General EUC Discussion - Ongoing

Anyone else receiving "No automated information available" message when trying to log in this morning?

Unemployed In Orlando wrote:
Anyone else receiving "No automated information available" message when trying to log in this morning?

I have an EB balance. It's telling me the same thing since early June...you have no weeks available to claim.

sc4ram wrote:



http://www.examiner.com/unemployment-in-rochester/millions-of-99ers-need-tier-5-unemployment-benefits-will-tier-5-arrive-for-99ers-september

I am crossing my fingers, but not trying to get my hopes up. I am still looking for work with no prospects of finding anything soon. I really could use the help and pray that this will go through. Thanking for posting this article.

Does anyone know how unemployment benefits are calculated if you work part time? How do you know if your benefits are calculated correctly?

Dixieannjobless wrote:Does anyone know how unemployment benefits are calculated if you work part time? How do you know if your benefits are calculated correctly?

AWI uses a formula to calculate your initial benefits based on the credits you have in your account when you start your benefit year. You can find the basic info on that in this forum under a thread for How to calculate your benefits here:
https://unemployed-florida.forumotion.com/senate-bills-state-policies-federal-initiatives-f6/how-to-calculate-unemployment-eligibility-and-the-weekly-benefit-amount-t141.htm

They also address working part-time in a FAQ here: http://www.floridajobs.org/unemployment/uc_faqs_ans.htm#22

Then if you opted to have taxes taken out, you subtract the usual tax formula.

Then AWI allows us a small amount that we can earn without that being subtracted from our benefit amount; that amount is $58 per week.

So let's say you get the max benefit of $275 and don't have taxes taken out:
start = $275
and you earn $100 during that claim week (based on what you earn, not what you get paid later)
$100 - 58 allowance = $42
$42 is subtracted from your weekly benefit amount:
$275 - 42 = $233
add the federal benefit of $25: $233 + 25 = $258
(This extra $25 is available only if you were already getting that in extended benefits in the most recent law that was passed; I forgot the date, but it was sometime last spring. If you are new to benefits, you will no longer be eligible for this amount.)

So working part-time has the advantage of stretching out your benefits by roughly $232 per month that is not subtracted from your benefit account total ($58 x 4 weeks). If you earn more than your weekly benefits, you get nothing, but the credits stay in your account.

But there are cutoff dates in the law for each program after which you won't get those extended benefits. If you are on the state EB program (you'd know because it requires you to report specific job searches for every claim week), that program ends dead-stop on Nov 30. If you are on the Tiers, you can go until your current tier ends, and if you are eligible for the next tier before Nov 30, you can go until the next tier ends, up to the program cutoff date sometime in early spring.

If you are on regular benefits, that's 26 weeks that can be stretched out for whatever number of weeks it takes to deplete account with your adjusted weekly check amount. (Just subtract your benefit check from your total credits in your account online and divide what's left by the amount your are getting to see how long this will last.)

(These cutoff dates might change in the event that Congress extends benefits further, of course.)

HOWEVER--

You have to consider your "benefit year," which starts the day of your first claim week. If on the anniversary of your benefit year AWI looks at your account and sees that you have enough new income to re-qualify you for a new claim calculation, they will do it. This new calculation puts you into a re-start of your regular benefits, which would seem like an advantage, but it usually isn't, since the new earnings are usually less than what you made before, and the benefit check can be much less!

The most recent new law made some adjustments so that workers would not be punished quite so much for taking part-time work, but I don't know the exact wording of the law--you can check that out at Open Congress or other online forums that post the laws verbatim and in summary.

You can find further discussion about working part-time by some here who previously had been frustrated by the old law provisions in the Eligibility thread on this forum: https://unemployed-florida.forumotion.com/latest-uc-eb-euc-awi-news-f1/eligibility-for-uic-eb-euc-t130.htm

If you are working part-time on contract basis, you need to clarify this every time you report, since no taxes are taken out, and there is no employer to whom AWI can attribute your claim, so your earnings will not count toward any new benefit year calculation. However, you will need to clarify and emphasize that fact that you are doing temp contract work, odd jobs, or whatever, each time you claim. When the forms come up asking for the employer, you can report yourself as the employer and explain further in the notes space at the bottom, otherwise it can tie up your claim. Your claim may get flagged anyway, and you just have to call every two weeks to speak to a rep to get the flag taken off. (I did this many weeks; I just kept the number of one particular rep and asked them to check my claim and it went through each time, maybe with a couple days delay.)

