A question about unemployment, job contacts, and an audit.

[bd8182]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arkansas
Sorry, I don't see a section specifically for unemployment benefit questions, but I do see some questions on that in this section.
Okay here goes, I have been on unemployment since about March after the store I worked for shut down. This is the first time I have ever been on unemployment. I started being required to write down my job contacts in June after a certain period expired. I learned today when I filed my weekly claim that I am now required to report in person to my local unemployment office(known as Arkansas Workforce Center in Arkansas)where I first filed my claim back in March, on a certain day in January. I am sure it is for an audit of my job contacts(it didn't say exactly). The problem is that very early on, way back in june, there was a few weeks I only made two job contacts a week when I had a lot on my plate with personal issues. The rest of the time I have made my required job contacts. Does anyone know how these audits work and how it could effect me here in Arkansas? I know each state is different. with this crappy economy I just have not had a lot of luck. I have had a few interviews but nothing resulted. After going through my book again, I have learned I had to make at least one job contact in person. A lot of my contacts have been online applications. I have had some interviews and a few phone calls where they called to see my qualifications before they procceeded. It also says that I can't make a repeat job contact to the same employers, but it doesn't say if that is weekly or not. There have been a couple of the same places where I have applied for different positions at different times. Some places I am wanting to get into where I have applied for the same jobs later after a certain required time expires. I have also put down phone calls for initial interviews(which I went to of course)as job contacts. I am hoping that the last interview(last week)I had gets me a job. I really think I nailed that one. I don't know if getting a job and not having to claim anymore will mean that I will still have to report to my office or notin January? I know that I will be making more than 3 minimum requirements now in a full blown effort to find something fast. I don't know if even that will work since the job market here has been so stinky. I hear from unemployed people all of the time, and from people who were unemployed but just got lucky, on how bad it is. I don't want to go to jail or have a felony here. Anybody know what could happen if I do have to go in in the end?? I mean it is not like I have done around and have done absolutely nothing in the last about 7 months.

 

[wrongsometimes]

Write up your job contacts , who what where when type of stuff on a spreadsheet or paper or similar. The worst that happens is that they stop you benefits. Many states, due to the economy, have stopped even checking. But it is still you responsibility to look for work. 1 or 2 contacts a month will suffice in many cases.

 

[bd8182]

Write up your job contacts , who what where when type of stuff on a spreadsheet or paper or similar. The worst that happens is that they stop you benefits. Many states, due to the economy, have stopped even checking. But it is still you responsibility to look for work. 1 or 2 contacts a month will suffice in many cases.

Of course they are going to pick on me. Even if I do get that job I interviewed for, I am sure they will still have me come in and they will throw the book right at me(felony charge, jail, or both). I should of known with my luck.

I guess I should mention that I am on the extended benefits now and have been since around September. I wonder if they want to look at that or the other as well?

Either way, it has hasn't been a great year financially(and socially for that matter)and I was hoping things would brighten in the coming year.

 

[Hot Topic]

In California, you're supposed to keep a record of the companies you applied at every week. You put down the date you applied, name of the person or their title, the name of the company, their address and the results. On mine, I've also listed the job fairs I attended and the companies I've sent a resume to even though they weren't advertising for help to show I'm making an effort. Then, if EDD asks me to put those names on the record I submit every two weeks, I'm ready.

Even though my unemployment benefits are currently on hold due to the conflict in Congress, I still get a form to fill out and mail in. I know that when unemployment checks start going out again, EDD knows what I've been up to.

Keep a complete record that you can show when needed. Don't take chances. Include everything and anything that seems relevant.

Good luck.

 

[bd8182]

In California, you're supposed to keep a record of the companies you applied at every week. You put down the date you applied, name of the person or their title, the name of the company, their address and the results. On mine, I've also listed the job fairs I attended and the companies I've sent a resume to even though they weren't advertising for help to show I'm making an effort. Then, if EDD asks me to put those names on the record I submit every two weeks, I'm ready.

