This article provides advice and tips for residents of Massachusetts who are unemployed. It is the most popular post on my blog. Please read the related posts in the category “Navigating Unemployment” and the comments below.
Please consult the Mass.Gov website for improved information regarding unemployment benefits.
No legal advice. This blog post relates my experience only and the information I researched in January 2009. I have attempted to keep it current, but no one should rely on this blog post as legal advice.
Text of original post follows…
Rachel Levy and I have both been blogging about our searches for work. If you know anyone looking for a marketing professional, please go visit her site and hire her. My blog is not only about looking for work–check out the archive to see the breadth of things I’ve covered in the past two years…but today, I want to talk unemployment.
The Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance website has a great deal of information, but there is very little to answer the specific questions real job seekers have and no way to actually do anything of value there. Once you have filed your initial claim, you will be able to go online to file your weekly claim. But in the beginning, there are so many simple, basic things they do not tell you. So I’m going to list what I’ve learned here and invite people to comment and fill in the details…
Top 7 Tips for the Unemployed in Massachusetts
My purpose here is not to tell you how to find a job. It’s just about the hoops you need to jump through to get the insurance benefits you are entitled to receive while you are looking for work. I recommend you just do these things and don’t get hung up on lots of questions or debates about why the system is the way it is. We have a pretty good deal in Massachusetts compared to other states, so check your attitude at the door and don’t let the bureaucracy and cesspool of negativity you may encounter distract you from finding a job.
1. Go stand in line. Or, more accurately, sit in your car holding a number. Do not bother with the phone; it is busy. There is no way to register online and no forms to print out. So rather than call and wait on hold for hours, what you should do it go down to your local “walk in center” in the middle of the day and ask them when the line forms, then come back the next day at 7am or so to get a number. Then go get a coffee from Dunkin Donuts and come back at the right time. Make sure you bring all the information you will need to fill out the form. When I filed my claim, the center was experimenting with a group filing approach; we all filled out our forms together and I was out of the building within half an hour. Then, later that day, I received a call from the intake person to confirm he had registered me in the system. Easy. Painless. No frustration.
It would be nice if the form were online so I could fill it out in advance, submit it online, or even just mail it in. It seems ridiculous to have to stand in line to get a form that you fill out and hand to a person, then leave.
2. File your Medical Security Program application ASAP. If you are receiving unemployment benefits, you may be eligible to participate in the Medical Security Program. Download the application form, fill it out, and send it in before you file your initial claim. If you are eligible, MSP will reimburse you 80% of your COBRA premium up to a monthly maximum of $1080 for a family plan or $440 for an individual plan. My COBRA plan would cost me $1312.92 per month for Blue Cross HMO Blue Enhanced Value.
Are you eligible? Probably, especially if you have kids. But the determination of eligibility is complicated so rather than try to figure it out, just get the application completed and filed ASAP along with any required supporting materials…like the letter you need your wife to write saying she is a stay at home mom.
Download the brochure and application form and read them carefully. The website itself does not give the details you need. But get the application in so have it ready if you need it. If you fail to submit the application right away and find you need health care, the state will not pay retroactively; a friend I know is already in for $2600+ with the state refusing to reimburse the COBRA payments he made before his application was processed. You can file an appeal–another great use of your time when you could be looking for a job.
3. Wait for your first unemployment check to arrive before you try to call MSP. I burned through 45 minutes of cell phone time (I do not have a land line) before I got to a person who said she could not help me until I had received my first check. It will probably be a month before you get a check and maybe 6 weeks before you learn anything about MSP. In the meantime, you will be hoping you don’t get sick, avoiding going to the doctor, and not electing to use your COBRA “benefits.” You have 2 months from the date you are laid off to elect COBRA and it can be retroactive. So, if you have an emergency, you go to the doctor then pay COBRA.
If you do qualify for MSP, you will have to front the money for COBRA premiums and get reimbursed. And I do not know how part time work affects your eligibility for participation in MSP, but I suspect it is not good.
Please see my more recent posts on health care
4. The Commonwealth Care program is irrelevant to you. If you are eligible for MSP + COBRA, you are not eligible for Commonwealth Care. You can use the Commonwealth Connector web site to shop for private insurance, but you will not get the low-cost or free health care that is available for people who did not just lose their jobs. It is interesting to note that this site shows me many options cheaper than COBRA, but none as good as the NASE plan.
