The new stimulus package (The Federal Consolidated Appropriations Act) signed by Trump at the end of December 27th 2020 was to bring relief to many Americans. With the $600 stimulus it also carried with it an extension of unemployment and a $300 additional weekly unemployment payment. Many states have been reporting that this $300 has been going out to unemployed workers. A few of the payments have reached some Ohioans. Many Ohioans have taken to social media though to express frustration over what looks like up to 4 months of no unemployment payments whatsoever. On Reddit a group has formed of frustrated workers who have been dealing with the sudden shut off of unemployment payments in Ohio. Many are reporting no payments in quite a while. Ohio has failed to contact people or relay what is going on.
When The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS) was approached about this little to no answers were given. Instead the questions were deflected with a push to change the narrative to one about organized crime and fraud. Instead of fixing the problem ODJFS took to media not answering questions of the many who are struggling to make rent or feed families but to say they are putting their energy to fighting fraud and theft. The easiest thing to access on the Ohio Unemployment page is not applying for unemployment or anything that serves the unemployed, but a large section to report Identity Theft. In response to this Kimberly Henderson the Director of ODJFS has given little to no response. In an article from the Dayton Daily News she avoided answering the question of just how many unemployed Ohioans have received payments. The fault is placed on Deloitte Consulting for rolling out a new site to deal with this while acknowledging that they have done so for at least 8 other states at this time. ODJFS has released many statements and seems to encourage the talk of fraud first and foremost. The ODJFS Twitter page has not addressed the issue or taken steps to let struggling workers know what their future will look like, but it did post a nice video with music about identity theft.
In an article posted the 19th at Cleveland.com Joh Husted addressed claims of fraud:
Husted, a Columbus-area Republican, said that state officials are still trying to track down exactly how many fraudulent jobless claims have been filed with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
But he said that so many false claims have been filed that state officials are now checking on every claim to make sure it’s genuine. That, Husted said, often leads to legitimate claims being delayed.
https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021/01/unemployment-benefits-scams-spike-around-ohio-targeting-even-gov-mike-dewine.html
So, we see that even though unemployed workers already went through the process of filing and verifying their claims last year their priority is to assume every worker filed is looked at for fraud before receiving anything. How long will this last? Nobody is giving that answer. Ohio has failed to send letters or clarification to those on unemployment. They have apparently taken their resources to prioritize treating unemployed workers as criminals before they can eat or pay rent.
Social media reports of what people are being told and what little information that has come out has largely been conflicting. It seems that ODJFS is more concerned with alleged crimes that they are too busy to give any solid information. Unemployment groups in social media sites such as Reddit and Facebook have been circulating claims that a member in the groups has committed suicide over the stress of having his income cut off by ODJFS. While Ohio wages their war on crime people are struggling during a time of record unemployment during a pandemic with nothing but uncertainty of any relief in site.
Many have taken to social media to share rude and condescending email responses they have been receiving from Director Kimberly Henderson. A petition has been circulating calling for her resignation. Some discussion on social media has also been calling for more active responses to being treated this way such as peaceful protests. Any way it goes people are desperate, angry and calling for a change soon.
1/22/21 UPDATE: Are you going through this right now? Let your voice be heard, tell your story and let’s show the state what is going on.
I love your article, honestly it was/is spot on. There has only been vague at best communication from ODJFS…and the press releases only seem to come after they are overwhelmed with frustrated claimants call and emails wanting answers. The utility companies and grocery stores don’t care about retroactive backpay. That doesn’t help anyone now when most of us haven’t seen any payments in at least 5 weeks. They dropped every Ohioan flat on their faces.
My husband and I are both laid off from the same company and receive unemployment. Myself traditional and him PUA. We have 6 children to raise and nothing to raise them on. My cable is due to be disconnected on the 23rd and 4 of our kids are in remote learning. I am barely staving off Rent 2 Own taking my washer and dryer I have been paying for for months. It is usually deducted directly from my card every Monday, which is usually traditional unemployment payday but since I haven’t been paid since mid December I am almost 4 weeks behind on my payment and no solid answer as to when I may again have income. This is a massive failure on ODJFS.
