unemployment scamming

[smalltownclerk]

Wow, I'm surprised you got through to the unemployment office. I keep hearing horror stories about how people (at least in Michigan) try calling repeatedly, and have no luck getting through because the line is busy *all the time*.

BTW, good for you for calling her in!

[XCashier]

I would have called the unemployment office back and told her she screamed at you and told you she had to find another job to get fired from so she could get benifits again and has no real intention of working, just milking the system.
See if she gets unemployment after her next "job."

Yes to this! This scammer needs to be taught a lesson, taught so she learns it. She's already got a red flag on her account now, let's see how deep a hole she can dig herself into.

Freeatlast, best of luck. I sincerely hope you get that job.

[freeatlast]

:

Freeatlast, best of luck. I sincerely hope you get that job.

Thanks - at this point I need all the well wishes I can get. Also - forgot to add before that the OP definitely did the right thing. Unemployment benefits should most definitely go to those who need them, not to lazy people who always seem to be willing to work harder to get paid not to work. I have a SIL like that. She has spent years trying to get disability because she had back surgery. She was successful and now gets a minimal amount of disability. Funny thing though - her back is so bad that she can't work, but it sure doesn't keep her from bowling several nights a week. When I was experiencing back problems, I had to pay for a sub for my spot in the bowling league because it really aggravated my back.

[JLRodgers]

This made me wonder.... does unemployment in places say you have to take a job that's drastically under your old pay rate?

I ask as about 8 years ago when I went from making the equilvant of $22.50/hr to being unemployed (entire factory shut down) -- I was told that I didn't even have to apply to jobs drastically under that, nor was I expected to accept any; some of it could've been min.wage jobs were paying less than I was making on unemployment - so being "employed" would've been a pay cut (barely, but still).

[Nyoibo]

That's the exact reason I haven't been to enthusiastic about finding work, with study I can only work flexible casual, unless I'm getting more than 15 hours a week at $18 an hour I get more on the dole.

[Eric the Grey]

I find it interesting that I never once had to send in any confirmation that I'd send out applications or resume's when I was on unemployment. I did everything via the internet, and called in the CUB line once a week to push buttons to confirm that I was looking (and I was!), but that was all.

I was only out of work for roughly 5 months, but that was more than enough. Some people are just plain lazy. Don't worry about what you did. Serves her right.



Eric the Grey

[Luna Baby]

/\ /\ /\
This.

I was on employment once, rather briefly. I got one check for a partial week.

What can I say? I really was looking for a job, and was very fortunate to find one so quickly. So out of the thousands of dollars I've paid into the system over the years, I got back twenty eight bucks and change. Eh, it's good to know it's there if I need it, but here's hoping I never will again.

I can't speak for other states, but here in Kentucky, the employers pay the "unemployment tax" based on payroll with a max amount of payroll on each employee being "taxable". Employees in Kentucky do NOT pay the tax and if an employer is caught withholding from an employee's check for this, they can get in big trouble.

Aside, I was on unemployment benefits from February 2008 through November 2008. Here, you do have to apply for jobs and report to the career center every 6 weeks for an evaluation. There they want you to list who/when/where you applied and the result. If you didn't report in when you were told, your benefits were cut off until you did. I was also able to continue part of my benefits once I obtained a part time job-I simply had to report when I called in my check request the number of hours I was working and the gross amount of pay I earned. Once I went full time, the benefits stopped. I sometimes felt guilty continuing to draw a partial benefit while employed part time, but our bills (utilities and housing only since we have no car/credit card debt) were based on our previous income and there was just no way I could buy groceries, pay the light bill, etc. Our water was even cut off once because I had to wait to pay the bill until I got my check even though I paid it on the last day allowed to pay. It was just something that had to be done. Now I've just got to figure out how to continue paying for health insurance since that was included in my previous salary and now my hourly wage is considerably less even if they were to pay the full amount of my h.i. premiums. Good thing I work for a doctor, huh?

[Becks]

I find it interesting that I never once had to send in any confirmation that I'd send out applications or resume's when I was on unemployment.

Same here.

I kept a record of every place I applied at, the date I applied there, EVERYTHING--just in case.

[JLRodgers]

I find it interesting that I never once had to send in any confirmation that I'd send out applications or resume's when I was on unemployment.

That's how mine was (although I too kept records [the few there were]), but if there were no jobs paying anywhere near my last job/etc - I was considered "looking for work" even if I had applied to no positions.

Now at one time a bit before that (maybe it was because it was in a different state [I live on the border of two states - it's common for people to work in either]).... we had to fill out a form that said who we applied with, what the pay was, what the address was, who we talked to -- but we didn't need a signature.
I hated those as I asked once: you realize we only have 10 businesses in town that even hire employees (that aren't specialized occupations requiring certifications)? To which I was told "we don't even pay attention to it"


But yeah... if they require a signature from a person at the business (other than being stupid as people look online in other towns these days....), they're probably trying to catch people for fraud, and would be hoping/expecting people to call in if it's discovered.

