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Unemployment fraud interview when a temporary job wasnt clear on termination
- Thread starter Nicosmomma
- Start date
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Nicosmomma
Junior Member
I didn’t expect it
No prior events that would constitute termination however the night before the phone call not to come in pending further information was the night in which I was upset by the visit from my sexual offenders wife. all my coworkers knew of the situation that happened years ago however this situation came out of the blue and as a sudden shock.
my boss, the owner, was grilling me the night prior to the phone call regarding my shifts about how she would be more comfortable If I had an attorney to cover any possible slander issues. And I said I don’t have the money for that, this happened a long time ago, and it was a freak incident that his wife found and confronted me. She knows the man who raped me and his father and they hold power in the community in which her business resides. Im only assuming that these events led to the phone call asking me not to come in.
No prior events that would constitute termination however the night before the phone call not to come in pending further information was the night in which I was upset by the visit from my sexual offenders wife. all my coworkers knew of the situation that happened years ago however this situation came out of the blue and as a sudden shock.
my boss, the owner, was grilling me the night prior to the phone call regarding my shifts about how she would be more comfortable If I had an attorney to cover any possible slander issues. And I said I don’t have the money for that, this happened a long time ago, and it was a freak incident that his wife found and confronted me. She knows the man who raped me and his father and they hold power in the community in which her business resides. Im only assuming that these events led to the phone call asking me not to come in.
commentator
Senior Member
What you can do is get the calendar and decide when everything happened. What was the date and time you had the conversation with this employer. When you filed the claim, and when you actually certified for weeks of benefits, and what your answer was to the questions asked on the certifications. Right now, from here, we cannot tell you absolutely anything.
Essentially, to qualify for unemployment insurance you must be out of work through no fault of your own. If you were working part time and claiming unemployment benefits for part of the time you weren't working, you must be able and available for all the hours they had available for you. If you were offered hours, you were supposed to work them. If you refused them, you were supposed to report that on the weekly certification for that week.
From what we are hearing here, it is impossible for us to make any kind of decision about this thing. All I can say is, talk to the Maryland unemployment agency and let them ask you the exact relevant questions they'll need to ask. They will also talk to the employer. Can the drama. Forget the rapist, the slander, etc. They just want to know whether or not you refused to work hours that the employer had for you. Did you actually work and make the amounts you showed on the weekly certifications? Let them figure this out for you. As I said, they're not going to send you to jail, they're going to determine whether or not you were eligible for unemployment during the weeks you received it. We cannot do anything like this from here or tell you anything that is likely to happen, because we aren't in possession of the important details about when your claim was filed and for how much.
Essentially, to qualify for unemployment insurance you must be out of work through no fault of your own. If you were working part time and claiming unemployment benefits for part of the time you weren't working, you must be able and available for all the hours they had available for you. If you were offered hours, you were supposed to work them. If you refused them, you were supposed to report that on the weekly certification for that week.
From what we are hearing here, it is impossible for us to make any kind of decision about this thing. All I can say is, talk to the Maryland unemployment agency and let them ask you the exact relevant questions they'll need to ask. They will also talk to the employer. Can the drama. Forget the rapist, the slander, etc. They just want to know whether or not you refused to work hours that the employer had for you. Did you actually work and make the amounts you showed on the weekly certifications? Let them figure this out for you. As I said, they're not going to send you to jail, they're going to determine whether or not you were eligible for unemployment during the weeks you received it. We cannot do anything like this from here or tell you anything that is likely to happen, because we aren't in possession of the important details about when your claim was filed and for how much.
Nicosmomma
Junior Member
Thanks
Yes obviously jail is my main concern I have never been in any kind of legal trouble so this fraud investigation terrifies me. as a single mom I need to be home with my son but also I tend to over expose myself, so I will keep my answers simple and as factual to my knowledge. I also am currently unemployed, not receiving benefits any longer and I recently broke my hands and if they make me pay back anything I literally have nothing to give and I recently couldn’t accept a bartending job I was offered due to being temporarily handless. My life is difficult so I appreciate your clarification and advice as it assists in some reduction of stress and confusion.
Yes obviously jail is my main concern I have never been in any kind of legal trouble so this fraud investigation terrifies me. as a single mom I need to be home with my son but also I tend to over expose myself, so I will keep my answers simple and as factual to my knowledge. I also am currently unemployed, not receiving benefits any longer and I recently broke my hands and if they make me pay back anything I literally have nothing to give and I recently couldn’t accept a bartending job I was offered due to being temporarily handless. My life is difficult so I appreciate your clarification and advice as it assists in some reduction of stress and confusion.
commentator
Senior Member
Since you have now drawn out your claim, and there have been some discrepancies between what the employer is saying and when you had wages reported (they can tell this exactly) and what you reported on the weekly certifications where you were supposed to report if you were offered your job back or had any work for wages, they are of course checking on these discrepancies. It is what the agency does. It does not mean you have committed fraud or that you have been charged with or even accused of fraud. DOES NOT mean you need to get an attorney and shut up, or any of those things that would happen if you were charged criminally with unemployment fraud. I repeat, this has not happened.
Each week you draw unemployment must be a week you certified for. Each week must be a Sunday through Saturday calendar week, regardless of how or when you were paid the wages for the time you have worked that week. So even if you didn't get paid until the following week, or once or twice a month, each week when you certified, you would report, for example, I worked 10 hours at $10 an hour, so I report $100 for this week, even if you get paid later. It's not supposed to be reported when you got paid, it is supposed to be reported when you actually worked it. Sometimes, very commonly, people don't understand this, or don't "guesstimate" exactly right in these circumstances, and their wages get reported incorrectly.
