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Unemployment after Workers Comp/Disability?

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bin

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

My husband was employed for over 3 years with a company when one of their trucks hit him head on and he sustained a head injury. He filed for workers comp and the company denied the claim. So he filed for disability.

While he was on disability he heard that some people from his department were laid off. He was appealing the work comp issue and in the meantime was collecting disability. They never notified him one way or the other but as far as they knew he was on work comp appeal status/disability.

Yesterday he went to let them know he was being released from disability and was ready to go back to work and he was told that he was one of 6 people cut from the department. This was many many months ago. At least 6. And they never once contacted him to let him know.

So, he never filed for unemployment. His disability is ended. Is he able to file for unemployment?

One more detail is that while was on disability he received a settlement from the company due to a labor dispute where the company for 4 years had not paid the workers drive time. He was 1099 and W-2 for this. Does that count as income for calculating unemployment? Also, does his disability count as income for unemployment?

He is able to work and is looking for work. He was not terminated due to any of his own fault. But the employer never let him know he was terminated so he could file for unemployment. Even though it would have been denied due to being on disability, at least it would have got the toll going.
 


commentator

Senior Member
The only possible way he is going to know whether he has enough wages in base period to qualify monetarily for unemployment insurance is to IMMEDIATELY, and I cannot stress this enough, FILE THE CLAIM BEFORE THE END OF MARCH!!!!!! Because if he doesn't, the quarters will roll and he will end up not getting credit for some wages back there that he probably needs.

It costs absolutely nothing to file, he has nothing at all to lose, he can do it on line, on the phone, nothing in the world is stopping him from initiating the claim NOW.

Settlement money is probably not going to be counted as covered wages. Only wages he made for covered work in the appropriate quarters will be used to set up his claim. He may have been out so long he doesn't have any wages to use. If so, any other questions will be moot. He just won't qualify for unemployment.

As far as eligibility is concerned, if he was laid off while on worker's comp, and he has now been fully released by his doctor to return to work, he presented himself to the employer and they have no work for him, then he should be eligible IF he has enough wages to set up a claim. The longer you stay out of work the harder it is to have covered wages. Family income or need or what he has been receiving (such as his disability) is never a consideration as unemployment is not based on your economic situation. File the claim, file the claim, file the claim now!
 

bin

Junior Member
Thank you

He did file the claim this morning :). We just found out his termination date was 11/10/09, which was over 4 months ago. Weren't they supposed to let him know he was laid off so he could have filed back then so it would be filed for when he was released from his doctor? I feel this is very wrong of them to not even tell him they cut the department and he was laid off.

Also, the settlement was for *unpaid* wages that they owed him for not paying his drive time for almost four years. Thus the W-2, etc. I don't understand why it would not qualify but we will have to wait and see.

I am very upset at this company. Their truck driver front ends my husband and causes a severe brain injury. Then they deny his workers comp and finally to pour salt on the wound they don't even notify him he is laid off.

wrong wrong wrong! :mad:
 

commentator

Senior Member
Great, good, I'm glad he got the claim in while there were still wages to set up. It's hard to explain why they wouldn't be using those wages he was reimbursed in the settlement, but it has to do with the way the state collected the wage records from the employer back in those quarters when they should have been paid.

You might look at the wage records used to set up the claim, when he gets his monetary determination. If any of the mispayment occurred in any of the quarters being used, which will be in the last 18 months, and you have records of how much he should have been getting paid in those months, you can file an appeal of the monetary determination (called a Wage Protest) and request that these wages which he was legally owed and later reimbursed be added to his salary as shown for the applicable quarters.

This will not stop his claim at the present, if it isn't up to the California weekly maximum amount it might raise the weekly amount and he'd be paid the difference when the benefit was changed. But if he's already set up for the weekly max you can draw in CA, it's certainly not worth fooling with.

Yes, it'd have been nice, but I don't believe it's required for the employer to let him know he was being laid off. And you're right, he might have had a larger claim back several months ago, so it'd probably have been good to go on and file it and wait to draw it until he was released by his doctor. But they didn't. They might say he should have been keeping in touch with them, that it was his responsibility to check on his status with the company. The claim would set up for the same whether he filed in January or yesterday, so maybe it's as good as it gets. The responsibility to file for unemployment is always on the claimant, it is never the responsibility of the employer to make sure he does it.
 

pattytx

Senior Member
Even with filing today, they wouldn't have used the 4th quarter 2009 wages in the base year unless your state allows for requesting an alternative base year anyway.
 

bin

Junior Member
OK. Thanks again.

I think we will be out of luck. He has been collecting the maximum of disability so I'm sure he would have qualified for the maximum unemployment. I collected unemployment once after being on disability for a year so I guess they must have changed this. I'm so sad about all of this but it's nothing in our control.

Thanks again for your help.
 

Brous60

Junior Member
Need answers

I have been out of work for 2 yrs , on comp . I will be on lite duty soon,but my job closed.I need to know if I can get unemployment?
 
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commentator

Senior Member
Answer is very likely no, but file the claim and let them tell you that. After two years, they don't have any covered quarters of wages to go back to. Unemployment doesn't go back through your whole work history, just the first four of the last five covered quarters of employment, which is about 18 months back. If you were on worker's comp or something similar during those quarters you don't have any wages to create a claim. But let them tell you this in the unemployment system just to be sure.

Miss you, Patti!
 

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