If you keep working and earning substantial amounts weekly, after a while AWI will probably consider you working and no longer on benefits. If you lose the part-time work, you can still re-apply based on your old account, but at some point you would probably be given a new calculation. (See the link on how to calculate benefits to see when and how they do this based on the fiscal quarters you work.)

Having said all this, AWI's ancient computers are notorious for making mistakes, usually just a few bucks one way or another, but usually in your favor. Don't worry about small errors like that; they will either catch it at some point, or not, but unless the error is substantial, asking for a review can just clog the machine and leave you with big delays.

I claimed my weeks like normal on Monday - and for some reason, yesterday, it didn't show up a benefit was paid out.

So I called, they said they had my claims, just not processed yet. I looked again today, with no luck. So I called again, and someone actually checked it out. Apparently I'm in some sort of rescreening process due to it hitting my one year mark with unemployment. She verified I have not returned to work. And said she'd submit it through the system, and it had my claims. However, she said it typically took 7-14 days to rescreen.. but because she was pushing it forward, it should take less.

Anyone know how long it typically takes? My rent is due Saturday morning and I'm scared. :/

Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a tax compromise measure that includes a 13-month reauthorization of the federal unemployment insurance programs. The bill, which passed the Senate Wednesday, has just been signed into law by President Obama.

After a 16-day lapse of crucial federal benefits, which had expired at the beginning of the holiday season, millions of current and future long-term unemployed workers can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that benefits will be restored and the program will be in place for the entirety of 2011.

With the reauthorization made retroactive to December 1, 2010, those whose benefits had lapsed will have them restored. And millions of unemployed workers and their families will have the basic security of knowing these benefits are available for between 34 and 73 weeks if needed, beyond the 26 weeks of regular state-funded unemployment insurance. Workers who had already been eligible for additional federal benefits will have those benefits available once more. Those workers who have been receiving regular state benefits will have the security of knowing that extended federal benefits are available to help sustain them during their job searches should they still lack new employment after six months of looking for work.

Until recently, few people thought such a robust reauthorization and a continuation of full emergency federal funding for the programs were likely. But unemployed workers and our allies were undaunted and unwavering -- and we've won.

For everyone who participated in this campaign, this win is testimony to what we all can do together. More than 150,000 of you, from all fifty states, signed a Petition to Congress online. Tens of thousands of picked up the phone and called your Senators and Representatives. Unemployed workers took to Capitol Hill to press for the full-year federal unemployment benefits reauthorization. And the combined impact of every email, every letter, every call and petition signature -- all contributed to this victory.

The legislation also includes significant improvements to the Extended Benefits program, which provides the final 13 to 20 weeks of federally-funded unemployment benefits—thereby averting severe benefit cuts that would have hit nearly half the states with the highest unemployment rates. These states would have dropped off the EB program due to a provision requiring a state’s unemployment rate to have increased over the past two years in order for the state to remain eligible for the program. Currently, 977,000 workers are receiving extended benefits.

The legislation also creates an opportunity for an additional ten states—Arkansas, Iowa, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming—to add the EB benefit into the support package they offer to jobless workers, if they pass state legislation.

The legislation includes significant improvements to the Extended Benefits program, which provides the final 13 to 20 weeks of federally-funded unemployment benefits—thereby averting severe benefit cuts that would have hit nearly half the states with the highest unemployment rates. These states would have dropped off the EB program due to a provision requiring a state’s unemployment rate to have increased over the past two years in order for the state to remain eligible for the program. Currently, 977,000 workers are receiving extended benefits. The legislation also creates an opportunity for an additional ten states—Arkansas, Iowa, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming—to add the EB benefit into the support package they offer to jobless workers, if they pass state legislation.

Much more is needed to address the jobs crisis, however. Our economy is in deep trouble: We have fewer jobs today than ten years ago, the unemployment rate has remained above nine percent for 19 months, and most recently, unemployment rose while job growth slowed. An economy that is not adding enough new jobs to bring down a 9.8 percent unemployment rate is in need of serious new initiatives to create more good jobs. The fact that a key argument favoring extended unemployment benefits is their significant stimulative effect is indicative of the fragile state of the economic recovery. Moreover, growing numbers of long-term jobless workers are exhausting all available benefits. Policies to help address the needs of those exhausting all benefits should be pursued alongside effective job-creation and workforce re-entry initiatives. NELP will be a strong and active voice in that fight for as long as needed.

