Big issues with NJ unemployment This week (receive, claim, payment)

[Tristateelectrician]

It all started when I went to claim my first two weeks of tier 3. Njuifile.net would not let me login. It told me that I couldnt process my claim online and that I would have to call in. Already knowing that if I filed by phone I would be stuck in limbo because filing on the phone would have told me that my claim could not be processed and I would have had to talk to a rep. So I contacted someone I know at unemployment. They looked into it for ,e and couldn't see why I had this issue. They put the claim through no problems....

Well direct deposit shows up everything looks great. Yesterday I get two stubs from unemployment. One that shows a totally different claim and one that shows the current balance on my tier 3. I figure there was a screw up and one was a mistake. Well in the mail today I get a determination of benefits worksheet. It has the earnings I made in the quarter from July 1st 2009 until September 2009 ( my initial claim date is 7/19/09) I made 7000k from July 1st 2009 to July 19th 2009 and 580 on 2 days of work just a few weeks after that. No other w-2 earnings since. So that makes me ineligible for a new claim. But how in the heck did a new claim get opened as a mistake?

The problem is I made 1500 as a 1099. Keeping in mind that 1500 isnt calculated for benefits since its not w-2 wages so the 580 i made after i opened my claim is Far less than the required 4x584 I would have needed to be eligible for a new claim. And the problem is I reauthorized my claim in july. This just came today. So I shot down to my local office and the lady said oh that's just an update and looked up my account and said I'm still on my 2009 claim. How does this happen?

[Ariadne22]

laffing - the mysteries of the unemployment computer database. Those earnings that took place the third quarter of 09 in July before you filed for unemployment somehow impacted the system. I just reached the end of my first BY 9/13, continued to claim and receive benefits, and got a letter the end of September stating they would not process my application for a new claim/denial until October which is AFTER my benefit year expired. They kept paying me, however. Then a week later I got a letter that said I was approved for Tier 2 (my payments are stretched out because of a pension payment I receive so it takes longer to complete a tier).

So, I think beginning a benefit year in the middle of a month, especially at the end or start of a quarter, causes them problems. All of this is just a wild guess, of course.

But knowing how wages can be excluded and included when calculating benefits, I decided long ago that in future I would delay filing for benefits until after the end of a quarter. Severance and vacation was paid in September and, although I reported those items, it did worry me when my benefit year end came around that they would somehow be factored into a new claim. So far no problems, but I'm not ruling anything out.

[Tristateelectrician]

Yeah I was perplexed. Just hoping that in two weeks the process is back to normal.