Entitled to UI for low census?

[rkd1206]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

Hello, I have a question re: low census at my place of employment and filing for unemployment. My position has basically been eliminated recently and for the past two months I have gone again and again to our clinic manager to request a meeting regarding the fact that I have barely 2 or 3 hrs of work a day since a new computer system has basically taken all my duties away. He has been dragging his heels and/or going on vacation and/or rescheduling a meeting that was finally scheduled. I have been out of PTO since July 1st and my last paycheck was $400 less than usual and this next one will be even less. I went to the BIG HONCHO boss and he agreed that my job is gone and that I should expect severance pay and then file for unemployment, but since my clinic mgr was on vacation, we had to wait - more low census/low paycheck. Supposedly he and my other two managers are supposed to meet tomorrow to get the details hammered out (it was supposed to be last Fri but they rescheduled it). My question is, can I file for unemployment for the hours I have missed over the last month or two while they kept putting me off? I have had no choice but to go home early/come in late but my time card is being coded as voluntary low census. I would have stormed out of there a month ago when no one was responding to me, but I have kept my cool as I know if I quit, then I get nothing - no severance, no unemployment. Meanwhile, though, it is going to be hard to scrape enuf together to pay my bills.

 

[FlyingRon]

The requirements for UI is that you must be out of work for no reason of your own (i.e., they laid you off) and you are able and looking for new employment. You should have filed for UI as soon as you were put out. You may not get it if you were just sitting around hoping they'd call you back, but you won't know unless you try. Any true severence has no bearing on UI in your state.

 

[Chyvan]

can I file for unemployment for the hours I have missed over the last month or two while they kept putting me off?

As I read it, no. Any time you are earning less than you'd get under your state's partial benefit formula, you apply and get benefits going forward to make up the difference between what you're earning and what you'd be entitled to on UI. The two months that have gone by, are most likely lost to you, but you can apply today so that you won't miss out on any more.

Some states take sympathy on claimants when their employers mislead them. You might want to plead with the WA UI people to get your claim backdated so you can get the missing two months because your employer's statements caused you to delay filing, but do not expect miracles.

 

[commentator]

Plead all you want to. There are supposed to be posters in every eligible employer's place of employment telling the employees that they can file for unemployment benefits and should do so if they feel they might be eligible. Whether the employer tells you the truth or not, as long as they can keep you from filing, they will, because it costs them money.

To receive partial unemployment benefits, you must have made, in gross wages, in a Sunday through Saturday week, (regardless of how you are paid, monthly, weekly, bi monthly) less than your weekly benefit amount would've been if you had been eligible for a claim for unemployment. In Washington state it's about $664 maximum weekly benefit, regardless of how much you've been being paid.

Though your take home gross pay lately may have been a whole lot less than usual, it may not have been less than your weekly unemployment claim would've been. And unless there is some really excellent reason when you file why you did not already file a claim sooner, for example, you tried to reach the system but were unable to access it due to a high claims load, there is usually no backdating done.

It would be tough to prove that your employer deliberately misled you to keep you from drawing benefits, they're not the place you are supposed to get information about unemployment benefits from, really, and the employers would be raising heck with the system if they were to take everyone's word for it that their employer told them not to file so they were just being obedient to their employer, those rats! and now they want to be backdated to...... Just won't usually work.

You can ask, but don't expect much. You might be able to ask if your employer could fill out partial unemployment forms for you back to the time your pay began to be below the weekly benefit, if it ever has fallen this low, they're much more open to backdating if the employer submits the partial forms. Most states do have these forms, and most employers will cooperate with you about filling them out, since of course, the information about how much you made is something they have to provide anyway, and you certainly have the right to file a claim even if they do not do this for you.

File immediately and then as someone said, you can see if you are qualified for partial benefits. They'll work with your employer once you've filed the claim to see if you qualify based on your exact earnings they need to know about.