Ever since I was laid off from work at PwC last December, I have had to submit an unemployment claim every two weeks, and had to go to the unemployment office once a month to drop off a job search log showing the nine jobs that I have applied for over the previous month. While there, I also was to sign a waiver for an extension of my TAA/TRA benefits for the following month. Today, when I do my routine meeting with my new TAA coordinator (he was appointed to me last month), he looks at me surprised and says that he does not think that I qualify for any more waivers. Of course, I was pretty much like WTF???
It appeared that I was not supposed to be signing these waivers until my regular unemployment benefits ran out… and even when those run out, I have the option to apply for an extension to my regular unemployment benefits. Luckily, he was able to talk with the supervisor and find a possible alternative way for me to continue with the waivers. Hopefully, the unemployment folks up in Tallahassee approve of the change.
::crosses fingers::
On top of that mess, my coordinator tells me that I might get audited from the unemployment office because I do not have enough job applications for each month. Turns out, I am supposed to be submitting 5 applications a WEEK instead of 9 applications a MONTH… as I was informed when I first started this crap!! When I first started these jobs searches, I was given a form that had 9 spaces on it for me to fill out companies that I had submitted a job application to. My coordinator (at the time) told me that I need to bring the completed form back to her at the end of each month so that I can sign off on another extension waiver… no mention that I had to do anything more than what was on the form. By inadvertently having these waivers submitted each month, I have been effectively cutting short the amount of benefits I get from unemployment.
As if that weren’t bad enough, when I took the wedding cake decorator job at Publix at the beginning of June, I made sure that I still qualified for unemployment and that my checks would still be delivered. I was assured that I would still get those checks because my salary with Publix was not over $275 per week (I would basically get a check of the difference). When I discovered that Publix pulled a bait-n-switch on me about which job I was hired for, I voluntarily terminated my employment with them… which inherently threw up a red flag on my account at the unemployment headquarters in Tallahassee.
Rather than inform me that my account had been put on hold when submitting my claims every two weeks on their website, they simply let me submit those forms thinking that I would continue getting paid unemployment. It wasn’t until the first week of July that I realized something was wrong because I have not received a check for the last two weeks of June. When I tried calling the unemployment office about it, I would constantly get a message telling me that all lines were busy and that I should try again later; not put me on hold or in a queue, but simply told the callback and disconnected the line. After a few days of this, I went to their website and submitted an e-mail to them explaining my situation and that I had not received any unemployment checks. Last week, around July 18, I received a call back from the unemployment office to tell me that my account was under review and that I would not receive any more checks until it was determined if I am still eligible for unemployment compensation. He told me to continue filing claims on their website, but he could not tell me when a decision of my eligibility would be made.
What really sucks is that I cannot file an appeal until they tell me their decision; and who knows when the %#$@ that will be.
So, here I am, severance from PwC depleted; unemployment checks stopped; bills piling up; and no news from employers I have applied for jobs with on whether or not they want me. I’ve had to close out some of my retirement plan accounts from PwC to try and continue to pay some bills for the next few months; so here’s to hoping that somebody offers me a job before that money runs out to! ::raises glass::
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