Abuse of Unemployment????
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16 Posts
We reduced our hours in our Optical department due to budgetary constraints, so our newest employee went from 40 hours to 20 hours. She subsequently filed for unemployment insurance for the difference, so she is currently collecting unemployment insurance. One of our employees is now on maternity leave and we offered to give her more hours temporarily as a result, and she declined, saying she can only work 20 hours in order to collect her unemployment insurance. And she also told us that she can only work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, because she is doing Day Care for someone on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We asked how she can do Day Care if she can only work 20 hours a week and she says she is "volunteering" her time to do Day Care (which is, by the way, for a co-worker). What do we do? She is more than likely being paid for those hours, and when you are on unemployment and are offered hours, aren't you supposed to report that to unemployment? What do we do? We are being billed from Unemployment for her reduced hours. This does not seem right. Are we supposed to notify the unemployment office if we offer her more hours and she declines due to another commitment of providing Day Care?
Please help!
Comments
What state are you in?
Personally, I would call the UI office and ask this very question. Because yes, it does sound fraudulent, especially if the co-worker is paying her for childcare duties. But I am betting those wages aren't getting reported anywhere (UI, IRS, etc).
Another way to solve the same problem... You can also require her to work T/Th and if she refuses the work, terminate her and fight unemployment at that point. She might lose (depending on the state) all benefits at that point since she refused work.
But I would start by calling and asking your state's office first.
You normally lose your UI benefits if you turn down work (that would disqualify you from UI). I would definitely call whoever runs UI in your state. I would report the "voluntary" child care as well.