Denied for Unemployment Benefits Ohio after being denied Long Term Disability Unum

[susan45066]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio

My husband was taken off work by his doctor in May 2009. He had seen several doctor until they found the underlying cause of his problem. During this time from May 2009 until September 2009 he had been off work. During that time he was on short term disability for 90 days. He was let go from his job on September 9, 2009 and was not released by the doctor to light duty until September 18, 2009. His employer sent him a letter stating that they could no longer hold his position for him. Unfortunately he had not job to return to. He applied for long term disability after his short term disability ended. He went round and round with disability and then was told he was only eligible for 1 week of long term disabilty. After that, he applied for Unemployment (since he had been released back to work). Unemployment denied him stating that they needed proof that he was released back to work. He provided the proof that unemployment asked him for (a doctor's note). He then appealed his case after providing this information as he was told he was still being denied. He was told then that he was being transferred to the redetermination unit. The redetermination department sat on things for 3 weeks then told him, that doctor's note was not enough information, we need a more detailed letter. He asked the doctor to forward the additional information and now unemployment is telling him that he is going to be sent a letter stating that there is going to be a telephone arbitration about this matter. What do we need to do? Can anyone help us with this? I am only working 32 hours per week myself and cannot pay all of our bills. Any help we can get is truly appreciated.

 

[jsmith416]

Has your doctor provided the more detailed explanation they need? Have you received a copy? If so, send your own copy to Unemployment to be sure they have it and if possible confirm receipt so you know it's in the file.

Make sure you keep certifying each week. If you are determined to be eligible you will be paid for all the back weeks but only if you have filed for those weeks.

 

[susan45066]

Denied Unemployment after being denied Long Term Disability Unum

Yes, the letter was sent from the doctor's office via facsimile from the doctor's office to unemployment. The doctor did NOT provide my husband with a copy of the letter and he has called unemployment to see if they received the fax. They told him they are "not allowed" to confirm or deny that they received any faxes. I am not sure what their problem is.

 

[jsmith416]

So call the doctors office and get a copy of the letter. There is no reason I can think of why they wouldn't give you a copy since it's his medical file. And make absolutely certain you get it to the unemployment office even if that means faxing, mailing, and e-mailing it. You may even be able to go to your nearest office and deliver it in person.

If your case is as straight-forward as it seems then it's just a matter of making absolutely sure they have the proper documentation. It can be frustrating dealing with such a giant bureaucracy but don't give up.

 

[commentator]

There may also be an issue with "fully released" versus "released to light duty." In order to be eligible for unemployment in many cases where the injury or illness was not work related, the person has to be fully released and not just released to light duty. If the doctor's note was not specific enough concerning this, or not exact about the date on which your husband was fully released, this may be the problem.

This doctor has spent a lot of time confirming that your husband was disabled, that he probably qualified for long term disability. There may be something in the letter that would indicate he is still having problems with working full time at his former level of performance, which is what is required.

In any case, I would, as someone above has suggested, make every effort to obtain a copy of the doctor's note and fax it myself to the unemployment ajudicator who is working on your husband's case. The fax machines in large offices sometimes run around the clock, receiving thousands of faxes a week, and there is no way anyone is going to run over to the machine and confirm receipt of a fax on demand.

You seem to be falling into the trap of believing that because your financial situation is stressed, your husband should be entitled to get his unemployment insurance. This is not always the case, as unemployment insurance is not a needs based program. If your husband's health is very compromised, it may not be approved at all. It is not designed to assist someone with a health issue while they are not able to work.

Unemployment insurance is very strictly based on guidelines such as being released from a job through no fault of his own and being able and available and actively seeking work during the weeks for which he is certifying.

He should also during this appeals process be filing regular weekly certifications for his unemployment. If he does this, there will be back pay from the time he began applying if the claim is approved.

 

[cbg]

I'm also wondering how much of a benefit is even available, if the employee was out from May through October. That leaves only about half of the base period to incur wages for what is generally only a fraction of regular pay anyway.

 

[commentator]

Very true. This is one of the reasons that when an employee is terminated for health reasons, I always try to encourage the person to sign up immediately for their unemployment, even though they will not be eligibile for availibility reasons. This will set them up a good claim based on their highest quarters of wages.

But if he's got it, two good quarters of wages should be enough to set up this person a decent amount of benefits, though the number of weeks may be shorter. But with the extensions now in place, this isn't quite as bad as it used to be.