5. If you find part-time or consulting work…manage your time strategically. It is a crime to fail to report that you worked and earned money while unemployed, and you are allowed a pittance of earning (1/3 of your benefit amount, e.g. a couple hundred bucks), but what typically happens is if you make any significant money, you lose your benefit for that week. So if you do manage to find some freelance work, make sure you do it all in one week. Don’t do something foolish like work 10 hours a week for 4 weeks. Schedule your work so that if you have a 40-hour project, you can do it all in one week.
6. Stay positive. It is easy to get upset when you are on hold forever and then the phone hangs up on you or the person who answers refuses to help you. It is frustrating to click on website links that claim to give you information on how to apply…but then don’t link to the forms. And it is terribly frustrating to listen to repeated hold messages telling you to go to the website…when the website is telling you that you have to call the phone number. But just do what you need to do and get back on track looking for a job!
7. Don’t feel like a scumbag. I try to laugh at the movie Office Space and recall the line from one worker who is afraid of being laid off:
I’m going to be the first one they’re gonna lay off. Just the thought of having to go to the State Unemployment Office and having to stand in line with those scumbags!!!
There is no shame in collecting unemployment. We’ve been paying into the system for years–or at least our employers have been paying for us. It is social insurance, designed to cover just this situation. It’s not a government handout.
In the 1930s, perhaps our grandparents gave up their dreams to provide for their families during the Great Depression…they put their college degrees away and found jobs doing laundry or whatever it took to keep their families fed. There was no safety net and dreams were deferred out of necessity. But that generation enacted social protections to help prevent that kind of thing from happening again. For a few minutes, the lucky among us who had good jobs, stand in line with the laborers and attorneys, ironworkers and accountants, in these challenging times, and focus on building a better future with a least a few months protection from losing our homes and freezing in the cold because we were only a paycheck away from disaster. If there are some hoops we must navigate, we do it, and we move on.
If you have specific, useful tips on what people should do to make their experience with the Unemployment Insurance go more smoothly or constructive suggestions for how to improve the way these services are delivered, please comment here. Don’t post links to business opportunities. Even if they are well-intentioned, I will delete anything that is not directly relevant to the topic of navigating the unemployment bureaucracy.
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How can someone keep collecting unemployment for 10 months? Has never look for a job maybe just once at the beginning, plus he worked under the table for the first 3 months, deposit $14,800 into checking account in the last month. How is this person able to keep collecting!!!!!!!!! I think he should pay back the money collected as well as be fined for stealing from the State.
As several commenting visitors here have noted, there is a requirement to maintain a work/search log and produce it upon request. I don’t know of anyone who has had to do this, but I do know of people who have been determined to have been “overpaid” benefits. Then, to contest that determination, you need documentation to support your argument.
If you know of a person who is collecting money “under the table” or is not really looking for a job, you can report them to the DUA. In the case of someone collecting money but not reporting it, I’m sure the IRS would also be interested.
My bf filed his claim back in Nov of 08. He received his first check the end of Dec. Received one more than they stopped, something about a class he had to take. So he took the class. Resumed receiving benefits 2 weeks after completion of class then the checks stopped again. Can not get through on the phone, have gone into a center 3 times and keep hearing “its being processed” you’ll be entitled for back pay for the weeks you haven’t received but yet here we are in MAY and have not received a check since Feb! WTF!!! He also has sent in his papers 2x now for ins and we have yet to receive any acknowledgment or ins card or anything. Please, can someone help me?
PLEASE HELP.
I just applied for UI benefits, and am actively looking for an “Outside Sales” job in Massachusetts.
Dave, what happens if I’m getting UI benefits, and then I find a FULL TIME 100% COMMISSION position, but do NOT make any money in my first three to five weeks? Will I lose ALL of my UI benefits anyway, just because I worked over a certain amount of hours…even WITHOUT having received any money from the job)?
I asked the lady at the UI office in Massachusetts, and she said that I MUST report that I am working (even if I’m not getting paid), which is fine. But THEN she said, that I will NOT receive benefits if I’m working over a certain amount of hours (even WITHOUT getting a paycheck)!!!!!!
What????
That’s not fair. Why? Because, while trying to get my feet on the ground in a 100% sales/commission job, I would have to go WITHOUT money until I get my first check from the sales job!!! That could literally be WEEKS and WEEKS while I’m in training, learning, etc…!
