said she sent an email out to the legal department and she'd get back to me as soon as she knew which one was correct.
2 Days Later- she calls and explains that unfortunately, the $90/wk is the correct one and what I'd be receiving. She tells me that I had I started Tier I on the 2010 EUC claim or even received $1 from it, then I'd be eligible because of the same law that got me the $188. But since I hadn't, I wouldn't get my 2010 EUC until I exhausted the new claim, which was going to take a while, since I was only receiving $90/wk. I did the math and since my claim had to be exhausted by March to receive my EUC, I realized I was never going to get it.
Oh and FYI- this ENTIRE time I've applied to jobs weekly, had been on 1st interviews, taken tests, 2nd interviews, final interviews, and not once got the job. And I have 17 years experience in my industry. Go figure.
02/12- Thank GOD Congress passes this Payroll Tax Reduction Extension AND the Federal EUC extension, so unless I FINALLY get a job I so desperately want (there's one I have a VERY good shot at- the manager is just waiting on someone to quit/get fired to bring me on), I will end up getting my 2010 EUC.
So Ajohns, as you can see, your situation is child's play! LOL You have absolutely nothing to worry about- you're doing nothing wrong and everything you described is completely on the up & up.
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