*choke*

klmno

Active Member
Can you believe that I might have been able to get unemployment benefits all this time since I lost my job last winter? It kept bugging me that My employer had replaced me when it was his own suggestion that I take a leave of absence due to difficult child's court requirements - especially when I kept hearing about family leave rights and so forth- but I had been told that I wouldn't qualify for unemployment because I had been on a leave of absence when replaced. When I went back to my employer to tell him I could come back to work full time, on salary, with same benefits I'd had before, that's when he told me he'd replaced me with two part-time, temp people and couldn't bring me back because it wouldn't be fair to them.

Anyway, just to be sure (and thinking I'd waited too long even if I could have qualified before), I called the employment commission today and she said she couldn't go back until last year but she could put a claim in for me that would start this week if approved. I'll find out next week if it is approved.
 

klmno

Active Member
I'm not sure that I will- it's debatable whether or not I waited too long and I'm not sure how that contractural, part-time work from home plays into it. She said it depends on whether or not the supervisors approve it but hopefully, it will. It was upsetting to know that I could have applied right after finding out I'd lost my job though.

I'm still sending out an average of 10 resumes/applications per week to various places, selling stuff online, and applying for every service I can find. And I have my first appointment. with a VA therapist on Monday. The primary care doctor at VA acts somehwat like a case manager the way VA does things so everything has to start by an appointment with them first, then they refer to the other services.
 

klmno

Active Member
Thanks, Ladies! (I don't have a husband, by the way) Yeah, I've learned there were a couple of areas I could have received help in starting last year if I had known. I have to just let it roll off my back and be thankful that I at least know it now. I could have applied to VA starting last June. Instead of drawing on credit (which ultimately led to bankruptcy), I could have gotten help with utility bills and so forth...etc....it's ok. It does make me cringe though when I first hear something else that was available- oh, like paying almost $1000 a month trying to hold onto private medication insurance because my previous employer nor anyone else mentioned that new law where people could have that reduced 50% or more. It's ok- in the long run this might be the very thing that helps difficult child and me the most in other ways. It brings me full circle, that's for sure. With difficult child, we'll just have to see.
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
k,

hope the unemployment benefits work out. The contractual work doesn't enter into the equation because the employer didn't pay federal or state unemployment taxes on your pay since you were a 1099 employee (I would tell the folks at the VEC though because it shows full disclosure on your part). I would imagine that you have proof you were on a leave of absence and the job was supposed to be there for you when you returned? If so you should be contacting an employment attorney! Seriously. If there was something in writing that shows you and your employer had an agreement, then it was against the law for him not to have a job for you when you returned - whether is was his idea or yours to take the leave.

If you don't have anything in writing, whether it was the employers idea or yours, it's going to be their word against yours. It's not a cut and dry matter for the supervisors at the VEC. They are required by law to send a questionnaire to your past employer to verify the employment dates, salary, and reason for termination of employment that you gave during your interview with the VEC. Once they get the reply from your ex-employer, it will be reviewed. If the employer puts anything different down than you said, you have a chance for rebuttal. Many times there is a phone interview with the past employer if there are issues of "he said, she said". So it's not up to a supervisor to approve your claim without contact with your old company. They first have to get that info.

However, having said that, there may be a way to show that you had a minor and there were extenuating circumstances that caused you to leave your place of employ. I'm not sure how that works but I would imagine there may be some loopholes to the general rule of being fired by your employer or leaving on your own disqualifies you for unemployment benefits in our state. You only qualify if you were laid off, the business closed, or the job ended in our state.

Good luck.

Sharon
 

busywend

Well-Known Member
It is called The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993. Legally has to hold your job for you for a specified period of time. I do believe there has to be paperwork filled out.
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
Wendy is correct, it is FMLA. However there are a few provisions. You have to work for a company with 50 or more employees, you have to have worked full time for 12 months prior to your request for leave, the unpaid, job-protected leave is only for 12 weeks, and you and the employer have to document for personnel that you are taking leave according to the FMLA. If you met the above criteria, you would have qualified if you took leave for one of the following reasons:

to care for a new child, whether for the birth of a son or daughter, or for the adoption or placement of a child in foster care;
to care for a seriously-ill family member (spouse, child or parent);
to recover from a worker's own serious illness;
to care for an injured servicemember in the family; or
to address qualifying exigencies arising out of a family member's deployment.

Any other forms of leave, like a leave of consensual unpaid absence, is up to the employer's discretion and needs to be documented as such in writing with details of the employees return to work position, salary, and timeline noted.

Sharon
 

klmno

Active Member
Thanks, Ladies! It won't meet the requirements for FMLA for a couple of reasons. It probably won't be approved but I didn't have anything to lose at this point by filing. And I wouldn't feel right accepting some of the help I might potentially get from other places if I could be drawing unemployment, so I just called her yesterday to make absolutely sure. She suggested putting this application in to see what the supervisors say.

The frustrating thing though is that it has to either be one of two situations legally- if it wasn't a leave of absence then I was either being laid off or fired because he replaced me with two temp, part-time people after he suggested that I leave until difficult child's issues with the courts were over. I never got anything saying I was fired and was never told that. I never put in a letter of resignation or told them I was quitting. We'll see what he tells them I guess. Will they tell me the reason I was denied in their letter that I'm supposed to get next week stating their decision?
 
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