Work Search Form Requirements

Thanks Gonzo and UIO. I am exhausted from the stress today. But I fully intend to go up against AWI tomorrow if they don't pay my weeks. I've gone up against government agencies before and won. I was a social worker before all of this fund cutting recession. Who the hell do they think they are, anyway?? That guy today asked me why I only put 2 job searches per week, why didn't I have one for every day?? DUMB F**K! But tomorrow's a new day and I will call the governor's office, my congressman and the news channel if I have to. They can pay to retrain me if they like. I have roughly 4 years left before I can claim SS, so if they want to spend thousands opposed to hundreds, then they can friggin go for it. I'm game. Second Master's degree sounds nice and expensive to me. I hated that College Algebra class, though. They may have to pay for that one 2X

Maggi, I feel your pain. I have applied and applied and begged and begged for a job. I am always "overqualified" or a ton of people have flooded with resumes for the position to the point I think they pull the people to interview from a lottery. Hang in there!

I cropped the post below from another msg board. I thought it was relivant as it indicates that other states (Ca in this case) do not interpret that Fed EB law requires multiple work search methods.

FYI


Terri in CA says:
Florida –

I have not heard or read about a requirement for mandatory ‘walk in’ contact with a potential employer in ANY state, so I would call back and speak to someone different if you are concerned that a failure to do so could jeopardize your check. If you get a similar answer, ask the person you are speaking with to direct you to the State Unemployment website page or OFFICIAL State distributed booklet where this rule is explained. If they can’t, insist on speaking with a supervisor and run it by them.

My feeling is that you were misinformed. CA never had that requirement, and I’d bet they would if they could. Most places by me do not allow cold calls. A few months after I lost my job and was dropping of my resume (’uninvited’) a security guard asked me to leave because what I was doing was considered SOLICITING. Pet Smart wouldn’t take my app either, due to the psychological test you have to take online before they’ll even look at your app.

I didn't think other states were holding up checks. That's why I asked about this yesterday. It's just some Florida Fluff Bullshit!! Thanks for the 411!!!

After receiving no return calls from anyone at AWI since Tuesday morning, I started making calls at 7:30 am today and left messages everywhere. Josh returned my call at 8:20. Finally!

First, Josh is very nice, helpful and genuinely interested in solving problems. He is also knowledgeable and understanding of the AWI situation and the citizens of Florida situation. I add my voice to others here who have expressed appreciation for Josh's efforts and would encourage others to try to contact him if you are having any concerns. He can be reached at 877-846-8770 ext 5296.

He had no knowledge of the error I received nor of anyone else receiving it. He will pass it on to the programming folks ASAP. He agrees this needs to be corrected. We should never see such an error. It can only make matters worse.

During our conversation, he looked over my claims for the current weeks and "unblocked" them without question. I then pointed out that all 5 of the work search records had INTERNET as the Contact Type. He did not seemed concerned about that. I relayed the concerns that have been expressed here and elsewhere regarding comments and directions from other AWI personnel about the "necessity" of having different Contact Types for each record. I suggested to him that sending off a cover letter and resume from CareerBuilder was different from spending an hour or two on a company web site completing an application, but both would be considered as INTERNET Contact Types. Also that it is often prospective employers refer applicants to their web site. At that point he said he could talk to a superior to get clarification if I would hold a few minutes. I did. He returned shortly. He agreed that the two actions should be considered differently, but are not. And, more importantly, that it is often difficult not to involve the internet in some way in a job search.

Further he stated that the Contact Type variance is NOT a requirement, but a prudent suggestion. The key elements to properly report work searches (and avoid any compliance issues) are report at least two per week, each is on a different day, each is a different employer and complete all required data fields. This came from his off-phone source.

He was very apologetic for all the delay caused by the verification process. AWI is not validating by contacting employers. But verification is necessary. He also apologized for all the different versions of information coming from AWI personnel, pointing to training and information dissemination issues within AWI. Not our (citizens of Florida) fault. He also apologized repeatedly for the four days delay before anyone from AWI returning my calls. Since then, I have received another call.

I suggested he or someone from AWI contact Jim Stratton to provide him with accurate information. He agreed and will pass this idea onto Robby Cunningham, the AWI public affairs officer.

All in all, it was a very informative, comforting conversation. Hope this helps you too.

Marc

thanks for your nice thoughts UIO! I really appreciate your caring!!!!!!

and,,,,ROBBI, it is absolutely amazing that you have not received your DD yet!!! i claimed Tuesday at about 2:00, finally got my DD this morning at the bank, one day delay from what i originally get, there is another lady at the Pillars site, Elissa, poor thing claimed on Mon. , and as of yesterday afternoon there was not even a Claim Update on her claim info page, i am waiting to see if she finally got news this morning. wow, and tomorrow is Saturday and many banks do not get DD's. Unbelievable. Coming early September my EB will be exhausted, there we go again, hoping and praying that by that time something has been decided on another extension because it is of no fault of ours at all to be unemployed, it is a most scary thought thinking what's gonna happen when EB is exhausted.

