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Unemployment approved then denied HELP PLease

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thegibsons

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


My Wife left a job she had worked at for 3 yrs to go to work as a 1099 employee for another company. Due to the economy she was laid off. She filed for unemployment and was paid for 2 months. Then they reviewed it and they are saying she is ineligible and we must pay it all back. We live in North Carolina. They first said she will be eligible again when she is no longer self-employed. We never thought she was self employed. She got a new hire pack, company handbook and a company email address. But if she was she is not now!! Then in the appeal they said it did not matter, that job does not even count. All that matters is that she left the first job of her own will. Any thoughts. We are both out of work and now in real trouble. She has no unemployment coming in and they say we owe them!!!! Then they keep changing the bar and the reason why she is ineligible. Every other 1099 employee that was layed off from this company has been denied/appealed and won. But not her. Any suggestions.

Thanks,
 


commentator

Senior Member
commentator

A 1099 employee is not eligible for unemployment. Based on a job where she was a contractor your wife isn't eligible. Ever, never. Why would you not have thought she was self-employed if you knew she was a "1099" employee? The only possibility of appeal would be if the company had said she was a 1099 employee when she did NOT meet the criteria for it and they were not supposed to call her one.

From the sound of this, "she received an employee handbook, etc" that might be the case and might be the reason the other employees have been approved. Check the North Carolina Employment Service web site and there will be very clear standards for calling someone a contractor. If she feels that she was actually a regular employee improperly classified as a 1099, she can appeal the denied claim on this basis. When she was denied this time, she was given a certain number of days in which to file the appeal. She should do so immediately, she do not have to give the information now, just that she requests to file an appeal. She should keep making weekly certifications for benefits as she has been. She will be given an opportunity to present her information that her most recent employment should have been considered regular employment, not 1099 employment. This would be the only way she might be able to get approved.

If she is approved, there will be back pay for all the weeks she has missed and she can resume drawing. If the decision goes against her again, she will once more be told she has an overpayment of the amount she has already drawn. She will need to speak to the overpayment unit that has assessed this charge. She can be granted a waiver of this overpayment if she file for it timely and provides the necessary financial information, proving that you folks do not have the resources to pay this money back. Even if she were not to be granted a waiver, the collection of these overpayments is not aggressive in most cases. However, they will want the money back eventually.

The rules are not whimsical. Unemployment is not based on need or financial circumstances. Your wife left her last covered (unemployment tax paying) employer voluntarily to take another job. This doesn't get you approved for unemployment. The new employer did not pay in unemployment taxes on her, because they claimed she was a contractor only. Therefore, why she left or was laid off or whatever does not count as a reason from granting benfits. It does sound a little bit like they called her a contractor when maybe it shouldn't have been. Good luck.
 
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pattytx

Senior Member
And besides, there is no such thing as a "1099 employee". Her very first check, with no taxes withheld, immediately should have screamed self-employed.

Agree with commentator, though. Depending on what she did and what type of business it was, it's very possible she was misclassified.
 

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