Nevada Unemployment-Fuck you you fucking fucks!(long)

The BBQ Pit
1

I am so goddamn furious right now my vision is impaired. Look at that, you really can see red! Fascinating!

My contract with Microsoft recently expired, so I am once again unemployed. On the advice of my temp agency, I immediately filed for unemployment benefits, which here in Nevada is done on the internet, as oppose to the last state I lived in where you went into an office and sat down with a real Human Being! I thought I figured it out alright though, even though I’ve never done this before. How wrong I was.

I misunderstood their directions, and did not file the week before last because I thought I was not eligible because I had to refuse work due to my inability to pass a drug test (a problem which has now been remedied; no more smokin’ for me, for awhile). The outline I received in the mail states very specifically: “When am I eligible to file a claim? Answer: if you are unemployed and have not refused work.” Okay, I got that, but apparently you are supposed to file anyway and just let them know that you refused work and aren’t eligible for benefits that week. This is something that would have been crystal clear to me if I weren’t talking to a FUCKING INTERNET SYSTEM.

So, live and learn. I did not refuse work last week, and went to file my claim online last night, and this is when I learned of my HORRENDOUS MISTAKE of not filing the week before. So it kicks me back to make me fill out all of my initial claim information! Okay, deep breath: I go about filling out all of this fucking information again, which I filled out before but which apparently has now magically vanished because stupid, stupid NailBunny did not file her claim for benefits which she was not eligible for. :rolleyes: Then I get the message: “Some of the information you have entered may result in your disqualification for unemployment benefits. Please contact your Call Center.” The fuck? This is THE SAME INFORMATION I entered two weeks ago, and it didn’t disqualify me then, and by the way I AM QUALIFIED!!! After much raging and a little tearful whimpering to Mr. Bunny, I wrote down the name of their shitting Call Center and tried to call this morning.

“We are experiencing a heavy flow of calls and cannot accept your call at this time. Goodbye.”

OH I KNOW YOU DID NOT JUST HANG UP ON ME YOU GODDAMN ASSLICKING PIECE OF SHIT FUCKASS AUTOMATED BITCH.

So I call back and decide maybe I need to select the option to file my weekly claim, and they’ll have someone talk to me afterward or something.

“Our records indicate that you did not file a claim last week, and we cannot process your weekly claim at this time. Please contact the Call Center. Goodbye.”

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? AM I AWAKE RIGHT NOW? WHAT EXACTLY DID I REACH WHEN I DIALED THAT NUMBER NEXT TO THE WORDS CALL CENTER???

So I spent fifteen minutes going through the manual, looking for any other phone number. I find one for JobConnect in Carson City, and call that.

“If your call is regarding unemployment benefits, please call blahblahnumberI’vealreadycalledthreetimestodaygodfuckit.”

If could climb through the telephone and wiggle through the wires and slither out your receiver and STAB YOU IN BOTH OF YOUR FUCKING EYEBALLS UNTIL YOU DIE AND THEN MAGICALLY RESURRECT YOU JUST SO THAT I COULD HAVE THE PLEASURE OF STABBING YOU UNTIL YOU DIE AGAIN I would!!!

Does anyone know anything about how this works? Am I ever going to speak to another human being, ever? I sent an e-mail to their “Claims Information” address on the website, with more or less the above in it (minus, of course, the fucking profanity), but I would be lying if I said I’m actually expecting anyone to write me back. I mean, I know I may not be the brightest penny in the bank, but there have GOT to be people who fuck this up every day, and yet somehow still get their money???

:mad: :mad: :mad:

2

I had to deal with this shit when National Airlines went out of business - our entire airline AND several supermarkets all laid people off that week. It took me several days to get through to them. Sucks ass, but there was a trick to getting in (timing wise, like the best time to call. Damn me but I can’t remember what it is. The good news is, filing your weekly claim can be done on Sundays, and it’s easier to get through then. Call earlier in the day, not later, because after a certain point in the afternoon the system will just stop accepting calls, and heaven help you if you get disconnected, b/c there is NO WAY to get back in after that cutoff.

You will eventually reach a live person on the phone, I suggest that as your method for getting through, just call early as hell.

3

You know, I’m reminded of something terribly ironic I thought of back when I was dealing w/jobconnect: if they hired more fucking people, there’d be fewer clogging their lines for benefits.

4

Nail, go into the nearest unemployment office and fill out your claim. Tell them that you thought you did not have to file this week and get your admonishment of “You have to file every week no matter what”. Screw the phone or internet, go into the office. You may have to wait in line but doing the actual claim should take all of about 5 minutes.

5

Heh, Morrigoon, that is probably the most intelligent thing I’ve heard all day. Did I mention that I also had to call several times before I even got through, because the Call Center line was BUSY?! What, they have, like, two lines? Well no fucking wonder they’re experiencing a heavy flow of calls, that could be five people!!! :rolleyes:

And The Long Road, therein lies the rub: they don’t have an office! There are offices for JobConnect, sure, but apparently they are not affiliated with the Unemployment Department because that’s the number that told me to call the number I called in the first place to talk about my unemployment claim. That’s what I was saying about back in Oregon, you had to go to the office and fill out all their paperwork and meet with some people and look up jobs on their computers and all kinds of happy crappy, my husband did it when he was wrongfully terminated from his job.

