NJ Unemployment question

[RodC]

I recently opened a claim for unemployment benefits in NJ when I was layed off from my regular job. I also recently signed a $4800 contract to work part time for a school district as a fitness trainer for the winter athletics season. The pay period is 10 weeks long and begins on January 1st, and I do not get paid anything until the end of that period. So i get 1 check from the district at the end of the season.

When asked originally I stated that I was not working, because I am not being paid. The Dept. of Labor contacted the school who said I was currently working there... which i assume is technically correct since I signed a contract that went into a effect on December 1st (even though the pay period hasn't started and I do not get paid until March). Anyways, they are investigating my claim now to re-determine if I am elligible for benefits.

Am I guilty of Unemployment Insurance fraud now?
Does anyone have any experience or advice to share on this?

 

[pattytx]

That is incorrect. WHEN you are paid for time worked is irrelevant. The instructions in the employee instructions clearly state that.
http://lwd.state.nj.us/labor/forms_pdfs/ui/BC-165.pdf

Now, you can plead ignorance and maybe that will fly.

I have to ask, though, relative to the timing of payment, are you being treated as an employee or an independent contractor?

 

[commentator]

How many hours a week are you going to be working for the school system? Regardless of when you are going to be paid? Also doesn't matter whether you are an hourly or a contractor. Amount earned weekly and availability is more the key. You should be fully eligible for unemployment until Jan 1,2010 when the job begins. They (NJ unemployment) should see it this way, because what they look at is wages earned and work done during each individual week you have filed for benefits.

This means even though you have the job to go to beginning in January, though you have already signed the contract, you should be able to draw unemployment insurance until the first week you actually work.

Then, you should figure up how many hours you will work, Sunday through Saturday, each week during your contract with the fitness program. If this is not full time, then you would still be eligible based on being able and available for full time work. Divide the total pay by the number of weeks in the contract. If the gross wage you make per week is less(by even one dollar) than your weekly unemployment payment, you should be able to continue filing each week, report this weekly wage and receive part of your unemployment benefit as well as your eventual pay for working here.

The money you do not receive from it (unemployment) each week because of your wages reported would be added on at the end of your claim, in other words, you do not lose this unemployment by working part time, you get to string it out over more weeks until the balance is paid.

But $480 a week is pretty significant. If it is more than your weekly unemployment amount, or if you honestly cannot say you would during this period be able and available for full time work in your field if it were offered to you, you will simply stop the claim for the amount of time that you are working for the school system (10 weeks). This is done by simply stopping the weekly certifications for benefits. You do not have to give formal notification you are stopping the claim. No certifications, no checks. Then when the job ends, you will contact the office and re-open your claim and pick up drawing benefits.

You have committed no fraud at this point. You did need to start this investigation by telling the NJ office about the circumstances of the contract which has not begun yet. Each week you are asked questions such as "Did you do any work for which you were paid or will be paid?" And then "Did you accept a job, quit a job, were you fired from a job...this week?" At some point when you did, you should have told them about accepting the job with the school system, but patti is right, this could have been a misunderstanding on your part, not an effort to mislead the unemployment system.

This is not the first time the New Jersey office people have experienced this or a similar situation. They will know you are not trying to break the bank or defraud them and should be very willing to explain things to you.

As I said, until you begin the job, you should be fully eligible for unemployment at this time, unless you were laid off from a school system in the first place. This opens another kettle of fish, known as "reasonable assurance" which is related only to school systems in some states. In any case, keep talking to the unemployment office, keep in mind that everything works by week, and it should be fairly easy to straighten out.

 

[pattytx]

I know the timing of payment doesn't matter for UI purposes, but it does matter for wage payment law purposes.

 

[RodC]

Thanks for the information guys. Patty, I am being paid as a district employee not as a contractor. So i show up for my 10-12 hours a week as they schedule and get a W-2 for my work eventually. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to explain that on Tuesday to the investigator. Yes I worked 10 hours for 0 dollars?

Luckily, I haven't gotten any money from UI yet either so I guess its not theft yet. I'm still sick over being dishonest, but like you said, I'm sure they deal with plenty people who are actually defrauding them and will probably know I'm just a jack-ass that didn't read the handbook.

 

[pattytx]

Here's the problem. NJ has laws regarding how often employees must be paid. However, in many states, public institutions aren't subject to those laws. Just saying, you might want to call the state DOL and see if this payment schedule is allowed by law.

 

[commentator]

Sorry, patti, didn't mean to sound snarky, you might say I've got a one track mind...u.i. only.

I was trying to explain, RodC, you don't say I worked ten hours and made zero dollars. You will figure up your pay as it would be if paid by the week, Sunday through Saturday, and each week when you submit your weekly certification for unemployment after the week has passed, you'll report that portion that would be for that week. In other words, 4800 divided by 10 weeks, $480 per week, divided by ten hours a week is $41.00 an hour. If you work ten hours in one week, sunday through satuday, you'll report earnings of $410 for that week. Each week. Regardless of WHEN you are paid, they're interested in when you did the work. For which you WILL be paid eventually but that's not the issue.

Ask the investigator to explain to you the absolutely correct way you will be expected to report these future wages. You're not doing anything wrong, you're fully reporting the situation and you won't get anything you are not entitled to. Don't be "sick over being dishonest" because you haven't been. You just did not understand the question. And you are, technically NOT working right now, so you told them the truth.

Were you laid off from that same school? That's the only reason I could imagine that they might be contacting the school at this point in the claim
If so, there may, as I said, be issues with you receiving unemployment insurance, since you have a reasonable expectation of returning to work there....but be sure to stress that it is only VERY part time work, much less than what you were doing previously.

 

[RodC]

I've worked for the district in the past under a seasonal contract, however that contract was up in June, the job I was layed off from is a different privately owned company.

 

[commentator]

So the issue is strictly semantics. The school district was a base period employer on this claim you've set up. When the u.i. office checked with this school system, they informed u.i that you were "still employed" with them, therefore they should not be charged for any of the wages used to set up your unemployment claim. You have committed no fraud. You will hopefully have no trouble explaining your situation to the investigator and getting this straightened out.