Unemployed. In this cliff fall of an economy, there are few words feared more.
Many of us have faced this fear head on in recent days. So what happens when the worst situation occurs? It is one thing to lose a job, but it is another to be unable to find work for an extended period of time.
In the fall of 2009, I experienced such a fate myself. Never in my life had I considered the option, but due to no income, large student loans and no response from literally hundreds of applications, I found myself applying for unemployment benefits. Little did I know I was in for the headache of my young life.
I wanted to talk to someone from the Nebraska Department of Labor in person about my options and eligibility.
After waiting in line for over 25 minutes at the client office and speaking with the obviously-overworked receptionist, I was told no one in the office could help me with benefits or questions.
She referred me to the Workforce Development website, https://uibenefits.nwd.ne.gov, to file a claim. When I explained that I did not even know if I qualified for a claim and just had a few basic questions to ask someone, I was again referred to the website.
Dutifully I returned to my computer and went through the motions of registering myself and filing a new unemployment claim while wondering if I was wasting all these hours attempting to apply for something that would simply be denied. The application itself was not extremely difficult, but very lengthy. Precise and correct information was vitally important to the acceptance or denial of benefits.
Then I waited, and waited, and waited. A full week later, I found a simple message, “You have been denied benefits, please contact a representative for further assistance.” Not wanting to waste more time, I immediately called the phone number listed for assistance.
Then I waited, and waited, and waited. A full hour and 47 minutes later, a rather harassed representative informed me that I had not been denied benefits completely but that since I technically quit my previous employment, there was a three-month waiting period after applying before I could receive any benefits.
Apparently, I should have applied the day that I left my job instead of trying to be an upstanding citizen and simply find a new position without any monetary assistance. I had waited a full month before applying.
Many tears and explanations later, my representative, bless her loophole-finding heart, got my wait period reduced to 60 more days. I was to log in to the Workforce Development site or call a representative once a week at a specific time and day and file my “weekly claim for benefits.”
Considering my previous wait time for a phone call I choose the Internet and thanked my stars I was not one of the unfortunate hundreds who had no access to the Internet at their specific claim time and had to call in.
Every week I processed my claim and no less than five times had to call in because the website claim failed to process. My shortest wait time on the phone was 57 minutes. The total amount I was to receive in each benefit check was almost exactly half of what my regular paycheck paid.
Later, I discovered that if while receiving benefits a person manages to find supplementary employment, he must report all income and his benefit check will be reduced to reflect this new income. Essentially, until you no longer receive benefits at all, you are restricted to a specific income level. I have yet to understand how this policy gives a person incentive to find work.
Once everything finally got rolling, the benefits, though small, were a Godsend and kept me from losing everything I owned. It disturbs me though to think of the many people in our community who have gone through my situation and would not have been able to make it through that long 90 day waiting period without a paycheck.
It saddens me to think of all the people who easily spend two hours every week on hold, running up their phone bills, while waiting for someone to process their claim or answer a simple question.
There are many more frustrating experiences, including lost applications, language complications and incorrect benefit pay out amounts. The horror stories seem to pile on top of each other.
Too few people pay attention to this area of public service until life or the economy thrusts it upon them. With too many cracks to fall through and too few Unemployment representatives and laws to assist them, I urge everyone should inform themselves about what they can do should the worst happen to them.
Those interested can visit http://dol.nebraska.gov for more information on unemployment benefits and insurance.