Chime in if you can relate (re: unemployment/jobs)

[The Straight Story]

Over the last several years I have made anywhere from $17/hr (though a lot less for one, see below) to $35/hr.

In July I was laid off from a temp job and finally gave up finding a new one and filed for unemployment.

I finally started to get checks each week after they did all their usual investigations.

This week? No check.

The reason is a security guard company I worked for last year at this time says I refused work. Having done security work for five years and being a deputy in the past I usually fall back on such jobs when times are tough.

I won't name the company - but I did try to work what they wanted me to (because they said it could work out to more) - driving 60 miles round trip for 2 hours of work at $9/hr (minus health insurance - and see below). First check was for $2. And the job required me to drive this twice a day: it was at a high school and I had to be there in the morning and then the afternoon.

So overall 120 miles a day for $36 before taxes/insurance. After a week I could not afford the gas to even get to work.

Now they are crying to Unemployment that I refused work. I am sure that eventually (I hope) it will pan out in my favor.

I have applied and interviewed on everything from fast food places to wal-mart. I am overqualified. I have some good job prospects in the queue with the local historical society and such as a programmer/network admin but that does not help me right now financially.

Also - I am sure I could move and find a good job elsewhere. But my daughter lives here and deserves to see me and spend time with me on the weekends, so I cannot just up and move to another state (or even another city here in Ohio).

What happens to people like me? Where you cannot move due to a child and people will not hire you because you are overqualified or too old? And where some company says that they offered you work at low wages that would cost you more to go to work than you make?

I don't want a free ride. I want to work and earn my money. But I did pay into unemployment all these years in case I needed it, and now I do.

What is your story?

[BeHereNow]

1. Chiming in from California....

I have a job- but I have only worked ONE day in two months.
Why? Because of the budget cuts statewide in education.
I work in Special Ed and have been displaced because of the massive
teacher layoffs. Teachers who lost their positions now work my job,
whether or not they have training in SE.

There are NO jobs in California for me, and I too have a child living
nearby who depends on me- she has not been able to find a job either.

The state is falling into the abyss and I see no light at the end of this tunnel.

BHN

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. +1 3 days in 3 months in San Jose

Union Sheet metal worker. There is just no work. I guess the rich took all the stimulus cause the rest of us are just getting shock doctrined.

[thunder rising]

2. Before you "hit the road" call ahead ... shit's bad everywhere. There's generally enough skilled

people where your going to fill the job (a lot of good talent in every field is scrambling).

Appeal the unemployment rescission. The rules require reasonable pay.

[laconicsax]

3. Sadly, if you turn down any work, it counts against you.

At least in Oregon, the attitude is take any work you can find and if you make less than your weekly benefit, claim anyways and your benefit amount might be adjusted to cover the difference. If you turn down a job because it pays less than the benefit or is unnecessarily difficult to get to, they'll count it against you.

[Tansy_Gold]

5. If they offered you work, it has to be such that you could earn more

than unemployment pays.

At least the way it worked when I was doing HR stuff.

In other words, if the job they offered you didn't pay more than what you'd make off unemployment, you aren't required to take it.

Now, check into the Ohio regulations about that and see what you can find out.

Also, there should be something about the location. If the job isn't within reasonable (and I have no idea how that's defined in Ohio) distance, you aren't required to take it. Or you weren't.

But remember -- employees do NOT pay into unemployment. It's a tax (federal and state) levied on employers only based on their total payroll as well as their "experience," meaning their history of unemployment claims. Those employers who have few claims will have a higher experience rating and will pay less into the pool. Those employers who have many claims will pay more. But employEEs do not pay into unemployment.

Your cumulative work history goes into how your benefits are calculated. So if you worked for ABC for six months and then left them to work for TRS for six months until TRS laid you off, TRS will be "charged" for your benefits, but your benefits will be based on what you earned at ABC as well.

Do not hesitate to fight for what's coming to you.

TG