I’ve called unemployment every day for 3 weeks going on 4 nobody knows what’s goin on hear several different stories I have 4 grandchildren starting at 6 month to 15 and about to be homeless can’t pay water electric or gas this is humane what they’re doing to the state of ohio
I have be waiting for 5 weeks on a payment from unemployment when you call odjfs you always get several different answers sometimes they are rude as if we are bothering them I have a 11 year old an I have custody of my 1 year old granddaughter who is disabled she has a trach an is hook up to machines at night I’m now facing the fact that I have a disconnecting on my electricity bill that I have not make arrangements on because I have no idea on when we will be paid when I first filed for pua I submitted my tax returns so this is no way fraud on my behave but yet I’m being treated this way I can’t believe I have lived in ohio all my life I have paid my taxes faithfully an when I need help due to no fault of me own the state has let me down something needs to be done about this everyone says hold on you will get back pay but that back pay means nothing if my electricity is off I’m so ashamed to say I’m from ohio
Hello, I haven’t received unemployment in 4 weeks. After the massive fraud investigation ODJFS had a few months back, I have lost faith. It isn’t as easy as get a job. I have recently found out I, my fiance and possibly my 3 children have covid. I have actively been looking for a job, but because I can no longer afford child care, I can only work from home. Now with Covid we all MUST quarantine. My children can’t attend school, my fiance can’t go to work. Ohio has abandoned us! Its so easy to say, “Go back to work!” Except we are literally in the middle of a Pandemic. We are being forced to go out into the world and risk exposure, or stay in and protect our families and be homeless and starving….. This is inhumane!
I am one of the many going on 5 weeks now pay! I have 3 kids and 3 pets , I got laid off in March and have been home schooling ever since. It’s scary to not know if your going to be able to pay rent or eat.
It’s sad that while she is in her Home, some are homeless, while she is warm, some are cold, while her and her family is fed, some are starving. Why is Ohio so far behind? They are behind because of the politicians fattening their pockets while everyone else starves. Not everyone is a criminal, not everyone is milking the system but instead of worrying about how much others have taken how about the free cellphones, free cars, free gas they get. How about showing some of us how to get a job with unemployment to help those who can’t work. How about instead of worrying if you get that $300 suit to post a video you worry about if you worey about those who wish they had $5 for a meal. How about you do something to get people their payments cause I know we had to show proof of the work we done before we were laid off due to something out of our control. We sent our forms, we proved our identity and its not our fault that you failed at your job of making others show that proof. Spend 1 night in some of the unemployed or homeless peoples shoes before you sit and judge while you sit in that $300 suit in a warm office with a full belly. I just bet your whole attitude to blame others for your failure to do your job correctly is our fault.
I promised my car loan company $500 by Jan 5th. Here it is 16 days later and luckily they haven’t gotten to me yet, but this is really ruining lives.
FIRST it was the federal government for taking their dear time to get something signed, now, theres a whole other debacle with the state government.
If the fraud theory is correct, why wouldn’t other states do the same thing also?
Yea we are late on car payment and also got eviction notice Ohio
I filed regular unemployment in July, was denied found out I could file PUA. I filed PUA in October and have filed my weekly certifications since. I still have not received any approval/denial correspondence or any payments. Everytime I call they tell me it is in adjudication waiting to be reviewed. I also emailed technical support requesting them to backdate my claim since it wouldn’t let me when I file go any further than the week before. I can not get a straight answer from any of the reps. How long does it take for them to review my claim it has been over 3 months. This is not acceptable, I have 5 children, a house mortgage and all my other utilities to pay. Things need to be changed!
Well its going on 4 weeks on claiming me weeks and i have 9 weeks remaining and still nothing still says submitted i have 2 kids been homeschooling and I’m so behind rent and everything else please get this going..
