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unemployment benefits

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junemann

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

i think i have kind of an unusual question.

This past summer i moved to South Carolina from Wisconsin, and began a new job. Recently i have been fired from that position and i then filed for unemployment benefits. When i went to the office i was given the option of filing against WI or SC, I chose SC. My employer however contested my claim, and after waiting for 6 weeks i have found out that i am going to get penalized about 3 months (half) of my benefits.

I was wondering if it is allowed for me to go back to the office and file against WI now, and see which state gave me the better offer?

Thanks in Advance,

Joe
 
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junemann

Junior Member
I guess im not really sure yet, ive been checking the status of my account online almost daily, and i saw today that they chopped it in half. (previously there was an amount listed, but there was red writing stating my case had an unresolved issue). I supposed something will come in the mail telling me why.

however i suspect it is do to the fact that i "deserved" to get fired.

without going into to much detail:

I had recently gotten promoted to Store Manager at a slower smaller gas station. However it turned out that it was way to stressful and i wasnt ready, i was having a really bad day/week at work. i called my manager to talk about it, during the phone call i locked the door as i was getting a little emotional. during that phone call i decided that i would like to step back down to Assistant Manager. My manager said she would send someone over to take over for me. I hung up the phone and unlocked the door and resumed waiting on customers.

I got fired the next day for insubordination, as it was against company policy to lock the front door. (i believe this is why i am having my amount deducted).

my ex-employer states its in the employee handbook and i signed a piece of paper acknowledging reading the book, however i never saw this handbook, i thought i was signing that i read through the new employee guide.
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
That's not how it works. If you were fired for misconduct you wouldn't be eligible for any benefits. Your benefits are not pro-rated based upon the degree to which you deserve to be fired.

You need to find out why your benefits were reduced from 26 to 13 weeks. You should have gotten or will be getting a determination in the mail. One possibility is that you did not have enough wages in the base lookback period, or that your wages from WI were not counted along with your SC wages.
 

pattytx

Senior Member
Agree with swalsh, check your financial determination notice to make sure both states' wages were included.
 

commentator

Senior Member
swalsh is right on the money here. Very very unlikely that you are being deemed eligible but penalized. Unemployment approval is like pregnancy, you either is or you isn't approved. Under the circumstances of your termination, I would be awfully suprised if you were approved in the initial decision.

But what you've done is actually filed the claim. You should have received, or will, at some point soon receive a wage determination, showing what wages are being used to set up your claim. Wages should have been moved from Wisconsin to set up part of your South Carolina claim.

Looking at the claim status on line isn't going to give you any information you need about this. When it is set up, you'll receive a letter. At this point you will be told that if you believe this information is not correct, you will have a contact number you can get back with and explain to them why this is not an accurate picture of the wages you made during the quarters they are using to set up the claim.

I am making the assumption that you are certifying for weeks as they pass, waiting to hear if your claim has been approved or denied on the initial decision. Looking at the status of your claim on line is NOT going to provide you with any helpful information for you. What they are doing is moving these wages from both states, setting up a claim. There may be an unresolved issue with your Wisconsin wages.(If you quit or were fired from that job, they may not want to pay you from there, either) But in the meantime, there is NOTHING you can do about it. You do not need to screw with the process by trying to file a second claim. Assume nothing, do nothing until you receive a determination letter. Wage records, how the claim sets up is one separate issue.

Then there is the other thing. You should also receive a decision letter, telling you whether or not your claim is going to be approved. If you are denied, you will have to file an appeal and have a hearing. As I said, I would almost suspect you're going to be denied, at least initially. It's pretty hard to justify locking the door of the business during business hours. That almost wanders over into the area of gross misconduct, almost like walking off the job. You might lose your appeals and get your claim denied totally, but you would not be given a penalty, or be given only part of the money because you were fired for misconduct.
 
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