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I have a problem,
Forum readers can you give me advice on what to expect or what may happen?
Was let go from employer Aug 15 after being employed three years, the company is going in a different direction and was making a cut to my position. In NJ filed and was given full unemployment benefits to last the full term. An employee from the previous office put me in contact with a family member looking for a position to fill in a NYC office and was offered a job there. I accepted and went through the protocols of being hired, for this new office and was grateful for the opportunity to find a job within two weeks of being let go. I was in the position so fast that my unemployment was never received. The unemployment office was looking to fill my $$ by sending the first check to a BOA credit card. This card was used during my leave of absence for a disability months prior, after that was complete I destroyed the card thinking that was the smart thing to do.
Sadly I found out the unemployment money was transferred to that destroyed card. Once that was realized they had to send a new card two week process. In the mean time I began my first days at the NYC office, I made a big mistake taking the job and didn't realize the commute of two hours in and two hours out every day was going to be the normal day. i regrettably told them i cannot do this after four days, and decide to leave that firm. I asked them to not pay my time for the hours worked there but they insisted on they cannot do that and mailed a check.
I then received a deposit into the BOA card and another a week later, to make matters worse they do not know of my short stint to the NYC office.
I attempted to collect this past weekend and was asked to give an explanation of what happened the those 4 days. They need me to speak with a unemployment officer and are sending me a snail mail package on setting up a meeting.
What do i do next ?
Am I going to be penalized for my actions?
Can anyone reading this give me some advice?
Penalized, you'd be so lucky. I think you're going to get shut off. In most states you are required to get information about a job and either accept or reject. It's a rare state that lets you give the job a try, and then decide there is something wrong with it.
I guess you can bring up the commute, but you have to have a good reason why you didn't know beforehand how long it was going to take you.
I don't know what to tell you. I think you quit, but maybe with only 4 days on the job, NJ will be forgiving and treat it as a refusal because it was too far. I haven't seen anything in NJ rules that would allow such a thing, but if you say things just right, you might be able to get a deputy to conclude that you refused the job because of the commute (this would be an error, but not the first time someone has benefited from an agency mistake) or that you quit because the work location wasn't accurately described to you, but it's really iffy.
In an interview or a phone interview how can a refusal be correctly asked for?
Taken into account that I am a new person to the whole unemployment process and was unsure how it really works or would it better to state that i was in panic mode and did not want to be taken to the woodshed by being in debt and unable to pay bills.
Hopefully, someone from NJ that's lived this situation weighs in. I'm at a loss. The percentages say even if you worked there a minute, and walked out for the best of reasons, it's still requires a quit with "good cause," and there wasn't good cause in my opinion because you knew the job was in NY. You could have absolutely refused it as unsuitable, but once you started, it became suitable to you or you'd have refused it. Not knowing how the system works hasn't gotten people much sympathy from the people at the UI office. It's just a shame you didn't come on here before you worked that first minute. You could have even showed up for work, and on your first day said, "that commute was a killer, I'm not doing this job, and going back home," and even that would have been treated a refusal.
I then received a deposit into the BOA card and another a week later, to make matters worse they do not know of my short stint to the NYC office.
I attempted to collect this past weekend and was asked to give an explanation of what happened the those 4 days.
Not only do you have a problem, you have a MAJOR problem. NJ calls it unemployment insurance FRAUD.
When you certify each week, you are stating under penalty of law that the information is true and accurate. If you did not tell them the week of or the week following that you worked, and if you attempted to keep certifying without disclosing your brief work, they consider that fraud. They will penalize youi a full year of benefits for failing to disclose and they mayl penalize you another full year for continuing to claim without disclosing the work. You may be hit with a full 2 years of a penalty.
If I were you I would start saving every penny and hit the job hunting trail NOW. Next work on some sad sack sorry arse pittafull way of explaining your stupidity and pray to god that they feel sorry for you and see this as nothing but a dumb arse mistake.
A four day mistake of accepting a job to support my family is now going to strike me as a fraud, I have yet to speak to anyone about this from the state of NJ, but are they that harsh about a change of course that would impact no one but me and my family.
I understand there's a system in place but it can it be that strict when applying for an out of state job?
Rabritta is right, though went about the post a bit more crass than I will LoL --
Chances are you have lost benefits. You should have reported that, and you will get an overpayment notice for those days you lied about.
You need to get job hunting NOW, as you most likely will not be getting benefits after this. You need to ADMIT what you did by claiming while you worked a full week (4 days is a week in most UI eyes) -- that MAY save you from a bigger penalty.
Call immediately, and do not claim at all anymore. They are all right here -- chances are you get no more money.
He can continue to claim. If it's seen as a good cause quit or a legit refusal of work, they'll count those weeks, but report your earnings, and don't be sneaky. I just don't know if it'll work out for you, but if you get lucky, you should come back and tell us what you've learned.
A four day mistake of accepting a job to support my family is now going to strike me as a fraud, I have yet to speak to anyone about this from the state of NJ, but are they that harsh about a change of course that would impact no one but me and my family.
I understand there's a system in place but it can it be that strict when applying for an out of state job?
Failure to report earnings if you claimed the same week you worked is fraud. You report gross earnngs - hours x rate of pay when you work - not when you are paid. If you didn't claim benefits for that week, that issue is off the table.
NJ will, however, want to know why you are no longer working. A 2-hr commute one-way, even in NJ, is unreasonable. However, you accepted the job knowing about that commute. Quitting after four days because the commute made the job unsuitable may mitigate NJ's issue with that quit. I tend to think NJ will let you off the hook on this.
A four day mistake of accepting a job to support my family is now going to strike me as a fraud, I have yet to speak to anyone about this from the state of NJ, but are they that harsh about a change of course that would impact no one but me and my family.
I understand there's a system in place but it can it be that strict when applying for an out of state job?
This has nothing to do with accepting work to support your family, NJ understands that this happens, the Unemployment regulations account for this, many people do it every day.
The issue is that you worked, yet you lied to unemployment when you certified and said you did not work. That is Unemployment Benefit Fraud. If you certified that you did not work but you actually did work, what do you call it?
At best they would be shaking their finger at you had you worked and claimed the following week when paid. That could easily been mistaken as confusion over not understanding if worked or paid was the reporting requirement. However if you just went on claiming as if nothing happen without any attempt to report that work, NJ is going to slap you silly with a heavy penalty for not reporting it.
As harsh as it sounds, bet if you polled the citizens of NJ and asked them if a person who deliberately concealed paid work while collecting unemployment should be given a chance to continue collecting, the answer would be a resounding majority saying fine. I bet many would also want to see jail time.
You can salvage this by falling on your sword and begging for understanding and maybe a sympathetic ALJ will reduce the penalty. So answer the notice and plead ignorance of everything. Make up how you were abused as a child. Explain how the commute had just exhausted you to all ends. See a memory lost doctor for a consultation. Cry domestic abuse. Do whatever you need to do in order to make an ALJ think you are not a criminal but just a dope. It’s better to be labeled a dope and collect than be labeled a fraud and get nothing.
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