Even though my unemployment benefits are currently on hold due to the conflict in Congress, I still get a form to fill out and mail in. I know that when unemployment checks start going out again, EDD knows what I've been up to.

Keep a complete record that you can show when needed. Don't take chances. Include everything and anything that seems relevant.

Good luck.

I did attend a job fair back in may. I guess I could put that down too. I mean there were a lot of employers I talked to there so I don't know who to put down. The online applications don't have any names either of course, they are just on-line applications. Something else I wonder is what if one of these employers from awhile back(including the ones I talked to)lost my application or don't remember me?? I mean are they going to call every single one of these employers?? What if they went out of business since then or something?? or they can't get through to the right person at the time??

 

[aldaron]

No business is going to remember 1 job applicant from 9 months ago and i've never seen 1 keep a log, most throw away apps after a certain period of time also. Honesty is ALWAYS the best policy.

 

[bd8182]

No business is going to remember 1 job applicant from 9 months ago and i've never seen 1 keep a log, most throw away apps after a certain period of time also. Honesty is ALWAYS the best policy.

Well my book does say that they will call all employers that I have applied to during an audit.

 

[commentator]

Jeeze Louise, don't be sweating this stuff so much. Honest. You are to make a good faith job search. You can go back to the same places more than once, you can do two every week, just get in a few, okay? What you have very likely been called back for is that you have received 10 weeks of benefits, and after 10 weeks, everyone has to come in and have an eligibility review. They'll ask if you are making your job contacts as required, and you'll say yes, can show a few places where you have been applying, not to mention the place you think you may have a good lead on an new position.

If you think they really have the time to call all the people you've listed on our job search and make sure you've really doing them, you think they have more time than they ever have had and certainly don't have right now! Report, check on the call in, do what they ask you, go on and do what they tell you. It probabably won't be anything like a severe investigation of everywhere you've been and every place you've job searched.

If your job searches that you have been making are inadequate for them, they will not charge you with a felony or make you pay back your uenmployment. They will actually not do anything but ask you to go out and make a few more of those good job contacts. Do what they ask, cooperate fully. They're not in the business of causing people to feel like hanging themselves. They just want to hear that you have honestly been looking for jobs. And the system is so clogged that if they don"t get the job searches they ask for, they will simply encourage you to re-do it right. Talk to them first, don't agonize about what they may want. It sounds to me like you are in good shape, you've been meeting most of the requirements they have asked of you, have made a good faith effort to get back to work. That's all they're really looking for.

 

[bd8182]

Jeeze Louise, don't be sweating this stuff so much. Honest. You are to make a good faith job search. You can go back to the same places more than once, you can do two every week, just get in a few, okay? What you have very likely been called back for is that you have received 10 weeks of benefits, and after 10 weeks, everyone has to come in and have an eligibility review. They'll ask if you are making your job contacts as required, and you'll say yes, can show a few places where you have been applying, not to mention the place you think you may have a good lead on an new position.

If you think they really have the time to call all the people you've listed on our job search and make sure you've really doing them, you think they have more time than they ever have had and certainly don't have right now! Report, check on the call in, do what they ask you, go on and do what they tell you. It probabably won't be anything like a severe investigation of everywhere you've been and every place you've job searched.

If your job searches that you have been making are inadequate for them, they will not charge you with a felony or make you pay back your uenmployment. They will actually not do anything but ask you to go out and make a few more of those good job contacts. Do what they ask, cooperate fully. They're not in the business of causing people to feel like hanging themselves. They just want to hear that you have honestly been looking for jobs. And the system is so clogged that if they don"t get the job searches they ask for, they will simply encourage you to re-do it right. Talk to them first, don't agonize about what they may want. It sounds to me like you are in good shape, you've been meeting most of the requirements they have asked of you, have made a good faith effort to get back to work. That's all they're really looking for.