Thank you for the suggestions though.

I am still so furious about this. What kind of a crackerjack joke of an excuse for an unemployment aid is this? If I ever do get through to anyone, it’s probably going to be some housewife in Bumfuck, Nevada outside of Fallon who’s going to be looking at the same website I’ve been puzzling over to get information about my claim.

6

ok, I never thought I would be happy about Louisiana being behind the times but damn, I’m glad we are behind the times and still have offices.

7

:smiley:

Years ago, when the internet was just a dream of Al Gore’s, I spent some time on Nevada Unemployment. You file ASAP, and keep filing every week till you get a permanent job. Just answer the questions on the weekly card. Never admit to refusing work or not seeking work. After a couple months, they will call you into the office for an interview and review your job search, so be sure to document all the places you have been to look. Can’t help you with the new system, but you should get yerself down to a local office and see someone. The office in Carson City is just south of Winnie Lane on the east side of Highway 395. I’m sure there is one in Reno, but I don’t know where.

Believe it or not, the Unemployment office and the DMV in Nevada are pretty top-notch, in my opinion, and I can’t think of anything bad to say about em’. I’ve never had any problem with them. Good Luck!

8

I had issues because they didn’t want you using cell phones to call in. At some point I did, in desperation, go to Nevada JobConnect’s offices. They let me use their phone to keep calling and holding :smiley:

I had the same deal as you where I flat couldn’t even go on hold for DAYS. Just keep calling, and for fuck’s sake, if you get put on hold, STAY THERE! Once you get the initial claim out of the way, the weekly shit is easy and automated.

I have to say, despite these rantings, Nevada has one of the best governments around (I never did recieve my unemployment benefits when the airline in Texas bankrupted on me… suffice it to say I no longer work in the airline industry). I find visits to the county/city offices (in Vegas) to be damn near a pleasure, everything is so well organized, and CLEAN. DMV here in CA (at school in LA right now) is nasty as hell, and it’s the same 3 hour wait. Everything just works better in Nevada. Now if only we could keep other Californians from following us there - don’t want em to mess up a good thing :wink: They’re already screwing with property sizes b/c the builders are building on California expectations (we’re in the middle of a vast fucking desert, and these guys build luxury homes on 1/10th of an acre! Fuckwads.)

Hang in there, I’m sure you’ll find something. Have you considered one of the software companies down south? I know Westwood is based in Vegas, it’s a possibility for ya. I don’t know what your skills are, but there’s got to be good programming work in the gaming manufacturers.

9

I don’t know why their call system drops the calls. It’s the same here in Ontario. I’ve been calling the fucking number over the course of 5 days and I haven’t talked to a real person yet! FUCK!

And what really pisses me off is that we need to report the END of medical benefits. God damn fucking shit. I wish our call center DROPPED calls when there’s a hold (it would make our job a lot easier!)

Oh well, if they bitch that we didn’t report when we stopped our benefits I’ll fucking show them our phone logs. What a fucking waste of time.

10

I’ve never filed on the Internet. Mom filed her weekly claims online after making her initial claim by phone.

What you do is, call the call center as early as possible in the morning or as late as possible in the afternoon- I can’t remember what their exact hours are, but you have the manual. This greatly increases your chances of getting through.

After going through the touchtone bullshit, you will eventually get a live human on the line, I promise. You just have to be persistant. When asked why you didn’t file the first week you were unemployed, say something like, “Well, I though the temp service would have me me working again right away, so I didn’t think I’d need to.” I told an unemployment guy the reason I didn’t file for the first couple of weeks I was unemployed was because I thought I would find a new job quickly, but it turned out not to be the case. They accept that kind of reasoning fairly well.

And really, not being able to pass a drug test doesn’t sound to me like you refused work. More like you just didn’t (or wouldn’t have) get the job. Don’t tell them you refused work.

11

Well, 65 freakin’ minutes of my life I’ll never get back later, and I got through to a real live person!!! When he picked up I just about burst into tears, I honestly didn’t think anyone would ever pick up my call. Anyway, I told him I forgot to file the first week (lame, I know, but it was the best I could come up with and upon reflection I had already decided not to go with the “I had to refuse work because I’m a pot-smoking loser” approach, heh), and he knew exactly what was going on and how to fix it. He filed for me for the week ending the 6th, and told me tomorrow I need to go online and file for last week, and just be diligent about filing from now on, which believe me, I WILL BE. So surprise of surprises, I may actually see a red cent or two from them! Amazing.

I still just cannot believe that I had to sit on the phone on hold for 65 minutes. Can there be that many thousands of people calling with questions about their unemployment claims, and if there is, would you think it might be an indication to whoever writes this shit that maybe their instructions could be A LITTLE CLEARER??? :smack:

12

I had a much less annoying experience, but it still pissed me off.

