commentator
Senior Member
It's me again for one reason, and one reason only. Thanks for the kind comments on my commentary. But honestly, in this particular case, in this particular state, at this particular time, I can truly say I do not believe consulting with an attorney would do this person a bit of good. He will never, ever, ever find an attorney who has the kind of detailed intimate knowledge of how this system works that I have.
An attorney will only charge him money he could better use paying back the overpayment (IF he has to) and increase his paranoia by saying that he hasn't got a chance unless he uses them to represent him. But then, if he is going to go in with the kind of attitude that will cause him to do what I have persistently told him NOT to do, and argue what I have told him not to argue and bring up what I told him not to bring up, he is not going to do too well anyhow. An attorney would be very brief, would not get emotional, would follow the direction of the hearing officer, and would keep all the extraneous bull..... and their emotions and feelings and hopes and dreams and feelings they've been mistreated out of it.
I have one caveat. Redemption Man, if you are in West TN, far West TN, down on the corner, things are sometimes very different. But even so, they are held to the exact same laws, and even if things get cooked strangely in appeals, they can be fixed later.
And as a person who did this for many years, I resent your comment that because it is a private contractor that they are "immensely knowledgeable about the system." If you'd dealt with as many flown-in consultants who were hired two weeks before as I have, you'd know better. We always advise employers that if you are reasonable intelligent and willing to spend just a few minutes familiarizing yourself with the process, you'll do better representing yourself than you will spending money on consulting third party firms to represent you. Some of these third parties are actually people who have worked for the department and then retired and opened their own consulting firms. But they don't have any resources that I am not giving you right here on this site.
But really, R-man, you have the worst tendency to think negatively against your own self and the least self confidence and the hardest time hearing what someone is saying to you imaginable. No the government is not stacked against you. And "because the hearing officer rules individually on cases" makes you think you will need an attorney?????? That is probably the dumbest thing I've heard lately. Of course they rule individually on cases. Duh. That's because no two cases are ever ever exactly alike. What they are doing is listening to the sides of the case, and making their decision, based on unemployment law, which does not change, as they see it applied in these individual cases. And the cases are reviewed and re-looked at over and over by others, in case the one individual who made one decision was looking at it wrong.
There is a certain amount of subjectivity, though hearing officers will find themselves sometimes finding in favor of butt heads that they wished with their hearts they could find against. But they are more likely to find you believable if you are pleasant and professional and well presented. Thus, the statements written by the third party consultants are professional sounding, they follow the law, and the consultant will probably show up nicely dressed and act very respectful. Why can't you do the same?
Incidentally, since you have already received most all of the money in your claim, without question or problem until this point, you will not simply be able to back out of the whole deal and take your toys and go home and not play with them any more and nurse your grudges against the system. You will have to make arrangements to repay the system. Unless you qualify for a waiver based on your income, you will keep the overpayment on your record even if you are not forced to repay it immediately. Unemployment may become something you need again sometime, and this money you've received before must be either approved or set up as an overpayment. While it is not a "fraud" overpayment, I never underestimate the potential of our current lawmakers in this state to begin some sort of ugly repayment enforcement program at some point. So good luck, do your best to win this, and get the unemployment insurance that is rightfully yours.
An attorney will only charge him money he could better use paying back the overpayment (IF he has to) and increase his paranoia by saying that he hasn't got a chance unless he uses them to represent him. But then, if he is going to go in with the kind of attitude that will cause him to do what I have persistently told him NOT to do, and argue what I have told him not to argue and bring up what I told him not to bring up, he is not going to do too well anyhow. An attorney would be very brief, would not get emotional, would follow the direction of the hearing officer, and would keep all the extraneous bull..... and their emotions and feelings and hopes and dreams and feelings they've been mistreated out of it.
I have one caveat. Redemption Man, if you are in West TN, far West TN, down on the corner, things are sometimes very different. But even so, they are held to the exact same laws, and even if things get cooked strangely in appeals, they can be fixed later.
And as a person who did this for many years, I resent your comment that because it is a private contractor that they are "immensely knowledgeable about the system." If you'd dealt with as many flown-in consultants who were hired two weeks before as I have, you'd know better. We always advise employers that if you are reasonable intelligent and willing to spend just a few minutes familiarizing yourself with the process, you'll do better representing yourself than you will spending money on consulting third party firms to represent you. Some of these third parties are actually people who have worked for the department and then retired and opened their own consulting firms. But they don't have any resources that I am not giving you right here on this site.
But really, R-man, you have the worst tendency to think negatively against your own self and the least self confidence and the hardest time hearing what someone is saying to you imaginable. No the government is not stacked against you. And "because the hearing officer rules individually on cases" makes you think you will need an attorney?????? That is probably the dumbest thing I've heard lately. Of course they rule individually on cases. Duh. That's because no two cases are ever ever exactly alike. What they are doing is listening to the sides of the case, and making their decision, based on unemployment law, which does not change, as they see it applied in these individual cases. And the cases are reviewed and re-looked at over and over by others, in case the one individual who made one decision was looking at it wrong.
There is a certain amount of subjectivity, though hearing officers will find themselves sometimes finding in favor of butt heads that they wished with their hearts they could find against. But they are more likely to find you believable if you are pleasant and professional and well presented. Thus, the statements written by the third party consultants are professional sounding, they follow the law, and the consultant will probably show up nicely dressed and act very respectful. Why can't you do the same?
Incidentally, since you have already received most all of the money in your claim, without question or problem until this point, you will not simply be able to back out of the whole deal and take your toys and go home and not play with them any more and nurse your grudges against the system. You will have to make arrangements to repay the system. Unless you qualify for a waiver based on your income, you will keep the overpayment on your record even if you are not forced to repay it immediately. Unemployment may become something you need again sometime, and this money you've received before must be either approved or set up as an overpayment. While it is not a "fraud" overpayment, I never underestimate the potential of our current lawmakers in this state to begin some sort of ugly repayment enforcement program at some point. So good luck, do your best to win this, and get the unemployment insurance that is rightfully yours.
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