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People here have been so very helpful and understanding I thought I would garner some opinions as to what my husband's next move should be. This is complicated; it also indicates how the UI system is not written to deal with the more unusual cases like my hubby's. Of course, he will make the ultimate decision as to what to do, but some imput from 3rd parties may help.
He has been an LPN working for contract agencies for the last 7 years or so. When his main agency lost a huge state contract back in 6/2009, he was literally thrust out into a job market that was collapsing in on itself. For a while he tried to stave off applying for UI but had to cave in due to the paucity of jobs.
Having exhausted all his benefits, he followed the usual route and now his max amount would be $261 (partial rate) down from over $600 during his initial claim. He received a notice for a phone fact-finding interview that said he may have quit one of his jobs (he's signed up with 7 agencies, believe it or not) without good reason and could lose his benefits.
First, this is not true; he didn't quit anyone. He simply switched his primary agency to a new one which pays more and has much more work for him. Apparently someone at UI misunderstood when his secondary agency called them and said he hasn't worked for them in a while. He tried to inform UI about the new agency but they NEVER answer the phones now and the snowstorm prevented him going to the office.
To make this short, he is considering dropping UI altogether. The new agency has been giving him from 3-4 days a week of work. In fact, last weekdue to a bit of overtime he had 32.5 hours. He only has to work 1 1/2 days to make more than his present UI benefit. He is already booked for the next 3 weekends minimum with them plus any additional days that might pop up. Also, the terrible stress of having to stay home and wait for that phone to ring 24/7, being unable to refuse work no matter what shift it happens to be etc. has impacted his health tremendously. In other words, he no longer has a life, cannot make plans to do anything etc. Most of this is due to the nature of being a nurse; a profession that works round the clock, seven days a week. He is a shell of himself.
My question is why should he stay on the UI roles for the much lower amount while he probably will no longer qualify anyway? He will be getting more work than in the past and have a lot of stress removed. If he continues the way things are, he'll be out on disability in no time as he may be developing quite severe health problems from the constant stress.
Sorry for writing all this, and thanks for reading. I'd just like to hear some opinions. This has of course impacted me greatly and to see him wearing himself down is heartbreaking. Many thanks and again, I didn't mean to write so much but it is getting harder and harder to cope with this ever increasing difficult situation.
If your husband is an employee receiving W-2's, then he cannot "drop" his UI coverage or opt out of the system. If he is truly an independent contractor on 1099's, then he's got a choice about the coverage ... but from your information, it's tough to determine if he's really "independent" for his services. Sounds to me like he works at the discretion of his agency as to when and where he provides his services, which would make him an employee ... especially when you've mentioned that some of his hours worked are "overtime" hours which come from employee workplace rules.
One thing to note: If your husband left one agency with on the basis that he'd found another situation with better pay, then that's "quitting for a better job opportunity". Whether or not the new situation actually was better isn't the point ... it's that your husband believed it to be so and left of his own free will to pursue that opportunity. By definition, that's quitting, and in many states, a disqualifier for benefits.
I'm sorry, I can't figure how to word things correctly, it's so complicated. He doesn't want to opt out of the unemployment system, he just wants to drop his present claim since at this point it's doing him more harm than good.
He didn't leave this agency; he's still on their roster and they still call him up. In fact, they called yesterday. So someone either at UI or the agency's human resources department didn't understand the situation. It's just that the new agency has much more work at the same facility that the old agency has been sending him to. In other words, he's got a new and better job. There are some nurses that are getting 40 hours a week there and he's hoping that will be the case for himself as well. He was lucky to get one day a week out of the other agency, if that. And some of the times the jobs never materialized. He would drive almost 1 hour only to be told "we don't need anyone". Last year he lost possibly a thousand or more dollars because the agency coordinator did not call the facility to check back and confirm that the job was indeed open.
The new agency has the primary contract for this particular facility. So it's only when they can't fill an opening that agency #2 is called. That's the point. When #1 calls him up, it's a sure thing there's an opening because they confirm it.
So to sum up, he didn't quit anyone. Actually who would stay with someone who gives you 1 day as opposed to 3 or more per week-most of the time the very same days and shifts? That would be cutting your own throat. The notice mentioned something like "quitting for a reason not related to the work", but in this case it's related to getting more work, more pay and with a view to getting off the UI roles.
And as far as full time work (regular) no one is going to hire my husband. It's age discrimination. We know that's the primary reason that none of the 40+ applications he filled out last year never even gave him an interview. But proving age discrimination is nearly impossible. We even checked with a few lawyers about this.
He just wants off the benefit roles. As 32 hours is considered full time in his profession, it is making no sense to go through the hassles he has been enduring. I hate to say it, but if they say he's ineligible for benefits, it would be a blessing in disguise. Both of us are like prisoners to the system at this point. We can't even go see a movie, visit relatives etc. for fear of being offered something. The UI system simply is not set up to deal with people who are in a 24/7 job and have multiple employers.
Thank you so much for your reply. We are literally at the end of our rope, and exhausted from fighting a battle that we will never be able to win.
(snip)
It's just that the new agency has much more work at the same facility that the old agency has been sending him to. In other words, he's got a new and better job.
So to sum up, he didn't quit anyone. Actually who would stay with someone who gives you 1 day as opposed to 3 or more per week-most of the time the very same days and shifts? That would be cutting your own throat. The notice mentioned something like "quitting for a reason not related to the work", but in this case it's related to getting more work, more pay and with a view to getting off the UI roles.
(sniP)
and exhausted from fighting a battle that we will never be able to win.