I was laid off and collecting for a few months, then a 3 month contract job came up. Before I started, I drove over and asked what I need to do to start collecting again when the contract runs out. They said I needed to come in and talk to someone when the time comes.

Months pass, and the contract runs out, and I go in. The SAME GUY I TALKED TO BEFORE says I shouldn’t have come it, and just applied again online… :rolleyes:

13

Update: I go online this morning to file for last week, per the instructions of the guy at the Call Center, and I get the message “Our records indicate that you have already filed for this week. If you filed after 6PM Friday you will need to wait until Tuesday to file again.” :confused:

A: man said he was going to file for the week ending the 6th, B: does that mean that he also filed for last week, and if so C: is today not Tuesday? I am so goddamn confused. I’m going to try again later tonight, maybe it hasn’t cleared yet or something. If it still says I’ve already filed for this week, then I’m going to have to assume it means last week, because the man also told me yesterday that their weeks end Saturday, which would mean I couldn’t file for this week yet. But at least something has been filed, which means maybe I’ll finally get a check and my husband and I will raise our heads a teeny bit above poverty level.

What a fucking joke.

14

OK. First, how to get through: call after noon on Wednesday, through the end of the Week. Monday is awful. Tuesday is little better.

The entire country is going to this system.

Now, Unemployment Rules:

You must be available for work and actively seeking work to apply for unemployment. You must meet those two conditions.

DON’T ASSUME.

If you refuse a job, you have to have a reason. I.e. someone offered you a job selling dope and you didn’t want to break the law. The job paid less than 75% of your previous wage. The job was more than 50 miles away from your old job.

(Those are the actual guidelines.)

Now WHY IS IT SO LONG?

There are 9 million Americans out of Work. Hundreds of thousands are applying for new benefits every week. There are fewer people getting jobs than are applying for unemployment.

And they’ve gone to the phone system because budgets were cut so deeply by George W. that they can’t afford to keep offices open. Because people who need unemployment don’t contribute to the Republican Party. (One would hope, anyway.)

Those 9 million people barely subsisting are pretty evenly proportioned across the states. some are worse than others. Hawaii was bad for a while. Tourist destinations. Cause people weren’t and still aren’t flying like they used to. Because they can’t afford it.

See if you’re unemployed you can’t go into the hospital. Because if you’re in the hospital you can’t actively be seeking work. Nor can you go on vacation. But you can LOOK FOR A JOB IN ANOTHER STATE.

Hope you get a job before your benefits run out. Because if you don’t have a job when your benefits run out, guess what, you are NO LONGER UNEMPLOYED because you no longer collect benefits even though you haven’t found a job.

And we’re spending $87 Billion to rebuild Iraq. Via Halliburton.

15

See, they do this on purpose so you will go out and get a job quicker so you don’t have to deal with their bureaucracy!

Good luck on finding a new job. You have my sympathies in dealing with the Unemployment Office.

16

Not to get all junior mod on anyone’s ass, but generally speaking suggesting that people commit crimes (such as, say, defrauding the Nevada unemployment system) is Not A Good Idea.

17

Total Hijack but …

… how do you claim if you don’t have internet access?

:confused:

18

Around here, libraries tend to have free public internet access and you can set up free e-mail accounts through Yahoo and other services.

What your state constitutes “refusing employment” may surprise you. For example, last February, I turned down a temp assignment because I’d been in a car accident and injured my neck. I called unemployment to ask since, to my way of thinking, I had refused work and the woman told me that as far as unemployment was concerned, I hadn’t. I got the benefits for that week.

I had a good 7 months of dealing with filing for unemployment on-line, albeit in a different state. When I started getting temporary work, I was concerned about how that would work, but when I checked the box saying I had accepted work, I was taken to a screen which asked me for information about the work I’d done. Everything was straight-forward enough.

As for the best time to call, I would suggest about 5 minutes after the phone lines open, especially if this is somewhat early, say 7:00 am or so.

CJ

19

Oh for criminy sakes.

Let’s take the situation the original poster indicated. She failed a drug test. She reasoned “I’m not available for work.” But she WAS available for work. She just wasn’t HIRED because that employer didn’t like the results of her blood test. There is not state in the union that requires you to pass a drug test to collect unemployment.

Are you available for work? That means are you physically available for work. If you’re having a heart transplant then you are not physically available for work. And if you’re collecting unemployment and having a heart transplant, you must have one hell of a COBRA policy!

Are you actively seeking work? Are you really looking for a job? So you can’t get unemployment and collect welfare at the same time. And you can’t be retired and collect unemployment. And you can’t be dead and collect unemployment.

Beyond that you aren’t defrauding anyone but yourself.

20

Well, um, yeah, actually if you refuse work as defined in the regs or you fail to look for work as defined by the regs, and you report to the office that you did not refuse work and that you looked for work, you have in fact defrauded the state which provides the benefits. Obtaining benefits to which one is not legally entitled by lying would be, say it with me now, fraud.