Unemployment

With no major projects to report upon (all the jobs have been moved to India), let's see what life is like in the unemployment office. Not good, apparently.

"Hi "Tom":

I was hoping you might start a conversation about people's experiences with unemployment now that a lot of us are unemployed.

I would like to report that when I recently filed for unemployment, I was awarded $280.00 per week based on the New York State Department of Labor not having accounted for more than half of my wages over the past year. I don't know if the fault lies with the government, or with the legal temporary staffing agencies not reporting my wages correctly and timely. I have appealed that decision to the Dept. of Labor by providing proof of income/wages from my paystubs. I am not sure how long it will be before the mistake is corrected and my unemployment increased to the proper amount.

To make things worse, today I find out that my last employer-- a temporary agency known as ------, is challenging my unemployment claim, claiming I was discharged as opposed to laid off due to lack of work. I just can't believe it!! My employment which was supposed to last about a week ended after three days because I had done such a good job for the client. Now, the person at the agency who filled out the form for the Dept. of Labor tells me that it is "not fair" for her company to have to pay for my unemployment insurance when I only worked about three days for them and that it is a lot of money for them to have to pay out. Has anyone else had this problem? Now that times are tough for everyone (employer and employee), is this what we should expect from the agencies who benefitted from our labor during good times? Needless to say, I am appalled and interested to hear if this has become common practice.

I would also like to hear about people's experiences trying to get through to the Department of Labor to get answers to their questions and with their claims being properly handled. Has anyone had difficulty applying for emergency extended benefits?"