Reopening A CA EDD Claim Confusion

[graceous]

Chvyan,
Yes, I have thought about all of this. including that I should at least take the payment of $62. Interview is later this week, and even with the $62, there is not much in the pot, so to speak. And, yes, read about the Solway claim info. What I am going to be saying is that I did not cash the payment. I have no current debit card. My interpretation with Solway is that I have not "received AND cashed" my benefit check. And, I am also going to go into the fact that I did not receive any documents on this claim. I never received the DE 429. Maybe they screwed up and never mailed it. I always seem to get my mail, but is it not strange I never received anything from them, outside of the Continued Claim Form. Also, if I receiveddDocuments, they would have info that would help me handle the claim properly. If I had really, really understood the consequences, I would have cancelled the claim back then. The fact that they sent me the Notice of Unemployment Insurance Claim Filed from April 2014, but not received until 11/13/2014 may mean something.

 

[commentator]

I think chyvan is on the money here in many ways. in the first place, they are letting you have a phone call with someone, which they can or cannot call a "chance to appeal this," but as I said, they'll let you appeal/argue just about anything, and they will probably not be impressed with your arguments if they do not meet the laws for cancelling claims which they go by and which chyvan has quoted for us.

When you call and talk to a worker in unemployment, and you begin arguing with them or trying to talk them into something, (even if you do it in the nicest of ways) they are trained not to say "Hell no, you just can't DO that!" Instead, their immediate response is to offer you a phone appeal with someone higher up who will issue you a formal decision saying you can't do that because the law says such and so and so. Puts another degree of separation between you and the person you're talking to.

I fear that's what you're going to get. And chyvan makes another excellent point. If you have not begun at once to file for weeks of benefits, reopened the claim and been making certifications for the weeks since you have been laid off, you are not going to be paid for them. Ever.

This does not mean you lost your money. In the current claim, you have $62 a week for (we assume) 26 weeks, or a total amount of $1612 to be drawn out in increments of no more than $62 a week during any week you certify and are deemed eligible for unemployment. If you don't file for unemployment or reopen your claim until you have been out of work six weeks, you did not LOSE any money in those six weeks. You still have the same amount of money to receive. You just don't get it for those particular weeks. The money does not automatically go out of your claim if you don't file for it and a week passes. It sits there until you have filed for all 26 weeks or until the benefit year ending date (04/15) passes.

The point though, is that you are probably not going to be granted a new claim. And since you haven't been filing for weeks on this one, you won't ever be paid for these weeks that are going by right now, even at $62. Or if it were to by some fluke be that you would be able to cancel this old claim you filed in April of this year, you'd still have to file a new claim, as soon as you were given the permission and the claim was cancelled, then you'd have a couple of weeks to go before you got anything at all on the new claim, either. Hopefully you'll be starting a new job real soon, maybe you won't have to wait for income tax season to do so. Good luck, and let us know what you decide to do. As we all keep saying, we don't think it'll happen, but you certain have the right to try.

 

[graceous]

Commentator,
I just got laid off last Friday. No, weeks have not gone by, and I will not have a week's waiting period. The telephone appointment is this Friday. I will probably get an idea from this interview. Typically they are nasty on the phone. If it does not look promising, I will just reopen the claim this Friday. Appointment is in the morning. They already owe me $124 for two weeks from last May 2014.

In the long run, it probably does not matter a lot. I will be working as a tax preparer by January 2015, and then when that ends, I will open a new claim if I do not have new employment The highest quarter in the new claim, July-Aug-Sept will be about $12K, and if the money I earn as a tax preparer is added (it may not be, as it would be the most recent quarter) I will collect awhile, maybe 16 weeks or something, and find new employment. Just saying, new employment is not easy when you are in your 60's, but not impossible, and too young to "retire."

 

[commentator]

Good, I am glad to see that you're pre-planning everything effectively for the worst case scenario, though of course we always hope for the best. And that you're going to file and reopen timely so you don't miss any weeks you're actually out of work, even if it's not much money, it's better than nothing.

I hope they will be at least courteous to you and listen to your side of this situation. Most people who work in this department (and other state and federal offices) are not deliberately mean, they are just very rigidly restrained in regard to the statutes they have to go by, have absolutely very little "benefit of the doubt" or ability to give someone a break. And they have so little actual control over their work, and they've seen and heard it all so many times before that it's sometimes hard not to become insensitive.

I know it's pretty far out to be thinking of this, and maybe you won't remember, but when you file again for unemployment come about April, 2015, it may be to your advantage, and you can request that your unemployment claim be based on your most recent quarters instead of the ones they usually use. It's called the "alternative base period." What it would be is, instead of the traditional one, which is the first four of the last five completed quarters, which would mean your claim, when you file in April, 2015 would take in all the year of 2014, it is possible to use a different set. If you request it, specifically, they can use your "alternative base period," which would be April, 2014 through March 31, 2015. This should give you the earnings for the tax work, as well as the earnings from the job you just left, a much higher wage record, since you're going to have at least one very low quarter if you don't work any more this year.

What causes the number of weeks in a claim to drop is if you have totally blank quarters. Twenty six is the max in any one 52 week claim period with no federal extensions in effect as things are now.

But for example, if you didn't work and have any covered wages from April 1, 2014 to Jun 30, 2014, that would lop a few weeks off your claim, though it would not change the weekly amount you'd qualify for. Amounts are figured on the two highest quarters. But to get the full 26 week maximum number of weeks, you have to have some covered wages in each of the quarters they use.

Before filing that claim in April, be sure to ask the claims people if the quarters have changed yet, as sometimes it is not exactly the first day of the month that it changes on. Be sure you file after the quarter has changed. Of course you cannot file in April until after the date on your BYE, which should be a Saturday. Then, before you file, ask about using the alternative base period. They'll automatically give you the regular one, but of course you know so much more now about not accepting that one, about requesting something different before you begin filing on it, etc.