This is pure madness. It’s insane that several times when I had called ODJFS I had more solid info than the employee I was speaking to, and that is only because thousands of us still waiting for payments are collaborating and sharing on reddit, Twitter etc. How is getting payments, or at least information to struggling families not the top priority of ODJFS? Sure there’s some fraud and that’s a crime but what Kimberly Henderson has done/been doing is a far more serious crime. She should lose her job, the sooner the better so we know that someone competent is doing this work going forward.
I too am one that has been on unemployment since the middle of March when the pandemic hit really hard I live in Lorain county I don’t even know where to start I work for a agency that provides service to Lorraine city schools there I work as a parent throughout the city I started receiving unemployment I want to say sometime the April I had stopped work about the 16 th of March it took them that long to get my pandemic unemployment going I started receiving payments then one day out of nowhere I received a notice that my payments had stopped they needed to verify that I was who I said I was that went on for a couple weeks end up having to send in a whole bunch of information some of which I had already sent in from day one they told me that I had an overpayment and that I owed more than $3,000 back to them I filed an appeal in June about 17 th and to this day I have not got not one response in reference to my appeal I advise them that I should not be required to pay them back any money because it was no fault of my own that I hadn’t sent my payment information in w-2s pay stubs etc on day one and that they were the ones that made a mistake and calculating my unemployment benefit they went on to just reduce my pay to $189 and they have been taking half of that $94.50 every week since June so literally I have been trying to survive off of $94.50 a week which stopped on December 12th since December 12th I have not received any type of assistance going on 5 weeks it is utterly ridiculous I have called I have emailed I have called again and again and again I joined sites online so that I can communicate with others that are going through what I am going through and find out any type of information I can because the agency does not communicate with the unemployed it’s very sad very discouraging I am 54 years old and I thank God that my children are grown I can’t even imagine going through this and having a family to support I’ve been to food banks I’ve received rental assistance it’s just awful and at this point in time I am out of resources I’m afraid that I’m going to lose my car at any given time and it’s awful that you work your whole life and when you need benefits they aren’t there it’s not our fault that their system is broke they assured us way back when the pandemic started when it took all those many weeks to implement payments to begin with that they had been working on their systems and that they were up and running it is not our fault that they weren’t doing their jobs they have breached our social security numbers are more than one occasion they just seem very incompetent I don’t know how people like this remain in a job while sitting back and letting others start to death we are depressed depleted and don’t know which way to turn we need answers and we need them now Sooner rather than later
5 months I have waited for them to help me ..at first they out of blue claimed fraud then after calling and emailing them for months they determined me ineligible so slapped me with a 25.000 over payment and told me to appeal …i faxed and mailed the appeal. I email i get no where .once u lose your check out of blue you don’t talk to anyone. No place to go to get help or talk to someone .its all phone calls and the people taking calls can not help you
Im in same boat but got 25.000 overpayment
My payment stopped 12/12. No notice ahead of time nothing. So that’s right before Christmas. Now my twins birthday, my birthday which I care less about, bills behind, rent behind, took the stimulus check and bought my family of 5 essentials. Now they are saying 2/26 for people that were on extension that just stopped without warning. A bill for EMERGENCY FUNDS FOR A PANDEMIC. this is absolutely upsurd. This is the 1st and im praying the last time I ever have to use unemployment. Took 4 months to even get my 1st pay, then sent all my stuff in 4 times. Ohio’s wonderful unemployment just says be patient be patient, and no other information. Well tell that to the utility companies, to my landlord yet again, to my poor kids that could not celebrate Christmas now their birthdays. This isn’t fair. Ive worked since I’ve been 15 1/2, earlier than that babysitting. The 1st time I ever needed unemployment, and it’s always just wait, we don’t have any information, its a waiting game, we don’t know how long its going to take, and o yea before we send ur payment can u upload ur id, taxes, etc like I havent uploaded them 4 times before. Its clearly in my file. Why must we upload and provide the same things 10 times. 