There is also a place on the weekly certification that says something like "Did you accept a job, refuse a job, were you offered a job this week?" And if you put "No" and the employer says they offered you work that week, or told you to come in that week and you refused, or something like that, they'll ask you about it and talk to both parties and make a decision about whether you refused work in a disqualifying way. They'll be the ones who go into whether or not it was valid when a co worker told you not to come in, and whether the employer made a bona fide offer of work or made it clear to you what they wanted you to do.
Just be calm, and answer their questions as honestly as you can, as I said, get your calendar and do your thought homework before the interview. And do not distract yourself (and the investigators) by throwing in things like your rape and your broken hands and your confusion and your single motherhood and your employer telling you to get a lawyer for your slander case and your current situation. Just the facts, ma'am.
When doing an investigation, people who throw in too much stuff and try to tell you their hard luck stories automatically cast suspicion on themselves. This is because investigators are trained to cut through all the extra stuff and get to the bare bones of when did you work, how much did you make, what were you told, are you out of work through no fault of your own, did you do this on purpose or did you simply not understand. And when you're rattling on about all this other stuff, it comes across as an effort to camouflage the actual facts of the situation. They're much less likely to give you the benefit of the doubt if you're full of excuses.
If they decide you are actually overpaid, which will come much later after they've checked everything out back and forth and then issued an overpayment decision, they will also decide if this was deliberate fraud. If it does, that means an overpayment with penalties, and in your state, no waiver. If they decide there was an overpayment with no fraud involved, you can request a waiver of the overpayment, and at that time (which may be long after your broken hands have healed) you'd provide them with detailed financial information and they determine if you have the capability to pay the money you have received incorrectly back to them.
If it were determined to be outright blatant fraud, they'll assess penalties as well as the actual overpayment, and there is no waiver. However, they have much experience with dealing with broke people (since so many of their clients are unemployed) and they know you cannot get blood from a turnip. You will likely end up with an overpayment sitting there on your record until you work again, at which time they may garnish your paychecks. They might keep your state tax refunds. But in any case, you very likely do not have to worry about being recommended to the DA for criminal prosecution. They simply do not have the time and resources to prosecute everyone they determine to have committed fraud. They are much more interested in getting the money back.
This is AFTER, repeat, after the investigative process you are about to enter. So there's certainly no point in anguishing about it now. Best wishes to you.
Each week you draw unemployment must be a week you certified for. Each week must be a Sunday through Saturday calendar week, regardless of how or when you were paid the wages for the time you have worked that week. So even if you didn't get paid until the following week, or once or twice a month, each week when you certified, you would report, for example, I worked 10 hours at $10 an hour, so I report $100 for this week, even if you get paid later. It's not supposed to be reported when you got paid, it is supposed to be reported when you actually worked it. Sometimes, very commonly, people don't understand this, or don't "guesstimate" exactly right in these circumstances, and their wages get reported incorrectly.
There is also a place on the weekly certification that says something like "Did you accept a job, refuse a job, were you offered a job this week?" And if you put "No" and the employer says they offered you work that week, or told you to come in that week and you refused, or something like that, they'll ask you about it and talk to both parties and make a decision about whether you refused work in a disqualifying way. They'll be the ones who go into whether or not it was valid when a co worker told you not to come in, and whether the employer made a bona fide offer of work or made it clear to you what they wanted you to do.
Just be calm, and answer their questions as honestly as you can, as I said, get your calendar and do your thought homework before the interview. And do not distract yourself (and the investigators) by throwing in things like your rape and your broken hands and your confusion and your single motherhood and your employer telling you to get a lawyer for your slander case and your current situation. Just the facts, ma'am.
When doing an investigation, people who throw in too much stuff and try to tell you their hard luck stories automatically cast suspicion on themselves. This is because investigators are trained to cut through all the extra stuff and get to the bare bones of when did you work, how much did you make, what were you told, are you out of work through no fault of your own, did you do this on purpose or did you simply not understand. And when you're rattling on about all this other stuff, it comes across as an effort to camouflage the actual facts of the situation. They're much less likely to give you the benefit of the doubt if you're full of excuses.
If they decide you are actually overpaid, which will come much later after they've checked everything out back and forth and then issued an overpayment decision, they will also decide if this was deliberate fraud. If it does, that means an overpayment with penalties, and in your state, no waiver. If they decide there was an overpayment with no fraud involved, you can request a waiver of the overpayment, and at that time (which may be long after your broken hands have healed) you'd provide them with detailed financial information and they determine if you have the capability to pay the money you have received incorrectly back to them.
If it were determined to be outright blatant fraud, they'll assess penalties as well as the actual overpayment, and there is no waiver. However, they have much experience with dealing with broke people (since so many of their clients are unemployed) and they know you cannot get blood from a turnip. You will likely end up with an overpayment sitting there on your record until you work again, at which time they may garnish your paychecks. They might keep your state tax refunds. But in any case, you very likely do not have to worry about being recommended to the DA for criminal prosecution. They simply do not have the time and resources to prosecute everyone they determine to have committed fraud. They are much more interested in getting the money back.
This is AFTER, repeat, after the investigative process you are about to enter. So there's certainly no point in anguishing about it now. Best wishes to you.
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