I'm SO happy that some are you are making progress. I claimed Tues morning & have no update on my account. I cannot get through on the phone to them for the life of me. Keep getting due to high call volume, blah blah blah & then it cuts you off. Pressing 0 does no good either because "the operator is busy"

Marc wrote:

...He also apologized for all the different versions of information coming from AWI personnel, pointing to training and information dissemination issues within AWI. Not our (citizens of Florida) fault.

Marc

Thanks very much for posting that, verifying what we as claimants have known for months, but what it seems 90% of the phone reps are clueless about.

As I ranted about in the other thread, this is a management issue, and it really bugs me especially since I worked in online training and education for four years, in addition to teaching and many supervisory jobs where I had to train people.

From what I heard in the prior staffing fiascos, their "training" seems to be that they send out a memo to everyone that gets tacked up next to the phone, and we're lucky if they even read it. (I don't know this, but I have that impression from a few conversations earlier this year.--"Oh, well we sent out a memo on that, etc.") I.e., a technical memo about procedures, leaving inexperienced staff to figure all this out on their own? Training, what training?

I'm sure the core staff is frustrated too, having to fill in for all those who don't know what they're doing and taking all these calls that should have been unnecessary.

Jeez, it almost makes me feel sorry for those phone reps. Almost.

No matter what, I still blame the head of AWI, especially for not even communicating to us as human beings on their website.

Filed since Monday and no updates. I called this morning and speak with a rep who told me to not put the internet website (careerbuilder) but instead the actual company who is looking to hire the person looking for work. Also, 2 searches on 2 different days per week is needed and thats all. So, if you submit your claim with careerbuilder or monster as the name instead of the actual company you need to call to remove the hold. I hope this info help anyone who hasn't received payments yet like myself.

I got the same info this morning and hopefully the rep corrected the problem as he said he did. Funny thing, though, I am positive I did this the correct way...hmmm.

2 things--

First, I think everyone here saw it, but just in case--Marc posted a separate thread relating to work search requirements about a communication with Josh that confirms our original understanding of those requirements, and that they were having issues with their training and communication. To say the least!

Second, check this out, yet another poor claimant who's even more confused, proof of how widespread this issue is. And worse, someone in the comments section for her letter sounds reasonable on the surface, yet is even more clueless about the real problems.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20090814/NEWS/908149976?Title=State-Agency-Confounds

Robbi314 wrote:I got the same info this morning and hopefully the rep corrected the problem as he said he did. Funny thing, though, I am positive I did this the correct way...hmmm.

Robbi314,

Please give me a call (or send me a number to contact you). I'd like to talk about what AWI has been telling you.

Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
407-420-5379

Yes, I will contact you in a bit. Just an FYI, my account FINALLY updated showing a payment. I just checked it. The rep I spoke with this morning ( Bruno Dasilva) said he "fixed" the problem and said he processed the payment.

Or worse, depending on how much perspective your sense of humor can handle.

I just sent Jim Stratton an email detailing three calls I made and got returned today. First I called the customer service number (the one on the press releases, I think they must all be stoned over there by now) and demanded to know exactly whose decision it was to unnecessarily inconvenience to the extreme hundreds of thousands of people when it wasn't required by the federal program.

I spoke with Barbara Dickey in the process (not a manager, but a rep that has always been helpful; I think some of you have mentioned her name), who verified my claims and told me they were looking into changing this process in a few weeks (more programming) I learned that I won't get any DD until Wednesday, six extra days delay, for nothing. She didn't even ask me anything about the forms; they just have to see that they are filled out correctly. Nothing about methods, Monster, or any of that other nonsense. All that other bull-- from those confused reps was nonsense. (Except of course 2 different contact days is a real requirement.)

I gave her the DOL memo link to give to her supervisor, a program manager who called me back later in the day, a woman I had spoken with before and who has always seemed helpful. She informed me that ALL claims had been flagged. LET ME REPEAT THAT--ALL CLAIMS HAD BEEN FLAGGED! I went over the DOL memo, she listened to all my horror stories from this and other forums, and she took notes, and was surprised that we were even having troubles with the online forms, both technically and what the reps were telling us. And when I told her about the rep telling one person to claim next time Monday, then call the next day, she was horrified! (Like these people really need to double their phone traffic!)

She promised to check into all this, even though she insisted that those decisions had been made by a "management team" who had lots of meetings with DOL, etc.

Bottom line: EVERYONE who hasn't called already or who hasn't had their accounts updated will have further delays unless they get their claim looked at by a rep who can un-flag it. Who knows how long that delay will be if you have to wait for them to get to all of them in the stacks.