 

[graceous]

Commentator,
Very good advice! In CA you do have the option to request this.

 

[graceous]

Three letters from EDD today. One was of course the notice that I am not eligible to cancel my claim. OK, not going to appeal, I choose my battles. Second was Notice of Unemployment Insurance Claim Filed. I did not file a new claim, this must have been the previous telephone interviewer's idea. I do not think it has to do with a New claim, but reopening the existing one, but it sure is not clear. I have telephone interview with EDD on Monday, will ask questions. The Monday interview is about the last job, just to determine eligibility, no worries on that. The third letter a continuing claim form starting 11/18/14.

Since I am already earning some wages from the seasonal tax job, but next to nothing, it would be worthwhile to collect the $62 for several weeks until get into tax season or find a better job by mid January where will earn over $62.

Looking at CA EDD, it would not have even been beneficial to open a new claim in December, based on wage history. But, if I have to open a claim in mid April 2015, when the existing claim runs out, and do not have a new ft job,(worst case scenario) EDD benefits will be beneficial and will look like this:

Approximate wage history:
April 2015 (guesstimate) $1000
Jan Feb Mar 2015 (guesstimate) $4000
Oct Nov Dec 2014 - $6500
July Aug Sept - $12000
April May June - $4500

CA EDD, for claim opening in April 2015, would count these quarters:
Oct Nov Dec 2014 - $6500
July Aug Sept 2014 - $12000
April May June 2014- $4500
Jan Feb Mar 2014 - $3000

Hope my thinking is right on this.

 

[commentator]

Good job Graceous! You've really researched and seem to have a pretty good grip on what's happening. I refuse to make guesstimates of how much you'll draw or what will happen. I've had too many years of training in never ever promising anyone anything, even as an educated guess.

Claims are automatically based on the first four of the last five COMPLETED quarters.
Remember that the scenario you describe with the largest possible claim is where you are using the "alternative base period" at your request. That means they move forward and pick up January February and March of 2015. In the beginning, they will just use the claim that pops up in their system automatically, which will be all the year of 2014.

Remember that you were let go, you did not quit your job, and you were not given any warnings or reprimands which led you to believe that you were violating any rules or procedures. YOU ALWAYS DID THE JOB TO THE VERY BEST OF YOUR ABILITIES, whether they liked your performance or not, you always did your very best. Work that into the dialogue with the interviewer as often as you can. Unless they fired you for a valid misconduct reason, you are good to reopen the claim, and the employer would have to show this to keep you from being eligible. They'd have to show you actually knew you were doing something wrong, did it on purpose after being warned not to, and deliberately caused your own firing. If they simply say your performance wasn't up to par, that's not your fault as long as you were trying your very best.

When you speak to them Monday be sure to emphasize you want to make sure the old claim has been reopened, the interviewer you speak with should have the ability to see this. You may have to go to someone else if he/she cannot reopen for you, but it's important the claim is reopened and you are good to be making the weekly certifications. File a certification for each week that you do not have any wages. Discuss this all with them when you speak with someone.

Just don't ask them for a pre estimate of what you'll be able to draw in April, 2015. They've been warned terribly against making such a guess, will promise you nothing, if they know their stuff.

I have one concern. And that is that you are making even some tiny tiny bits of wages at the tax job even now. Please be sure that no matter how minimal they are, even if they are far below the amount you are allowed to work and still draw a full claim, (which I would suspect will be $62) you report them each week you make them. If you make more than you can draw in any given Sunday through Saturday week, (regardless of how you are being paid, weekly, monthly or yearly, even on a very very different pay schedule than Sunday through Saturday) you still report the wages, gross amount figured per hour (doesn't have to be absolutely 100% accurate, better to guesstimate and be off a few dollars than to not report) you will have to reopen the claim the following week in order to file after that week has passed.

It IS worth it, even for $62 a week to keep filing and reopening, if you saw $62 dollars or even $10 or $15 just lying on the ground, and it was legitimately yours it'd be foolish not to bend over and pick it up, but as I was saying, no matter how incredibly small the amount you are reporting, it will still be cross matched, it will pop up in their system that you had these wages, and the fraud unit will check your claim history to see if you have reported it. If you haven't, even if it was small enough not to count at all, it will be considered fraud if you do not report it. The question is something like, "Did you do ANY work for which you were paid or will be paid this week you are filing for?" You don't report it the week you are paid, you report it the week it was worked.

Best of luck to you through this holiday season, and tax season too. Hopefully, you'll find something else good soon and won't need to worry about this anymore.

 

[graceous]

Thanks for your great reply Commentator!

I do think things are different here in CA as far as Alternate Base Periods, as there is a $1300 income max and I would make "too much" per their rules.

Also, as far as I can tell, CA seems to take the highest quarter, not the average of four quarters, in computing the benefits. Here is an example from their handbook.

6. Highest Quarter Earnings: Your base period is divided into calendar quarters.
The quarter that you were paid the highest amount of wages determines your
weekly benefit amount.

An example of Notice of Unemployment Insurance
Award is shown below with earnings for each quarter:
Quarter Earnings Quarter Earnings
January, February, March $2,122.34
April, May, June $6,212.75
July, August, September $1,974.55
October, November,December $7,489.73

In this example, the weekly benefit amount would be determined by the
October, November, December quarter because it has the highest earnings.
By using the benefit table on the following pages, you can see that if the high
quarter earnings are $7,489.73, the weekly award is $289.

It seems like this would be a similar scenario for me in April. There is a chart in the handbook, but it does not copy here, showing that if I apply in April, benefits will be computed on the quarters listed above.