Our nation faces many serious challenges in the months and years ahead, but none is more vexing or crucial than the question of how we will rebuild an economy with good jobs that restore the promise of opportunity and economic security to working families in every corner of America. Winning the full-year continuation of the federal unemployment insurance programs was an important first step: It will help sustain millions of unemployed job-seekers, give a boost to the economy, and provide the space and time needed to focus on additional efforts to build a sustained jobs recovery. Now, it is time to move on to the bigger challenge, and this is an effort that involves all of us—policymakers, the private sector, worker advocates, and service providers alike. This is about our nation and the future we are building for our children. We call on Congress and the administration to show the leadership and bipartisanship needed to create the conditions necessary to put America back to work.

A exchange (via the Unemployment Examiner) between Press Secretary Robert Gibbs (who I affectionately refer to as the amazing Mr. Fibbs) and Jake Tapper of ABC News

TAPPER: ... they're individuals who have been -- who's unemployment insurance has run out. They were not included in the deal, the tax deal that the president signed with Mr. McConnell, the Republicans and others. Is there anything that the president can do for them?

GIBBS: Well, I think the best thing that we can do as a country is to get -- get a fragile economy more stable, and one that creates more jobs. I think that's -- that's why I think, you know, economists said that they would reorient their growth estimates based on the agreement that the president signed. And obviously, the best thing we can do for them is to create an environment where businesses are hiring. Look, we have -- what you've heard me say on a number of occasions, that one of the great benefits of the agreement was taking the politics out of -- out of unemployment insurance. We -- we -- we have -- it's been a contentious battle just to get
unemployment insurance to continue up to 99 weeks. It's not -- it's not in any way been easy. And this takes the politics out of that throughout 2011 and hopefully we can focus -- continue to focus on getting the economy moving again and providing -- providing those guys with a helping hand with a job.

Hey guys,

Rick Scott's economic team is out with recommendations on how to save money and improve the state's unemployment system. Below is a short post I did with a link to the full report. It's worth a look, because it proposes some significant changes.

Lemme know what you think.

Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_local_blogonomics/2010/12/rick-scott-advisors-call-for-tougher-stance-on-unemployment.html

Thanks for pursueing this Jim. IMO this is a obvious reaction from the recent political season where working folks (who dont follow this as closely as we do) hear fragmented headlines of "99 weeks/ 2yrs of UI benefits" and extensions being passed by Congress every quarter and wrongly conclude that subcribing to unemployment benefits is like a endless vacation in Shangra La. In additoin to the existing work search requirement that you mentioned, the Florida administered Fed Funded Extended Benefits Program (EB) actually required a recipient to enter their work search info into the Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI) system during the bi-weekly benefits claiming process. (If that cant be tracked its because of their antiquated system mainframe from the 70s).

Something like this was probably inevitable as the recent unemployment trends have stressed the system beyond what could of been previously conceived. There have been several reports in the Florida press recently (Ive posted them in the Senate Bills thread, under "State Jobless Funds are being Drained") on how the State funded portion (first 26 weeks) of the program which is funded by a tax on Florida employeers is severely under water and the legislature will have to decide in the upcomming session how much to raise this tax. The catch 22 here is the higher this tax, the more expensive it is for business' to hire workers (thus impeeding job growth). Putting my empathy hat on, Im guessing Mr. Scott (a former businessman) and his people are anticipating this and want to make changes to the program to address these anxieties amoung the voters and sponsors. It is a State run, taxpayer (employer) funded program, common sense would dictate that they could and should improve oversite of where the money goes. Given the environment, Im guessing that this will be another tight budget year for the legislature (without the Federal Stimulus windfall from last year) so there will be a lot of disgruntled consituents when the cuts come, more scrutiny on unemployment benefits seems like a realistic expectation.

That being said, having been a ocassional casualty of AWI's antiquated mainframe myself, if they are going to implement a sofisticated job search tracking and community service assignment program, AWI will have to make a big investment in improving their systems/operations. Taking off my unemployed hat and putting my tax payer hat on, I would say they should do a cost benefit analysis based on these issues on behalf of the taxpayers, and proceed from there.

Mr. Scott strikes me as a out of the box thinker, I think its a good bet that the system will be changed. Nobody has wanted to touch it before.

Thanks again for your focus on our plight in the Sentinel. Merry Christmas!