1 time for identification, and taxes etc understandable, what ohio is doing is absolutely infuriating. There was a bill passed endcof December, December 26th I believe, its almost February haven’t even received $1.00 among several others. Now they are saying o new pua applicants will be paid before us that haven’t been paid since 12/12. Yea that sounds right. Ohio has left us with nothing, they can’t even give 5 people the same information. Is it that hard to have employees know basic answers to obvious questions. Why did ohio wait until who knows how long after the bill passed to work on updating the system. Maybe unemployment workers or whoever is in charge that kim lady go without a penny from 12/12- 2/26. And as far as site says thats only the date my category im in can apply for extended 11 week benefits. Then how much longer after that will we even see a cent. Im so sick of them saying uts a waiting game how would they like to be forced to not have any information and told to wait. How long do u expect us to wait. People are already committing suicide. We are hopeless. We lost our jobs or have minimal hours because of a pandemic, and our state tells us to wait some more. Why isn’t the system set up for all of united states. So if one state can already be giving payments why is it in ohio constantly just wait. Enough is enough. How many others do u think are thinking about suicide? One day they have a job everything is fine next unemployed for no fault of our own and can’t even buy toilet paper, or enough food, 2 of my 3 kids are doing remote learning. Im so frustrated with this whole thing. All of us are. We are fed up, we deserve answers, we deserve to be able to give our kids food when they are hungry, we pay taxes every year, crap anytime we buy something as well, and our state leaves us to be homeless and unable to take care of our kids because all we hear is wait ,sure we’ve already waited 4 months for system, now waiting what another 3 or 4 months to receive another payment. Tell me this is right? This is absolutely bullsh*t.
please get this fixed ohio..I really don’t kno what else to do I keep calling everyday stay on phone for hours to just get hang up on smh…
This is sad. The system has been updated several times already. Dont you think the fraud department can handle stuff after we get paid my car got repo today because of none payment. Thanks ohio PAY US OUR MONEY NOW!!!!!!! KIM YOUR FIRED
I too am one that has been on unemployment since the middle of March when the pandemic hit really hard I live in Lorain county I don’t even know where to start I work for a agency that provides service to Lorain city schools there I work as a paraprofessional throughout the city .I started receiving unemployment I want to say sometime the end of April I had stopped work about the 16 th of March it took them that long to get my pandemic unemployment going I started receiving payments then one day out of nowhere I received a notice that my payments had stopped they needed to verify that I was who I said I was that went on for a couple weeks end up having to send in a whole bunch of information some of which I had already sent in from day one they told me that I had an overpayment and that I owed more than $3,000 back to them I filed an appeal in June about 17 th and to this day I have not got not one response in reference to my appeal I advise them that I should not be required to pay them back any money because it was no fault of my own that I had sent my payment information in w-2s pay stubs etc on day one and that they were the ones that made a mistake in calculating my unemployment benefit they went on to just reduce my pay to $189 and they have been taking half of that $94.50 every week since June so literally I have been trying to survive off of $94.50 a week which stopped on December 12th since December 12th I have not received any type of assistance going on 5 weeks it is utterly ridiculous I have called I have emailed I have called again and again and again I joined sites online so that I can communicate with others that are going through what I am going through and find out any type of information I can because the agency does not communicate with the unemployed it’s very sad very discouraging I am 54 years old and I thank God that my children are grown I can’t even imagine going through this and having a family to support I’ve been to food banks I’ve received rental assistance it’s just awful and at this point in time I am out of resources I’m afraid that I’m going to lose my car at any given time and it’s awful that you work your whole life and when you need benefits they aren’t there it’s not our fault that their system is broke they assured us way back when the pandemic started when it took all those many weeks to implement payments to begin with that they had been working on their systems and that they were up and running it is not our fault that they weren’t doing their jobs they have breached our social security numbers on more than one occasion they just seem very incompetent I don’t know how people like this remain in a job while sitting back and letting others starve to death we are depressed depleted and don’t know which way to turn we need answers and we need them now Sooner rather than later
Hi,
Your story is virtually identical to my own.
