Possible job offer while on UE, but the pay is terrible (apply, claim)

[MafHoney]

And I'm unsure that if it is offered to me that I would be able to turn it down.

I live in WA, and just had my UE appeal reversed in my favor - applied beginning of February, and I'm just now able to start receiving benefits. I had an interview last week with a vet clinic a few miles from me, and have a shadow/working interview this morning. It's a receptionist position so I can do the work with no issue as I've spent the past 15 years in retail and the past 10 of that in management. My issue is the pay. It naturally wasn't listed in the posting, and only came up during the interview. At my previous job I was making almost $22/hr. This position pays no more than $12/hr. After time there could be room for advancement to an assistant position, but that would be a long way off.

From looking at the FAQ's on the website, I found this for the reasons you'd be able to turn down a job offer:

You do not have to look for or accept work that is not suitable. Work is not suitable if:

• The work is not in line with your training and experience. (After a period of time, any job you are qualified to do may become suitable work.)
• You must join or resign from a labor union.
• The hours or working conditions are not as favorable as most other jobs in your occupation in your area.
• The work is farther than the usual commuting distance for people in your occupation in your area.
• The wages offered are lower than the wages common for that occupation in your area.
• The work is unreasonably dangerous.
• You cannot physically do the work.
• The work would offend your religious beliefs or moral conscience.

The bolded section to me says that 'yeah, you may be taking a 50% pay cut and be getting paid lower than your benefits are paying, but too bad!'. Looking up salaries for that type of position, $10-12 is the normal rate. Am I reading that correctly, or do I need to have another cup of coffee or two?



Like I said, who knows, I may not even be offered the position, but if I do, I don't want to put myself in a corner by denying it and then having to go through the whole interview process and waiting even longer to start receiving benefits.

[Kees]

$12 an hour anywhere in WA is bad... LOL

One thing I would do is refrain from applying to entry level positions. If you made $22 in management you shouldn't be applying for receptionist jobs that obviously are going to pay less.

It can be argued that if you apply it must be suitable for you since you applied.

I don't think you have anything to worry about though. A 50% cut in pay is clearly unsuitable and you can argue that if offered the job. I was in a similar position last year... I was willing to accept $1-$2 less... But not $10 less. The ESD rep told me that a large pay cut would be unsuitable. I ended up getting a job for $1 more. The difference is though I wasn't applying for entry level jobs.

I think you'll be fine... I'd just avoid applying for these jobs in the future. Only apply for what you are willing to take. You researched the pay so you should be able to guesstimate what a job will pay.

[MafHoney]

Thanls Kees . I should have mentioned that when I applied my benefits were still up in the air as I hadn't had my appeal hearing yet. So it was really more of a 'I may really just need to take the first thing offered if this gets denied'. Two days after the first interview I got the reversal decision.

Office work is what I'm looking for, as I'm completely burnt out on retail. I know they don't pay what I was making and I'm 100% ok with that, but a cap of $12, especially here in Seattle as you know, is absolutely nothing.

I'd imagine I'll have to go through an interview process after I say that I denied an interview or something along those lines?

[Kees]

What's your benefit? Mine was $570 a week so there was no need for me to even consider anything less than a $20 hr job offer. WA is one of the better states when it comes to unemployment.

I wouldn't say any more than I had to. Note that company as one of your 3 weekly job searches and leave it at that.

Declining interviews is not a refusal of work. I sent a blind resume to a job listing that didn't state location... Then had an interview request and found out the job was on the other side of Everett (I live in Renton) and there was NO WAY I would ever consider that commute so I declined... Noted it on my job search log and left it at that. You don't need to tell ESD you declined an interview. I wouldn't be telling potential employers I am on UI either.

[MafHoney]

Mine is the same that yours was. Like I said, it never would have been something I'd normally apply to, but I wasn't sure if I would be getting benefits or not. I just didn't want to screw it up by declining and then being denied because of it. I appreciate your help!!

[Chyvan]

Originally Posted by MafHoney

• The work is not in line with your training and experience. (After a period of time, any job you are qualified to do may become suitable work.)

You focused on the wrong bullet item. For an analogy, a hygenist could most certainly do the job of a dental assistant, but that would never be suitable for pretty much the entire time the person was on UI. You're in management, and you allowed to look for work about as good as you did before. That "after a period of time" is meant to scare you. In practice, I've never seen it happen. What usually happens is because of shear desperation the claimant accepts any job because of the uncertainty of being on UI.

You can chose to accept the $12/hr job if you want, but just know that you don't have to. Also, Kees made a good point, but I wanted to clarify it. It's possible that you shouldn't apply for jobs that you don't want, but in the case of a vague ad or you think that you're applying for a manager job at Burger King and get called to be a team member then it's ok to turn down the job and not have the fact that you applied for it count against you. I've been through the refusal of work thing twice. My work search was scrutinized. It was probably to make sure that I wasn't making a habit of applying to jobs that I didn't want as opposed to just applying to a job that sounded good only to find out it was a loser job.