Hi guys,

I spoke with an economist whose work on unemployment was cited by Rick Scott's economic transition team. I sent him a copy of the report, and he responded with an e-mail that said, the team had "misspelled my name and misused my study!"

He said the biggest problem in the current labor market is not that folks aren't looking hard enough for jobs, it's that there aren't enough jobs to go around.

You can read the entire story here ...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-unemployment-apply-20101223,0,1716728.story


js

[b]What is the percetages you will receive in each tier, of your original claim amount?
I need to figure out exctly how much I have comming, First time posting hope this is in the right place.
Thanks in advance, for the answer.

LOTTIE1 wrote:[b]What is the percetages you will receive in each tier, of your original claim amount?
I need to figure out exctly how much I have comming, First time posting hope this is in the right place.
Thanks in advance, for the answer.

Welcome to the forum, Lottie.

If you have been getting regular or extended benefits, the weekly benefit amount does not change for extended (EUC or state EB) benefits) UNLESS you found enough temporary work that bounced you over into a new "benefit year" that forced a recalculation of your weekly amount (usually much lower amount).

If you are newly applying for benefits, the state does a calculation based on your wage transcript to get you weekly amount. That process is online at AWI, and I've posted a brief description on the forum here at
https://unemployed-florida.forumotion.com/t141-how-to-calculate-unemployment-eligibility-and-the-weekly-benefit-amount

Or the AWI FAQ is here:
http://www.floridajobs.org/unemployment/UC_faqs.htm

If you had no new work, and your benefit year was not recalculated based on later quarters, the weekly amount stays the same throughout the total number of weeks you are entitled to get, with the one exception that the extra $25 per week that was part of the stimulus package has a cut off date. (I don't recall right now, but I think that entire program is now over for everyone, so the max anyone can get in Florida is $275 per week.)

As for the number of weeks--IF your benefit calculation comes out the the max allowed, you would get the max weekly amount PLUS the max number of weeks:
Regular state benefits: 26 weeks
Tier 1: 20 weeks
Tier 2: 14 weeks
Tier 3: 13 weeks
Tier 4: 6 weeks
state EB: 20 weeks
_______________
Total: 99 weeks maximum that anyone can be eligible for

HOWEVER, I think it would be safe to say that at this point hardly anyone is going to be eligible for this full 99 weeks, for several reasons (other than getting a job);

1) Anyone whose wage transcript doesn't calculate out to the max weekly benefit amount also usually gets fewer weeks. Take the total amount in your account and divide by the weekly amount to see how many weeks that covers. With lowered wages in general these last few years, any new calculations are not as likely to reach the maximum amounts.

2) EB is fully dependent on state approval and acceptance of funding, and sometimes the cutoff dates for the program create a patchwork of eligibility that lets many fall through the cracks before they can ever access it. For anyone who got their max 20 (or whatever calculated number) weeks of EB, either before they got the Tiers, after the Tiers, or broken up into different time periods, cannot get any more under state law. Beyond that, the benefits-friendly governor Crist is no longer in office; we now have a governor who wants to cut back on the unemployment benefits program! (Don't look at me, I sure didn't vote for this guy!)

3) The new extension of deadlines for EUC benefits eligibility is 13 months. Anyone just laid off would not reach 99 weeks before the whole program would come up again for new legislative renewal. And since we have a new Republican House in Congress, good luck in getting anything even onto the floor to discuss the matter. Please ignore the unemployment-ignorant Senators like Hatch, who seem to think they all just gave everyone more than 99 weeks now, proving once again how few of them read the bills.

4) For states other than Florida, many states never got that extra 6 weeks of Tier 4 due to not quite high enough unemployment rates. (However, a few states did enact state benefits to supplement the federal tiers.)

5) With a possible complete overhaul of the state agency, AWI, proposed by the new governor, who knows if anyone will be able to get benefits without drug testing and mandatory community service. AWI and their computer system definitely does need an overhaul, but which way things will go--improvement or disaster--may be too earlly to tell.

Thank you Nancy for the info.

The original question is the percentage of money given in each teir.
I called the office today and was given the following information.

Teir 1 is 80% of your original claim derermination
Teir 2 is 54%
Teir 3 is 50%
teir 4 is 24%

I believe this info may help others know how much they will receive from each teir.
of course divided by the payment amount will dertimine the weeks in each teir.