Currently as of the week ending December 12, 2020 (because Ohio’s unemployment rate dropped significantly) my unemployment benefits are no longer available.
This is absolute insanity!
I too began with a $480. weekly payment
June 16th without notice weekly payment was dropped to $189.
They began a weekly clawback of $95.50
out of the $189. Which left a weekly benefit of $85.50
I attempted for 5 months to reach them to no- avail.
Finally on December 22nd someone answered my call. The looked at my information & said they needed my 2019 federal return. I sent it to them within the hour & they returned my call.
This person said they had no idea why my weekly benefit was cut. They stated they would send my file to adjudication.
I have not received any help on this matter, I keep getting the run around.
Good luck with your situation.
UNBELIEVABLE
This is out of hand and uncalled for. I have 3 kids I have to homeschool and Ohio already cut me off right before Christmas! They stated the unemployment level was not high enough to justify keeping my claim. The only correspondence I’ve received is some generic standard email stating I may qualify for the extension. Of course I qualify for the extension! That’s what this was for! People like me who really need this help right now. I’m going on 6 weeks with no payments and zero hope in site. I have 52 cents in my bank account. Shame on Ohio. They dropped the ball and a lot of officials and directors need to seriously start packing up their offices and stepping down.
https://www.change.org/p/united-states-department-of-labor-fire-kim-henderson-director-of-ohio-job-and-family-services
Change . org Kim Henderson ohio PUA
My claim has started and stopped twice, I received corrected eligibility on Dec 25th. Odjfs intentionally leaves overpayment balances on claims even though your wba is correct. Seems this can only be removed by a benefits supervisor and you are not allowed to reach them. I have weeks unpaid back to November 2020, this would be weeks before the weeks were taking away because of unemployment numbers in the state. 1st stop was fraud, 15 weeks after appeal to get corrected. 2nd stop, curiously was no wages in the state. However regular UI had denied a start up stating not enough wages for claim, then UI guided to Pua, all of a sudden no wages was Pua correspondence. Regular UI says insufficient wages or weeks to start claim, Pua says no weeks worked no wages. So one office saw wages, the other saw none. 3rd stop job loss not due to covid-19. This was last corrected Dec 25th but lo and behold, your eligible, all information verified, original review, 2019 tax return, weekly pay stubs, and up to date Pua correspondence, eligible but all you have received is full overpayment, federal and state. So certifications continue to only receive payment date with $0.00 payment. Like any and all insurance, your a criminal, we will find the group of wrongdoing to place you in. Until then you can be eligible, but we’ll leave an overpayment that really never existed and we’ll act like it’s a glitch, overwhelmed system, and we just overlooked it, cause we’re overwhelmed. By the time you catch up, we’ll have another description of criminal to place you under and we’ll stop your benefits again with another explanation of why your a thief. The added joke, is they want you each time to appeal a corrected determination that has the correct wba by documents already presented 5 times over. With any insurance, instead of two hands held out for you, sometimes all you get is a finger. Your ruining people then you insult their intelligence. When karma comes knocking, and it will, it always does, God bless you…..
I have been waiting for my benefits. Rent is behind 2 mths. Utilities behind. This just isn’t fair to us honest people who have already been through the fraud issues and had to turn everything in to prove identity and prove that my claim was non fraudulent. If we have already done this not once but twice I have we should not be waiting. How about they wait on a paycheck until they get this resolved. I bet it would be taken care of real quick. I am praying for something to give and hopefully be paid soon.