When I visited the local office the last time to file for an extension of the unemployment benefits the old guy I got was a real jerk. He started talking about these Congress people who wanted to get rid of unemployment because they believe it is an excuse for people not to work. Then he started talking about how there are jobs out there and that if I have to take some $4.00 and hour job I should. I'm sorry, but a $4.00 an hour job will not pay the bills that I have. Then he started talking about the audits they do and I told him I have been looking for jobs and he said "yey" in a sarcastic tone. He then put in my paperwork and everything moved along as planned. I just didn't like the attitude he had with me for no reason. He did not know me or my situation. The guy in the cubicle next to me who had someone I waited with, who was also filing extensions, was being very cordial and professional with her. I mean there are welfare scammers, people who live on welfare their whole lives without working and continuing to have children they can't afford, illegal aliens getting welfare, etc., out there, who have done so for decades while nobody did anything about them, yet me, who had been previously employed for many years, loses his job in one of the worst economies since the Great Depression, and all of a sudden is in need of assistance, and I am turned into a villain. I know when I get on in for that audit I will get that same jerk. That is just my luck. It really makes me mad, I am sorry. I am wanting to find something and get back into the swing of things, it just hasn't been easy. I go in for interviews, I get calls, I fill out applications, and ends up being a waste of time. This is sooo frustrating!!

 

[commentator]

The next time you go into the office, you look around and see if there are not a display of "customer comment" cards somewhere handy. If so, take one out with you. If there are not, still obtain as much information about who you talk to and where, what desk they were located at, a description of the person.

If they begin giving you this same jive, quietly do what you have to do to get through your audit. Say what you have to say. Assure them they have been looking for jobs diligently. Have names and dates of some places you have looked for jobs. If this person begins threatening you, arguing with you (do not argue back) or treating you poorly, leave when you can get your business done and write a letter of complaint to the department.

Write to the the Commissioner's office if you cannot get a complaint form. You need to report this person, what he said to you about taking a job for $4 per hour and everything. This is NOT how people are encouraged to treat clients in the unemployment office. Unemployment is not a means tested program, a great many people come in there to apply who are not begging, are not on welfare, are not low income. This old jerk needs to leave his politics at home and get another job. But I will admit, those old jerks are out there.

There is a pretty good possibility you will NOT get this person again when you go in for the audit. If it is a Benefits Accuracy audit, these are done by different people from a different part of the agency. If so, be sure you tell them how you were treated when your extension was filed, as this is also a quality measure.

By the way, in a regular 10 week check in, they do not take each person's claim and call the list of all the places you've been to see if they can verify you actually went. As so many people pointed out, most places do not want to keep all those applications, they don't have time to fool with you, they aren't hiring and certainly don't want to be bothered by calls from our agency inquiring about whether someone came by or not, look for the application they probably didn't keep or not. They don't have time and don't want to talk to us. If you provide them with some reasonable, steady records that you are making a reasonable good faith job search, that should work. If you get in their faces and say "You can't make me do that!" that's how to get cut off.

It's sort of like if we were really really bored, didn't have hardly anyone filing for benefits, and we asked you to give us a list of places you'd work searched, we might ask you the results, check to verify a place that you said you went and filled out an application. But in these times, with the thousands and thousands of people looking for work, the struggling employers, believe me, verification of worksearch activities are not something we use to torment either group.

Good luck to you on your experience with unemployment, hope you do find another real job soon. I know this is not a fun thing, most people who work in the system are not this bad.

 

[wrongsometimes]

Of course they are going to pick on me. Even if I do get that job I interviewed for, I am sure they will still have me come in and they will throw the book right at me(felony charge, jail, or both). I should of known with my luck.

I guess I should mention that I am on the extended benefits now and have been since around September. I wonder if they want to look at that or the other as well?

Either way, it has hasn't been a great year financially(and socially for that matter)and I was hoping things would brighten in the coming year.

They are not picking on you. Have a list of employers you have contacted. Simple.

 

[pattytx]

They are not picking on you. Have a list of employers you have contacted. Simple.

Gee, why didn't anybody else say that?

 

[dobes]

how did everything turn out. Please reply.

 

[sandyclaus]

how did everything turn out. Please reply.

You do realize that the last post was over 3-1/2 years ago, right?

If you have a question, please start your own thread.