The state announced recently it would begin conducting work-search verifications on a spot-check basis. Jim Stratton at the Orlando Sentinel is looking for people who may have encountered this. He’d like to know if it is delaying payments in any significant way and if you’ve had trouble reaching people at AWI to report your work-search activities.



You can reach him at jstratton@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5379.

Ive heard they have invested over $70,000 into this latest campaign. With over $14,000 being appropriated to buy 6000 super hero capes?!?! This is just nuts to me, thoughts?





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kimberly Sullivan
April 12, 2011 (407) 760-7053
kim@wcfla.com

WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA TAKES ON DR. EVIL UNEMPLOYMENT
WITH NEW CAPE-A-BILITY CHALLENGE

ORLANDO, Fla. … WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA is inviting the area’s job seekers and employers to join the fight against unemployment in Central Florida with its new Cape-A-Bility Challenge. The Challenge, beginning April 11 and running through June 30, takes on WCF’s comic book villain, Dr. Evil Unemployment, and offers job seekers and employers the opportunity to win $1,000 prize packs.

How can Central Florida help fight Dr. Evil Unemployment?

Job Seekers
To enter, job seekers must complete one of the following activities:
• Take the WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA Facebook Quiz, “What Superhero Are You?”
• Become a fan of WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA on Facebook
• Recommend someone on LinkedIn using the word “Super”
• Tweet a job opening from the WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA online job bank
• Take a photo with Dr. Evil Unemployment at a WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA or JobVantage location and uploadling it to the microsite by emailing it to DrEvil@wcfla.com

-more-



Page 2/WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA Takes On …

Once the task is complete, job seekers must visit any WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA or JobVantage office with proof of the activity. All job seekers who show proof of the activity will be provided the official entry form and an official Cape-A-Bility cape (while supplies last).

Employers
To enter, employers must complete one of the following activities:
• Post a job opportunity on the WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA online job bank
• Participate in a WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA-funded employee training, job fair or In House Recruitment
• Become a fan of WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA’s Facebook page
• Participate in a WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA internship program
• Take a photo with Dr. Evil Unemployment at a WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA or JobVantage location and upload it to the microsite by emailing it to DrEvil@wcfla.com.

The Job Seeker Prize Pack includes:
• $300 VISA or American Express gift card for career clothing and dry cleaning
• $250 gas gift card to travel to interviews and job search activites
• $125 Staples gift card for resume paper
• $100 subscription to the Orlando Business Journal
• $100 pre-paid cell phone to contact employers
• $50 gift card to Great Clips
• $50 gift card to Barnes and Noble
• $25 gift card to the U.S. Post Office for postage

The Employer Prize Pack includes:
• $300 gift card to Staples for office supplies
• $350 VISA or American Express gift card to support employee morale activities
• $200 Barnes & Noble gift card for human resources and training books
• $150 toward a local human resources association membership/renewal
• No-cost upgrade to be a featured booth on one WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA Virtual Job Fair Two tickets to WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA’s State of the Workforce Summit in the fall
-more-

Page 3/WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA Takes On …

For more information and full contest rules and eligibility, visit www.WorkforceCentralFlorida.com.

WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA (WCF) is the region’s workforce expert, helping over 4,000 employers connect with more than 54,000 job seekers. WCF offers innovative solutions to assist Central Florida businesses succeed in today’s highly competitive workforce, while providing the tools job seekers need to find or advance in their current career. For more information, visit WCF online at www.workforcecentralflorida.com.


# # #

Gee, they could have actually given a few people jobs with that money. That has to be the most idiotic PR effort ever. As a marketing ploy for a product, it could work, but as an attempt to create jobs--WTF?!

To me this just emphasizes the enormous gulf in thinking between those who are employed and those who aren't, with so little real comprehension of the mindset of someone facing possible homelessness, loss of health, even starvation.

Clipped this snippet from the May 13 Unemp Examiner. I assume that this was the result of WH Chief of Staff Daily's meeting with the sponsors of HR-589 recently. Unfortunately it appears the Prez is deploying his "lead from behind" approach here....... What ever your takeaway, it seems to be a big secret as far as the conventional media is concerned.



The good news for 99ers: The President mentioned he wants to possibly attach the 99ers money to some other big piece of legislation somehow… which piece, how and when is unclear…

The bad news for 99ers: The President does not seem deeply motivated to to actively support unemployment benefits in general terms.

Can someone tell me how many weeks of normal and extended benefits are available to someone who filed January 2011??

Thanks