5 months I have waited for them to help me ..at first they out of blue claimed fraud then after calling and emailing them for months they determined me ineligible so slapped me with a 25.000 over payment and told me to appeal …i faxed and mailed the appeal. I email i get no where .once u lose your check out of blue you don’t talk to anyone. No place to go to get help or talk to someone .its all phone calls and the people taking calls can not help you
Mostly ever state sent payments to struggling Americans but Ohio wat a joke it’s been months I’ve been waitin for a payment I’m eligible an still haven’t got one payment since I was accepted I lost my apartment because I wasn’t able to pay my rent I really thought pua program would helped me an they can’t tell me why my payments on hold no pending issues or any problems but still payments being held screw your program an screw Ohio worse state ever
I’m one of many that has been unemployed since March. Its been going on 6 weeks since I have received payments. I have been able to file 4 claims since then and they are showing submitted not paid. I call ODJFS and get told they are working on trying to update the system, or that their is basically nothing they can do or say. I pay child support for 4 kids and even though I have to wait on my money, child support still expect my payments to be on time. I’m behind on bills, and I applied for food stamps and it’s a waiting game also. I’m overwhelmed and stressed to the max. It’s time that the American people who are suffering start getting the help we need!
Hello, I haven’t received unemployment in 4 weeks. After the massive fraud investigation ODJFS had a few months back, I have lost faith. It isn’t as easy as get a job. I have recently found out I, my fiance and possibly my 3 children have covid. I have actively been looking for a job, but because I can no longer afford child care, I can only work from home. Now with Covid we all MUST quarantine. My children can’t attend school, my fiance can’t go to work. Ohio has abandoned us! Its so easy to say, “Go back to work!” Except we are literally in the middle of a Pandemic. We are being forced to go out into the world and risk exposure, or stay in and protect our families and be homeless and starving….. This is inhumane!
Havent recieved a payment since 12/12 sitting here worried everyday wondering how im going to pay bills, buy food ect….. Call pua and the worker told me everything was good i would recieve payment on tuesday nothing came payment date all zeros this was 3 weeks ago …. Not to mention they plan on taking new applicants ans pay them before the ones who have already been on it for months cant work because kids are remote learning and have no sitter to do so… This is really taking a toll mentally and physically and emotionally we shouldnt have to sit here and worry that everything we have worked so hard for is going to be taken away …late on car payment about to be repossessed ..when will this end how is it that others can receive payment but we cant ….
I am in the “7 weeks or less” group. One of thousands in this club that nobody wants to be in. My payments ended on Dec 12th d/t ohios UI rate dropping below a certain level. I felt so relieved when Trump finally signed the bill, but my relief turned into frustration when weeks went by and not a word from odjfs. I was expecting a couple week lapse but not Feb 26. The program is over March 13. This whole thing has been a mess from the start. First i was told i had to apply with regular UI and get denied before I could apply for PUA. Months went by before regular UI denied me and released my ss#, when they did I was able to apply for pua and I received My payment a few weeks later. (This was June) Then in July my account with thousands others was flagged for fraud and I had to resubmit all my documents and prove I as eligible. July 25 my payments resummed and then November I received a notice that they reviewed my account and I was receiving more than what I was suppose to be recieving and they adjusted my payment and added a 4000 OP. Now keep this in mind because this is the 3rd time my accoumt was reviewed by odjfs and cleared. Now when the program ended in dec27 my claim was still active until 3/15/2021. Now I am being told that they again need to review my account because fraud is rampid in ohio before they can add the 11 weeks. There has to be some way they can see my account has already been review mulitiple times and is valid!! This is unacceptable.
Im self employed and fall under PUA. I recvd a letter around 12/27 saying as of 12/7 I was ineligible. So my unemployment stopped on 12/15 but I was able to certify the following week until it was shut down. A few weeks later my acct changed to Active with an extended date from Feb to April. Then a few weeks after that I was able to re-certify my weeks again. I have not received any notices or info since the termination letter on 12/27. I dont understand the lingo on the ODJFS web page as to my situation. Also, theyve added that u must look for work. Im confused how that pertains to self employed people. Its not that simple finding New clients. Ive been without any income since 12/15, besides the recent $600 stimulus.