I'm sorry, but you're still missing the point. Your husband voluntarily left one employer for reasons not related to the job (as in working conditions, harrassment, etc); ie, he left because in your own words ... "he's got a new and better job". Again, by definition, that is the essence of quitting one employer and leaving for what he believed to be a better job. You've continued to confirm that's the situation by asking why he'd even want to stay with the old employer.
As to fighting a battle ... well, you don't have to apply for benefits. Your husband being on the rolls of the UI is at the hands of the state mandated employer requirements. If you are trying to get benefits, then having quit the most recent previous employer to get a better job may be a factor in not getting benefits.
Sorry, again I just can't seem to think clearly. By "fighting the battle" I meant him actually getting a full time job with benefits. Even his VA unemployment counselor told him this was probably the reason for all the disappointments and even suggested that getting further training (i.e., getting an RN) won't help because by the time he obtains that he'll be even older and even less likely that anyone will hire him.
If the UI examiner tells him he no longer qualifies, strange as it sounds, it will be one huge RELIEF for us. We can then move on and attempt to regain some semblance of sanity.
Thanks again!
P.S. Isn't it somewhat hypocritical to punish (if that is the word) a person for getting a better job? The whole point is to better your financial situation and get off the rolls. Sounds confusing for me but then again my addled brain is not what it used to be. I appreciate you trying to help me understand things.
Getting his RN at this time won't help BTW, there are thousands of newly minted RN's who can't get jobs. Check out allnurses forum. He also might get some leads for a full time work with benefits.
You don't say how long he's been an LPN or what area's he's worked in other than agency work. Also, I just checked NJ on Indeed and they had pages of jobs for LPN's...he might have to work in an area that he'd prefer not to, like LTC or home health but there are LPN jobs in NJ. The pay and hours might not be the best but it beats unemployment.
I'm an LPN with 19 years of experience, but I let my license lapse in GA and I can't get re-licensed in this state, I still maintain my license in OH and I'd move in a heartbeat if I could sell my place. I really don't want to be the nurse going down the hall at midnight with a tray of pills but I would gladly do it just to get a job. My area of expertise is clinic work in Family Practice and Peds. But I'd take anything to get work.
My husband has had over 30+ years of experience in nursing. He has done: long term care, home care (trach/vent), hospice, psychiatric, criminal justice system (including criminally insane), developmental disabled etc. He has applied to jobs on Indeed, Career.com, Monster--any such websites that we are now all too familiar with. As a contract nurse, he's worked at facilities that had said they would love to hire him full time but if you work there as a contract nurse they weren't able to take him on as they own employee.
You can imagine how it must feel for him to sit at the PC until I drag him off around 7 at night, filling in apps and faxing resumes etc., sometimes five in a day. He has even applied to the same facilities multiple times and months later they again advertise the same jobs on the internet.
He has applied from Princeton all the way down to Cape May. Farther north and it is impossible to afford to rent even a room! My disability also makes it hard for me to get around so living in a more quiet, less congested area is sort of a must. We even thought maybe someone was giving him a bad reference so we hired an investigative agency to look into it and there is nothing amiss. Most counselors he has spoken to say it is his age--he is 62 yrs. old.
He even applied to a rehab center he worked in back in the '80s. They had just put up a new ad saying they need LPNs full-time for night shift on their psych unit. So he faxed his resume as instructed and the very next day someone from there calls and says we aren't hiring LPNs at this time! Angry and frustrated, he asked them "then why do you advertise that you do?" and got the phone slammed down.
Here's a good one - one agency that he interviewed for and was "hired" keeps advertising almost daily on Craigslist for LPNs with the exact experience that he has, esp. with trach/vent. Most of these jobs are full time. Every time he calls about the ads he is told "we only have female patients and they don't want males to take care of them". They also said "we only hire female LPNs". The areas they advertise cover 5 counties! Now, as we know statistically, and as they age, males tend to become ill and require care at a higher percentage than females, so we know they are just giving him a poor excuse.
We can't move out of state just now as my mother is quite elderly and not in the best of health. But to tell the truth, if that weren't an issue, we would leave NJ in a heartbeat because bottom line, the cost of living here is simply outrageous. We found an area in Kentucky where, if he took early SS, we could live comfortably and he could work part time up to almost $15,000 without being penalized by SS. But at present, it's not an option. Besides, retiring now is the last thing he wants to do. He is very eager to continue in his profession. His self-esteem is at rock bottom and getting lower. And the depression--I don't even want to go there.
I'm a Jersey girl, born and bred and love my state. It is unique. But it is pricing itself out of reach for so many people, which is why there is an exodus away from here.
Again, I apologize for the long post. Just wanted to give you the full picture. Bottom line is that even with so many years of experience and dedication, no one seems to want you the older you get. And having used up all his UI benefits and now on whatever extended Tier or whatever they call it, the stress is really taking its toll.
Simplest thing to do would be to stop filing for benefits and lose the $1000 mo. Sometimes the money is not worth the stress - especially if he gets sick.
Simplest thing to do would be to stop filing for benefits and lose the $1000 mo. Sometimes the money is not worth the stress - especially if he gets sick.
When hubby came home last night we spoke again about this issue and I read him the replies here. He's going to explain to the UI interviewer that it now looks like the new agency will be providing him with between 32-40 hrs. a week. This constitutes full-time and thus he will no longer be eligible anyway.
And the other good thing is that he can now start to put more money into his UI account in case this situation happens again. His last agency assignment at one facility lasted 3 1/2 years. Let's hope this one will do likewise.
So glad for the replies. I've never been disappointed when writing on this forum, and this thread has been no exemption. Many heartfelt thanks!
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