Could use some advice on Unemployment if anyone has any

I live in Washington State.

The state may be trying to deny my wife unemployment benefits based on what they are calling an ‘availability issue’. We haven’t been denied yet, but I don’t like the direction it’s headed. She asked for a leave to take care of me when I was inpatient and literally in danger of dying. Her employer said she was less than a month shy of qualifying for the family leave act and they ‘let her go’, which they are now claiming she quit I guess, or was fired for cause, or whatever the f*ck ‘availability issue’ means. It stinks of a lot of corporate slime and I want to know how to call them on it. Anyone know anything about the law in this area, or know someone that does? Sadly, we have very little money. I already told her to request a copy of her last review (for which she was given a raise).

At best, they (Unemployment and/or her former company) are causing us a lot of stress and hardship by delaying our unemployment benefits by 4-6 weeks. At worst they plan to deny us.

The state has already paid for my inpatient stay and I am on disability lifeline (the States program, nothing to do with actual social security disability they just named it that to confuse people I guess). Meaning - the state has already admitted the seriousness of the issue for which I was hospitalized. Denying my wife unemployment for needing to be by my side during that time seems silly, if not illegal?

We’re putting requests for legal advice in IMHO these days, so let me move this thither for you.

twickster, MPSIMS moderator

Thanks :slight_smile:

I am not licensed in your State, what I’m about to post is probably wrong, and relying on it in any way might totally suck for you. Talk to a local lawyer, possibly one from the local legal services program if you qualify under the applicable income guidelines.

That said, this link contains possibly relevant information. So does this one.

Good luck.

I don’t mean to sound harsh but did she qualify for the Family Medical Leave Act or didn’t she? That is the real question and it sounds like she didn’t quite have the required time at the job to take it. If that is the case, you can be terminated for it with little recourse if the company wants to. That law is in place to protect employees that meet the requirements but there are rules involved and she has to meet them before it takes effect. My sympathies are with you but I am not sure there is anything either of you can do other than spend money on lawyers that you will probably never get back.

ETA: My comments were about being terminated under such circumstances. I have no idea if she is entitled to unemployment in your state. Those cases are easier to win than a wrongful termination claim in most places.

I’ve worked in H/R and the problem as I see it is the reason she quit her job.

To take care of YOU. To be able to collect unemployment you have to be available to work. She already let it be known by her actions, saying she was going to quit, that she has no intention of working. If you aren’t available for work you can’t collect unemployment.

This is my guess what is screwing you over.

Don’t get too worried, many claims are denied at first then go to arbitration. Even if that is decided against you, you can take it to the courts. If you win at any stage you’re back paid from the time you filed.

I don’t see anywhere in the OP where he says she didn’t show up for work after being denied leave to take care of him. Or that she quit at all. Perhaps some clarification from the OP is in order - did she in fact miss work or leave work to take care of you, or not?

Good luck - a friend of mine once got fired while on her maternity leave, and then had her former employer contest her unemployment on the basis that she had refused to come back to work. Which she hadn’t; they’d never actually asked her whether she planned to come back to work, and she fully intended to come back to work because she needed the money. The Dept. of Labor eventually sided with her.

She asked for a leave of absence, they denied it, then the parting of ways was (so it seemed) cordial and mutual. They said they understood why she had to leave, but couldn’t give her paid (or unpaid) leave. There was never any expectation that she would keep showing up for work. It was all made very clear.

She did not apply for unemployment for the month she took care of me. We had help from family to pay bills. She is applying now, while she HAS started looking for work again.

You just have to wait and see what the unemployment ruling is. It sounds to me like her honesty and professionalism will end up costing you because it sounds like she quit. You may have done better if she strung them along and made them fire her for it. Sadly, that is the way these things work sometimes.

USA! USA!

As soon as I’m healthy again, I’m out of this shit-hole country.

I’m vaguely remembering that in some situations, an applicant can be denied benefits for a period of X weeks – a penalty period – and approved for benefits once the penalty period was over. But I don’t remember the criteria. It seems like it’s for cases where the applicant quit but had a good reason, like relocating due to a spouse’s job change.

Do some research, see what you can find out.

You promise?

Unemployment is for people who get fired, i.e., not your wife, who quit her job.

Actually, that’s both rude and wrong. Congratulations.

And yes, I promise. There are many places better to live than the United States in pretty much every way. And as a computer programmer, I can live in any of them.

I’ve been through arbitration a lot of times and you never really know how it comes out. I’ve had two same situations with two different ex-employees. One arbitrator rules one way, the other arbitrator rules the other.

All you can do is hope you get a sympathetic arbitrator. I suggest your wife look into Temp Agencies. They are fairly good at accommodating people who need time off with schedules.

What did I say that was wrong?

Also, don’t forget to keep paying your taxes after you GTFO (unless you revoke your US citizenship).

From a link already posted in the thread:

They treat being fired and quiting the same. Getting laid off is treated differently.

Whoever hires me will take care of all that. They are happy to take highly skilled tech workers from the US in other countries. And more and more of us are happy to let them, every year. It’s called a ‘brain drain’ and the US is currently in the middle of one for exactly the attitude you express.

I feel for your situation, I truly do. But as your wife was not eligible for FMLA, and they didn’t grant her leave request but she took leave anyway, what made her think she would get to keep getting paid? Why do you think she should be eligible for unemployment? She needs to find another job. Do not plan on unemployment coming through for you. I cannot think of a justifiable reason for her request to be granted. It’s unfortunate that she hadn’t received FMLA eligibility yet, but that’s not the company’s fault.

If you guys were to end up in a similar situation again, you’d do better to investigate options for a part-time caretaker during the day (funded through SSDI maybe?), so your wife can maintain her job and care for you the rest of the time.

I am not a lawyer, and this advice is worth what you paid for it.

Your wife was not eligible for unemployment benefits during the time your wife was unable to work because she was caring for you.

Is she able to return to work now? If she still needs to care for you and cannot work, she cannot get unemployement benefits.

However, if she is able to go back to work…

The following information was provided to my daughter by Washington State Employment Security.

If they deny her benefits, request an appeal by phone. Specifically, when they deny her benefits, she should contact them and request an appeal. They will send her paperwork. On that paperwork, in addition to filling it out as completely and accurately as possible, in ALL CAPS on every page, she should write “I REQUEST AN APPEAL BY PHONE.” This will generally cause them to schedule an appeal quicker.

At the appeal, she should explain why she separated from work and that she is now able to work again. They may still require a 10 week waiting period for voluntarily quitting. Or they may let her start her waiting week back to when she was able to go back to work. If they deny her again, she should request another appeal.