[Evil Queen]

I think you did the right thing too.

[Crosshair]

Yes to this! This scammer needs to be taught a lesson, taught so she learns it. She's already got a red flag on her account now, let's see how deep a hole she can dig herself into.

Completely agree.

[PuckishOne]

This made me wonder.... does unemployment in places say you have to take a job that's drastically under your old pay rate?

Speaking only for my own state (Washington)...yes and no. Theoretically you are only looking for "suitable" work, e.g. that which matches your education and skills and pays the market rate for your location/profession. This also assumes that your state's employment security department follows up on your progress which, as far as I have seen here, happens only once in a very great while, and then pretty much at random. Furthermore, if you apply for a job and log it on your record, you're obligated to accept that job if you're offered it. So while you're not going to be forced to take a job that's drastically less pay than you made before, if you are the unlucky soul whose application history gets checked out, and they want to know why you didn't accept that job, you could be made to have to repay your benefits.

Basically the lesson in that is to be careful what you apply for...at least I think it is.

[Dawnchaser]

Ah. unemployment. The thing that every scammer in town is able to get and keep for months without a problem...and yet the one time I need it I have to struggle to get and keep it.

I app, the website says I am approved a few days later. Turns out that just means my claim is submitted. I have to wait 2 weeks for approval.

2 weeks later, nothing. I call and they say they are swamped and it will be 3 weeks.

3 weeks pass and I call. Oh sorry, we're still swamped...it'll be 4 weeks.

4 weeks pass and amazingly I am approved. I get the back pay I've been waiting for to pay bills with.

I start working on some self employment ideas. I make a grand total of $30 one week and report it, as I am supposed to. Next week, I make nothing. Now we have a problem. Now I'm flagged and they want to know why I had money one week and not the next. So I call and explain...now I have to wait for paperwork to arrive in the mail...and fill it out explaining AGAIN my situation...and I can expect to wait another fucking 3-4 weeks for this to all be straightened out and for me to get unemployment again.

I would've been much better off just not reporting it at all. It wasn't enough money to interfere with my benefits anyway.

It utterly blows my mind that they are seriously fucking with my life over $30 when i was trying to be honest and do everything correctly, and do what I can to make money while I look for a real job........meanwhile most of the people I know on unemployment simply view it as a vacation they are entitled to. Really discourages a person from making an effort.

[Gerrinson]

meanwhile most of the people I know on unemployment simply view it as a vacation they are entitled to. Really discourages a person from making an effort.

I'm afraid I'm a bit guilty of the above. Though the people at unemployement told me to do it. My temp to perm position became temp to unemployment, instead. The job ended at the beginning of June, and the unemployment office got me down and approved for financial aid to go back to school while collecting benefits. Of course, the semester I was approved for didn't start until September. They told me to not take a job over the summer because then I could lose my financial aid. Instead, they told me to just think of it as a paid vacation and call in once a week to say I'd looked for jobs but didn't get one. I took them at their word and spent 4 - 5 days a week at Six Flags, courtesy of my $50 season pass. Good times.

Still I felt like a hell of a mooch. And I didn't touch unemployment after the lay off at the paper mill. I lived off my savings instead, so now it's kind of like I made up for being a mooch.

Sorry to hear about your problems. Just goes to show, being honest can really do you in when dealing with the government.

[Victoria J]

I think you did the right thing. She pretty much forged your signature and at that point I think pretty much anything (legal) is fair enough.

I have a job where one of the things I do is help people get the benefit they're entitled to - so I tend to be pretty much on the side of claimants. Not people like her though.

I also have claimed unemployment for quite a long period - looking back I think I could have claimed as ill instead and admitted I had a serious problem with depression. On the other hand being pushed to look for work, and later to volunteer which got me into my current line of work, was really good for me. I tend to have a lot of sympathy for those who are maybe borderline between disability benefits and being long term unemployed because of this.

I've also been working and paying tax ever since. And I'm proud of that fact.

I do remember once deliberately failing a job interview the unemployment people sent me to. I was just about to start university in a different area. I'd been claiming unemployment benefit and genuinely looking hard for work, and then when I got my place at university I was still looking hard (but not finding) work I could do that was temporary. 1 month before I was due to start the unemployment people made me go to an interview for something where the people would have been training me up, when I objected they said not to say anything. At the interview I did end up explaining that I would be able to take the job for less than a month, and that the unemployment people had told me to lie.

They couldn't actually stop my benefit for telling the truth though...

Victoria J