PA Unemployment Question (collect, extension, file, receive)
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If anyone has thoughts or answers on the following, please let me know. (I apologize for the long post -- I've tried to break things up to make the more readable. I'm guessing this situation may be something others have faced.)
Facts
1. I worked in a high-paying annual salary full-time job for years prior to 03/2009, when I was terminated.
2. From 03/2009 through 03/2010, I earned no wages and was on PA unemployment (first regular unemployment, then extended unemployment).
3. In early 04/2010, I took a full-time job in PA at a low hourly salary; I was terminated in early 09/2010 due to lack of work because the project ended.
4. In early 09/2010, I reopened the original unemployment claim and began again receiving the same benefits I was receiving prior to 04/2010.
5. In early 11/2010 I was hired for a full-time high-paying annual salary PA job; at that point, I had about $1,500 left in extended or emergency unemployment compensation.
6. I've just been terminated from this latest job (at the end of 01/2011) because the division I worked in was shut down.
Discussion
I'm afraid to file now for PA Unemployment now because I don't know what will happen. If I file now, my base year will be 10/2009 through 09/2010, and it won't include the high wages I collected in 11/2010 and 12/2010. My high quarter for wages will span 04/2010 through 06/2010, when I received only low hourly wages. There's also an issue as to whether I’d have enough credit weeks to be even eligible for unemployment -- but being ineligible doesn't scare me (if you’re ineligible, you can simply wait and reapply). Rather, I'm afraid I'd be deemed eligibleat a very low rate, and I'll be locked into this rate throughout my benefit year. (I have no idea if applicants get locked in like this, but this is my fear.)
Conversely, if I wait to file until 04/2011, the base year will span from 01/2010 through 12/2010, and the high quarter will include those very high Nov. and Dec. 2010 wages. But the risk here is that I'm passing up 7 weeks of potential payments, albeit at the very low rate mentioned above.
Now, if the base year shifts every quarter (i.e., I don't get locked in), it may make less sense to wait, because once 04/2011 rolls around, I'll start collecting the higher weekly benefit, and at least in the short term I'll be making some money. But the downside is that the total unemployment I receive (assuming I don't find another job soon) may be lower (see question "c" below).
Questions
a. Does waiting to file somehow detrimentally affect my status and/or eligibility?
b. Does the base year shift, as just mentioned in the previous paragraph?
c. If the base year does shift, does filing now still mean I'll be receiving potentially 7 out of my 26 weeks of benefits at a much lower rate than if I wait until April? (If that's the case, it might be worth it to simply hold out until April 2011.)
d. If I file now, is there any chance I'll still be able to get that remaining $1,500 mentioned in # 5 above?
Again, any thoughts on these issues? Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Last edited by JackSpoon; 02-09-2011 at 10:32 AM..
Reason: Grammar and spacing
a. Does waiting to file somehow detrimentally affect my status and/or eligibility?
No. Many people wait in order to capture more/higher earnings.
b. Does the base year shift, as just mentioned in the previous paragraph?
Not on a new claim. However, once the new claim state benefits are exhausted, EUC tier and EB claimants are subject to quarterly earnings reevaluation for a possible new (probably much lower) claim.
c. If the base year does shift, does filing now still mean I'll be receiving potentially 7 out of my 26 weeks of benefits at a much lower rate than if I wait until April? (If that's the case, it might be worth it to simply hold out until April 2011.)
Answered above.
d. If I file now, is there any chance I'll still be able to get that remaining $1,500 mentioned in # 5 above?
Yes. Your eligibility for the previous claim benefits ends December 31, 2011. Once you have exhausted the state benefits (26 weeks) from your second claim, you will revert to your remaining tier benefits from the first claim.
HOWEVER: You may be able to invoke HR4213 to defer payments on the second claim and collect what remains of your first claim benefits before beginning your new claim state benefits. Your state may argue your parent claim expired prior to enactment of HR4213 and, therefore, you are ineligible, but SoCal and Sweater Fish had great success in CA on a very old claims. See this: https://www.city-data.com/forum/17740702-post43.html
Thanks for your quick response. From what I'm reading, there are two options to maximize benefits owed to me:
1. Reopen the old claim right now, exhausting within the next few weeks the remaining balance on the Federal extension, and then filing a new claim at the beginning of April 2011, once the new base year takes effect.
2. Wait to file at all until April 2011, and attempt to invoke HR 4213 to defer state payment on this claim, collecting first what remains on the old Federal Extension.
If I'm misunderstanding you on this or there's anything I've left out, please let me know. (My main fear in contacting PA Unemployment right now has been the specter of having them say essentially, "Because you applied in this quarter, your base year is 10/2009 through 09/2010, and now you're stuck with very low weekly payments for the next benefit year, no matter how much you made in the last quarter of 2010.")
Last edited by JackSpoon; 02-09-2011 at 11:52 AM..
Reason: Forgot something
Thanks for your quick response. From what I'm reading, there are two options to maximize benefits owed to me:
1. Reopen the old claim right now, exhausting within the next few weeks the remaining balance on the Federal extension, and then filing a new claim at the beginning of April 2011, once the new base year takes effect.
PA will not reopen the old claim without first doing a monetary determination to see if you are eligible for a new claim. The reason for this is - your original claim benefit year expired March 2010. Since you have not been claiming at all and the 2009 claim has expired, PA will do this determination when you call them, not in April, and will base the benefit on the lower earnings.
2. Wait to file at all until April 2011, and attempt to invoke HR 4213 to defer state payment on this claim, collecting first what remains on the old Federal Extension.
YES. This is what you should do. You will open a new claim based on higher earnings, but defer it - hopefully - until 2009 claim is exhausted.
Because CA did this for SoCal and Sweater Fish, however, is no guarantee PA will do this for you. Each state handles these situations differently. But you know how to proceed if getting these few weeks' higher payments now is that critical. Sweater Fish email is perfect.
If I'm misunderstanding you on this or there's anything I've left out, please let me know. (My main fear in contacting PA Unemployment right now has been the specter of having them say essentially, "Because you applied in this quarter, your base year is 10/2009 through 09/2010, and now you're stuck with very low weekly payments for the next benefit year, no matter how much you made in the last quarter of 2010.")
True. That is the response you will get if you contact them now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuck91NYG
better off waiting until april then. Can you hold out that long?
Thanks, Ariadne22 and Tuck91NYG. It looks like I'll have to hold out till April.
It's too bad that PA doesn't have a hotline that can answer questions like this -- after all, I'm not trying to game the system but just really trying to get the payouts I'm entitled to. (And there's no email option like the one SoCal and Sweater Fish used.) Unfortunately, when you call, no matter whether you get the callback recording or a live person, they require you to identify yourself and that seems like a ticket to disaster. Do either of you have extensive experience with PA unemployment?
I only know what PA people have reported on this board. As a rule, either for PA or any other state, the agents will not assist you in determining the most advantageous way to handle your claim. They will answer questions if you know what to ask, but generally volunteer nothing. There is also a great variance in agent knowledge. Some are great. Others are unbelievable in their lack of knowledge and ability to confuse and muck up a claim.
For the most part, navigating the unemployment system is trial and error and claimants discover their errors after the fact. The state websites are helpful in a general sense, but don't warn anyone of the pitfalls you are inquiring about.
In short, the states are not in the business of happily handing out unemployment benefits and looking out for the best interests of the claimant. It is, in fact, exactly the opposite.
You are ahead of the game in your knowledge. You've obviously been reading this board.
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