WE THE PEOPLE OF OHIO NEEDS HELP AND NO OHIO REPRESENTATIVES DONT SEEM TO CARE BUT HEY DEWINE SIGNED THAT BILL TO ALLOW ALCOHOLTO BE DELIVERED SO I GUESS PRIORITIES ARE IN PLACE IN OHIO WHAT CHILD NEEDS DIAPERS ANYHOW JUST HAVE ALCOHOL DELIVERED. NO INCOME FOR 2 MONTHS NOW AND NO END IN SITE AND IF U EMAIL STATE REPS THEY JUST TELL YOU THEY FORWARDED UR INFO TO ODJFS (USELESS)
No pay and the stress is overwhelming we pay our taxes this is our money and we want it now Kimberly Henderson should be fired and mike de wine no one in there right mind would re elect u don’t even think about running again ur political career is over
This situation pushes you further than you knew you could go. For some Ohioans, it’s just too much. As it obviously was for the Citizen who committed suicide. You will never get the same answer twice when calling unemployment. So most of us have given up on that option. I submitted everything that was requested when I originally applied last year. Six months later the same information was requested again. So of course I resubmitted it once more. Based on the same exact information that I had now submitted twice, I was suddenly hit with an over-payment of over $12,000. I was sick! I never received a letter explaining this. I just happened to login to do my weekly claim and there it was. I went from getting $463 a week, to $189 with no warning. Then to kick me just a little harder while I was down, they decided to take half of the $189 to pay towards the “overpayment“. So now I only get $94 a week. I can’t put into words the weight on my shoulders of knowing that the state believes I owe them all of this money! I’ve heard that there may be “over-payment” forgiveness for people, if it wasn’t their fault. The problem with that is, proving it wasn’t our fault!? Because who decides who’s fault it is? Is the state really going to admit their incompetency and the reality of the massive failure this has actually been? I think not. The state knows they are in a good spot though, because what are we really going to do? Hire an attorney and file a lawsuit? We can’t even keep her electricity on! The state knows we can’t afford to fight them. So in the meantime, we remain stressed, nauseous, angry, and scared. And we continue to pray that it doesn’t become too much. I mean, what else can we do?
I don’t know where to begin…
On March 15th of 2020 I was laid off. I was a waitress at Steak-n-Shake in Lancaster. Not only was I laid off but I was PERMANENTLY LAID OFF, due to them shutting down the dining room indefinitely! So March 17th I finally figured out how to apply for unemployment. I had called them everyday for almost 2 months then one day I called and spoke to a lady who calculated my weeks and my money! A few days went by and I was approved, but that wouldn’t last for long. I went to do my weekly certification and I seen I had an overpayment and they stopped my benefits because the lady was adding my money wrong! I filed an appeal and then one day some guy named Chris called me and explained my overpayment and said it would be easier if they canceled my appeal and took me out of the system so I could file for pua.. I wasn’t on regular unemployment for a month! I applied for pua which I sent in everything and wasn’t approved for another 2 weeks and this is now the end of may! So by time I started getting paid they then put a stop on my claim for fraud…. that took two weeks in august for them to verify I didn’t commit fraud! Finally started getting paid again in September and everything was good until they got me with an overpayment of $9000 which I’ve reached out to everyone on because I couldn’t pull up my appeal form so I missed that filing date. Then in December the week before Christmas they ended my claim & I haven’t received a payment since… I’m unemployed NO FAULT OF MY OWN & they’ve done nothing but treat me like a criminal and have made it very difficult to provide for my family! They know my rent is due and bills need paid I’m a SINGLE MOM & They don’t give a damn about my son an I going without. THEYRE STILL PAID REGARDLESS OF THIS PANDEMIC & I HAVE A PROBLEM ABOUT THAT.. I bet if we decided when they got paid and when they didn’t things would go differently now WOULDNT it!
Going on 6 weeks without pay…