Beyond that I was told that coming up there will be routine random sample audits, where those picked at random will have to fill out more info on some forms and mail them back on time, otherwise face more delays or worse. This part is NORMAL; it's in the law, it's on the site, it's expected, unlike the little surprise we all got this week.

Robbi, as you (and now I) always say, being poor is expensive, and we also know that being poor is damn time-consuming!

HOLY !@#$ Nancy!!

I appreciate your post, thanks for keeping everyone up to date on what your finding out. This is very useful information.

My name is Andrew Stettner, and I work for nonpartisan organization that advocates for the unemployed - the National Employment Law Project. (www.nelp.org / www.unemployedworkers.org)

We've been in touch with the US Department of Labor, and some local advocates are in touch with the Agency for Workforce Innovation. Whatever we find out, I'll be sure to let you know, and I hope we can smooth this out.

Andy Stettner

Nancy, great info! Thanks for posting. But it still leaves me wondering about the need to call in again after we file on the 24th ( or 25th in your case) just to get a jump on things. I'm almost glad this EB thing is almost over with. For crying out loud! With the unemployment rate over 10% and climbing where is it exactly that they think we're going to find work?? And as I said before, I spent most of my week trying to get through to AWI, not much job hunting got done!! UGH!

Hey guys, I've posted this story you might want to check out. Thanks for all your help. The short version is AWI was not able to provide much information Friday evening. May take another crack at it on Monday. Here's your link ... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bk-unemployment-checks-delayed-081509,0,3187360.story

astettner wrote:My name is Andrew Stettner, and I work for nonpartisan organization that advocates for the unemployed - the National Employment Law Project. (www.nelp.org / www.unemployedworkers.org)

We've been in touch with the US Department of Labor, and some local advocates are in touch with the Agency for Workforce Innovation. Whatever we find out, I'll be sure to let you know, and I hope we can smooth this out.

Andy Stettner

Awesome Andrew! Thank you for joining the site and giving us information, I personally look forward to your posts

jim stratton wrote:Hey guys, I've posted this story you might want to check out. Thanks for all your help. The short version is AWI was not able to provide much information Friday evening. May take another crack at it on Monday. Here's your link ... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bk-unemployment-checks-delayed-081509,0,3187360.story

Just read the article Jim, great job. You are entirely accurate with this. I really appreciate you bringing attention to another big issue with AWI

Thanks to Jim S. and Andy for getting involved. Thanks to all of you who got them involved. I like Jim's article - it should make a difference.

Robbi314 wrote:...But it still leaves me wondering about the need to call in again after we file on the 24th ( or 25th in your case) just to get a jump on things. ... I spent most of my week trying to get through to AWI, not much job hunting got done!! UGH!

Robbi, same here, so much time just trying to stay above water, time that could have been put into more productive job searches or other pressing matters. I've been trying to get time to revamp my online portfolio for months now, but every week there's some new disaster to deal with.

As for calling in next time, that's a big question. From what I was told, they were already considering changing their procedures, whether because of complaints or a realization (duh!) that it was not practical to do it this way, I don't know. So if that verification requirement continues due to slowness to make a change or whatever, I suppose we can do one of two things (if we don't hear of any change). If in any week we can afford to wait for them to get to our claim amid the piles of work in their inboxes to verify it, we can wait and keep the phone lines free. For most of us that might be impossible, and we'd have to call to see what the heck is up with our individual claim.

Nancy, who knows what will happen next. I do hope if we are fortunate enough to get another extension that it will be like the ones before EB and we won't have to deal with this. It just senseless. In any case I did call Jim Stratton back yesterday and had a fairly lengthy conversation with him. Maybe he'll be able to shake 'em up a bit

Wow....this forum is great & has been very, very helpful to me. After holding for over an hour, I just got off the phone with a COMPLETE ASS at AWI. I too was treated like a low, down criminal. He said you have to have 2 different types of work searches...not just all internet. As hard as it was to be nice, I nicely told him that was not how the law was stated! He fought with me on it & I just dropped it as I wanted my claim processed. I told him that it's all over the internet that you have to call in to get your work searches released. He said no you don't & that it's all over the internet that it will take up to 14 days. He was a real DICKHEAD. Anyways, he supposively processed mine & the payment processing will start Monday which means I should have DD by Weds or Thurs. Good thing I finally got through to get things moving. How damn ridiculous & inefficient!

So now I can't help but wonder what will happen when we claim weeks on 8/24 and 8/25. The new addition to the AWI website, (which btw I saw added on Thursday) say weeks claimed AFTER 8/25 can be held until work search is verified. I will claim on 8/24 and before this weeks fiasco would always see a check was processed by the next morning. So does this mean they will not process anyones claim until after the 25th? Just so they can hold them for spite?? Or does it mean any claims made after the 25th will be scrutinized?

UIO this forum has some cool features. Can't find a spell checker, though