This is why it is such a tragedy, and one I used to see frequently, where a person who is let go doesn't sign up on unemployment until they are sure they really can't find another job and are really desperate and really really need to receive benefits. They seem to think this is a meritable action, saving the country "tax dollars" or something. This is completely not true, because YOUR reported wages used to set up your unemployment claims do not stay in there till you are ready to use them, they go away as the quarters change and will eventually go away all together.

 

[susan45066]

We did finally secure a copy of the final doctor's note. It does release my husband to full duty. I faxed a copy of the doctor's note to unemployment myself today to assure that someone gets it. I also have a print out of the confirmation showing it was sent to them. My husband applied for disability about 30 days after being let go from his job. He was only approved for 1 week of long term disability. The reason it was not extended longer is due to a gray area in the DUI laws which states that he can take prescription medicine and operate a vehicle as long as he is under a certain legal limit.
They don't seem to care that he was never able to fully complete the physical therapy that was prescribed, nor did he have surgery, etc. We could not afford to get the cobra that was offered as they wanted $1200 per month.

 

[commentator]

Good! Now he needs to keep certifying for each week that passes, and hopefully they will get the claim approved soon. Good luck to you.

There is a huge terrible hole in our safety net for working people in this country related to getting sick or injured and not being able to work, and ending up losing everything because of it.

 

[susan45066]

Still have not been approved. Doctor faxed the letter to Unemployment. I also faxed the letter to Unemployment. We have NO $ to try to hire a lawyer to help us out. Still not notification about a hearing date. Any suggestions as to what we can do to speed the process up. We get food stamps from the county and have medical insurance from the county for our children. I am only working part time and we cannot even pay our bills. The county helps with the food and insurance for the children like I stated above but I still don't make enough $ for us to live. Anyone know of any organizations or someone that might be able to help us in the meantime while we are waiting on a decision from unemployment? Have disconnect notes to deal with as well.

 

[commentator]

There is no guarantee your husband will be approved. Ever. You have faxed the material in, are waiting for a phone hearing with the redetermination unit to see if your husband is going to be approved.

You need to get to the Ohio website, find a number to talk to a living human being, and keep calling and calling, daily, until you find someone who can look at your husband's claim. (He will need to be the one who calls, or he will need to be there to confirm that you are speaking for him with his permission when the call is made.) What they can do is look and make sure your case has not fallen through the cracks. Someone in the redetermination unit sounds like an excellent place to start. Actually, another week of waiting to hear about the hearing after the material has been faxed in at this time of year isn't really extreme.

You do not need an attorney to 'speed this process.' There's nothing you can do except make sure you are in queue to be processed. He needs to keep filing for weeks of benefits as they pass.

As I said before, unemployment is not a needs based program, in other words, you can't sue them for not paying you quick enough to keep you afloat financially. Your income is not a consideration. That said, your local legal services might be able to represent you in your hearing, if you have one. But I wouldn't count on them changing the outcome for you, or helping you get it done quicker.

An attorney can't do your follow up, or make your calls to unemployment for you. If they did, they'd charge you for hours of holding the phone, stuff you certainly could have done for yourself or your husband could have done for himself, as the case may be. But they are making a decision whether he is eligible for benefits, and the answer very well may be no, even after he has the redetermination hearing. I'm hearing a lot of "can't drive, still has problems' issues. Remember, unlike Food Stamps, unemployment is not in any way connected to your income or your need for money to get by on.

 

[susan45066]

I don't know how they can deny him if he was released to FULL duty by the doctor (they just happened to release him after his job was terminated) as his employer claimed they were no longer able to hold his position. In addition, unemployment allowed the claim (supposedly) but disallowed the amount (I think is what my husband said - unless I misunderstood him) and unemployment said the reason for this is that he was NOT released to full duty (because they supposedly didnt have all of the needed paperwork). I just think the whole thing is frustrating.

 

[commentator]

Find someone who works for the department, and call them. As I said, if he's been overlooked, that's something you can help by getting the attention of someone in the system. I hope you can get this definitely worked out soon. I know it's frustrating, but this is absolutely the busiest time of the year in a very overwhelming year for the system. Keep certifying weekly.

I don't see how they could be "disallowing the amount." There really is no such animal. Is it possible they are saying he doesn't have a claim based on not making enough in the base period to have enough wages to make a claim? This is why you need to talk to someone there in the system. They can look and see what is going on, when outsiders can't.