Should I continue to claim jobless benefits during 5 week temp assignment? (collect, file)
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I created my City Data Account for this question, please help me!
As I mention in my user name I am jobless and broke. Currently at week 14 of my jobless (unemployment) benefits. Collecting $359 a week in DC unemployment benefits. A temp agency has offered me a job paying $26 an hour with a 40 hour work week, for 5 weeks. So my gross pay for this assignment will be $1040 a week, much higher than my unemployment insurance.
Once I start the TEMP job next week, should I indicate to the unemployment office that I have returned to full time work? What is there definition of full time work? Yes I expect to work forty hours a week but the job is temporary and they tell me it is five week MAXIMUM, no more. So it is not like going back to a full time permanent position. I would be honest and tell them I earned the $1000 that week but continue to claim benefits realizing I would not be paid that week but my claim would stay active because I could be let go at any time.
Maybe I should tell them I am working but continue to claim because the job could end anytime (again, it is 5 weeks MAXIMUM with no minimum.)
If I stop submitting an unemployment claim during the time I work this temporary job and then the job ends and I want to collect jobless benefits again, what will happen? Will I still get my $359 a week, like before. (The job will end during my same benefits year) What if the temporary agency has a new job for me but something nasty, like data entry, paying $8.00 an hour, paying less than what I made in benefits and previous jobs, will I have to accept it? Maybe I am opening a can of worms.
I checked the information online and they did not answer this question. HELP!
I would be honest and tell them I earned the $1000 that week but continue to claim benefits realizing I would not be paid that week but my claim would stay active because I could be let go at any time.
Actually, your claim won't remain active. In most states, after one week of no payment, two at the most, the claim is closed. You won't be allowed to claim beyond two weeks most likely. You could call DC to alert them to this 5-week assignment. They may "suspend" your claim, rather than close it, although I think the terms are a distinction without a difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jobless and Broke
Maybe I should tell them I am working but continue to claim because the job could end anytime (again, it is 5 weeks MAXIMUM with no minimum.)
If I stop submitting an unemployment claim during the time I work this temporary job and then the job ends and I want to collect jobless benefits again, what will happen? Will I still get my $359 a week, like before. (The job will end during my same benefits year) What if the temporary agency has a new job for me but something nasty, like data entry, paying $8.00 an hour, paying less than what I made in benefits and previous jobs, will I have to accept it? Maybe I am opening a can of worms.
When this temporary job ends, you call DC to reopen the claim. They will contact the temp agency about why you are no longer working. As long as it isn't deemed a quit, your benefits should resume. The benefit amount will not change.
If the temp agency offers you an $8/hr job, depending on how your state views "suitable employment", you will or will not be required to accept it. Try to do some research on how DC views suitable employment and under what circumstances you can turn down the job offer. CA website is quite specific in this, other states not so much.
Also, let the temp agency know your parameters for working. Then they won't be calling you with low-paying jobs out of your field. The fact that this job pays $25/hr. sets you up pretty well for denying other positions not comparable.
I'm in the same situation. I just accepted a two week assignment and will not file for UI this week nor next week. I will just re open the claim, the Monday after I am done with this assignment. I've done this before and all they do is check the agency and make sure there is no issue, which there should not be.
A few months ago, I made the big mistake of not re opening the claim at all during the week I wanted to have benefits, thinking all I needed to do was call in my claim as done previously . So I completely missed my first week of being able to collect when I realized I had to RE OPEN the claim.
I wont do that this time. Immediately re open the claim on Monday when the job ends 2 days prior on Friday.
You need more clarification from your friend. I suspect it would have taken a month to get paid whether the friend kept filing or reopened the claim. No matter what the state does with your ui claim, a temp job is still a job and the separation issue needs to be determined before you are considered eligible for benefits.
Good advice but a friend told me that once the temp job ended it took a month to renew his jobless benefits.
Have no idea about your friend, but it didn't take me a month. Had I fully read the instructions and had re opened my claim the first week I was not working, I would have received a pay check at the the end of the following week as they would have used that first week to verify things, then I would have filed normally by Sunday and received the check by mid to end of week. I belive I would do this weekly for the first two weeks, then return to bi weekly. Maybe your friends state goes bi weekly first, instead of letting file weekly for the first two weeks like mine does.
Each state is different in how it processes reopened claims. Question is - in from which state is OP drawing benefits - and from which state is OP's friend drawing benefits? If they are one and the same, then the friend's experience may have some relevance.
Reopening a claim can be delayed depending a state's policy on checking with former employer, how long it takes that employer to respond, what that employer actually says, how long it takes the state to interview the claimant. Many variables.
Last edited by Ariadne22; 07-27-2012 at 11:42 AM..
I am recently unemployed and drawing my unemployment benfites. However, I was offered a Job and went on orientation but have decided not to take the job due the hours they're needing me to work. Will this affect my benefits? I am in the state of Missouri?
If this employer reports your refusal of work to Missouri, Missouri will halt your benefits pending an investigation. Hopefully, your inability to work the hours required is for an acceptable reason. Why don't the hours work for you?
Just started a new job training program that last for two weeks with no pay till you pass everything, which will take a month to to retrieve. Would it be wise to stop claiming my benefits or continue.
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