MA Resuming EUC after temp work? (collect, file, receive, claim)

[esselle]

I was laid off from my previous employer in July 2011. Due to being unable to work (medical issue which prevented me from "like duties") I did not file my initial UI claim until October 2011. I looked for work unsuccessfully and was a few weeks into Tier 1 EUC when I finally found a temporary position.

The job itself isn't through an agency and I do not receive benefits. I pay out of pocket for private insurance. My pay rate is the same as my previous job (with benefits) but I have a feeling if a permanent offer were to be made, I'd be asked to take a considerable pay cut as in the interview, their stated highest rate of pay was $1 more than I made and I really had to push that while I was flexible, I could not accept less than X amount.

I know the usual reason to accept a pay cut should a permanent job be offered is because you'd be getting benefits but their benefits are actually pretty awful. No 401(k), limited paid time off that they have a ton of blackout dates on, two days of sick time a year and some holidays. They offer to pay 40% of an individual health insurance policy but they don't specify if you can choose the carrier/policy or not. There is no HR to speak with. My manager has no idea regarding the health insurance and nobody I have spoken with at work has health insurance through them so I'm very much in the dark in terms of that. Still, a permanent job is far more security than a temporary job and is a "guaranteed paycheck" so to speak.

That all being said, I know my manager is pleased with my performance though I've not yet been offered a permanent position but my contract ends at the end of June.

If I were to not get the permanent offer, would I reopen my original claim and still be on EUC or would I have to file a completely new claim? I've been at the temporary position for 8 weeks, it will be 10 weeks when my contract is up. I only had used two weeks of EUC out of a possible 20 before I closed my initial claim.

[thebunny]

You would reopen the original claim until the BYE in July. At the BYE, the wages in the new claim period would be evaluated and depending on the amount of a new claim it would either be opened and you would start on a new claim or you would go back to the old claim.

[esselle]

Would the BYE be October since I didn't actually start the claim until then? That's really the part that's confusing me - I don't know if they "count" since the time I was laid off (end of July) or the time I applied. I didn't get "backpay" or anything like that, I legitimately couldn't work until the end of September/beginning of October when I started the claim and didn't feel right collecting until I could. My initial claim was for 26 weeks and my last payment date was 43. I started on the EUC for the next week for two weeks before my current job.

[Ariadne22]

Your bye is one year from the date you were granted benefits, not from when you first received benefits. Check your papework or online claim info. You bye is given there.

[thebunny]

I think I may have misread...if you started the claim when you were laid off in July but didn't collect until October, the BYE is July. This is how i initially read it. If you didn't actually start the claim until October, then the BYE is Oct.

[esselle]

Just a quick note - I called the EUC line to resume my claim on Tuesday. I was not offered a permanent position at the place I was working. They asked me why and said "if we were to contact them, what would they say?" and I said "the contract ended" because it did.

I did ask why they needed the info (it honestly took the CSR longer to find the employer in the system than it did for her to ask me the questions) and she said they needed to know what my wages were. I guess the employer hadn't reported them yet.

I also had a letter in the mail about a mandatory EUC seminar that I had to attend by the beginning of June. I'd called and spoken to two people in two different departments informing them that I was currently working and I couldn't take time off to attend a seminar. I was excluded from it but asked if I were to not get a permanent offer, would I get another notice. I was told "maybe" (and I'm okay with that) but the EUC seminar guy said that they were a newer department just set up and they were "still working everything out".

Back to re-opening the claim, I was told it would take 10 days for me to find out if they'd re-open it. I don't know if they will call the place I was working at. My only concern is that the president of the company might think that I'm trying to claim *against them* inand make something up -- it is a very small company and I really really don't want to have to go through the experience of having to go to a mediator or something. The CSR did say I wouldn't have to refile until October, so my BYE is October as I thought it might be.