Dave, and everyone, please respond to this, because I’m really confused! Is this accurate? Is it REALLY TRUE that if I accept a full-time 100% straight commission job, I will NOT get UI benefits (even if I’m NOT making any money yet)?
Thank you.
Has anyone else been asked to provide a work search log? Regarding Paranoia, It seems that the questions for the weekly web cert. have changed to include this as a requirement, specifically question one which ask if you “looked for work”. Has anyone else noticed this or should I expect to be audited soon?
best,
JD
The requirement to be actively looking for work has always been there, but I too noticed some language added mentioning the work log. I would recommend going back and filling in your work log if you have let it lapse, but I do not know of any plan to start auditing people more aggressively. When I was unemployed and living in Washington, DC in 1995, we had to submit the work log every week.
The requirements for what constitutes a work search are here. As you scan that list…it should be possible for any person who is not actively seeking to defraud the Commonwealth to meet those requirements. Here’s a “tough” one:
And here is one I didn’t think of:
I have been collecting unemployment under the “Federal extended benefits” program for six weeks. While validating my weekly claim via the internet I’ve noticed the wording has changed in questions 1 that deals with the “job search” activity. Apparently, under the extended benefits program the claimant is supposed to mail in the work search log weekly. I just found this out. Has anyone else that is collecting extended benefits mailed in their work search log weekly? If not has the Dept of unemployment contacted you in audit of your work search logs?
Hello, I have a question… I know that claimaints are now eligible for extensions on unemployment benefits… and the website stated that “eligible claimaints” may receive extensions on benefits. Does anyone know what determines eligibility on this? And is there a lag between exhausting your benefits, and receiving an extension??? Thanks!
I was laid off 2.5 months ago and have not yet received an unemployment check. It now looks like I will be starting a new job in a couple of weeks. Will I still get my lump sum unemployment or are they going to hold it now that I have a job??!?
I started keeping my long on a spreadsheet (ran out of room) and long ago lost track of the original document, so now I’m not sure where to mail it. Does anyone have that info?
Has anyone had to send in a log of their job search? If did you have any problems?
I was just “terminated” frm my Job of10.5 years. While working for this campany I invested in stock/portfolios of the company and I receive monthly a 1099 check of varying amounts depending upon $$ collected by the company on the portfolios I purchased for the past 9 yrs. Does this 1099 income effect my weekly unemployment benefits?
Also, for tax purposes, i pay self-employment taxes etc
dam…need help in sending worklog. when i was collecting..i didnt even know anything about worklog. i’ve been looking for work, but i have a hard time excepting the work because my fiancee uses my car to go to work. so im left with no car to go to interviews and such.so i kinda quit looking for a job because most jobs that contact me is so far away from home. i can only go to jobs where i can take the bus. now the dua wants a worklog. i havent look for a job 1 month now. what do i do?
Hey this might be off topic but i realy dont know who should i talk too so here goes i failed for unemployment 2 weeks ago im still working but my hours have been cut do to field im in i work in the oil as a service tech @ 40 hrs I make 860 gross but now its range from 200-600 this been like this most of the year till only make my 40 or more 4-5 months of the year all depends on the winter i got a paper from unemployment box 25 reads average weekly wage 1150.00 i have all my pay stub im look @ them i cant find 1150? the only time i can get that if i work overtime but that only doing the winter months so my question is im i getting cheated by my employer?
Tks Dave for you post very helpful
Filed*
also i should of add i pay child-support
202 a wk and health 130 wk
Great info! This info is very relevant in this scenario of recesiion.
I just noticed “NEW!submit work search log online”
I missed it last week and didn’t do it. Has anyone had any experience with the Work Log from the State?
I was able to submit my Sunday filing without doing the Work Search part.
See this page at Mass.Gov for information on the work search log requirements.
In particular, at the bottom of the page:
Work Search Activity Logs
Dave, I heard from someone that there is a 2 week waiting period before you could collect. Our company is mandating all employees to take 2 weeks unpaid furlough in the next 2 quarters. We don’t get to pick the weeks…we were given 4 to choose from. I’ll be taking one week in July and the other in November. So because, in total, I will only have 2 weeks unpaid I can’t claim? Only if I had gone into a 3rd week of unpaid furlough?
I was let go back in January of 09 and applied for unemployment benefits. At the time I had a claim from the previous summer so they reopened that claim. Well it took 8 weeks to get a check because I was terminated allthough wrongfully (employee at will in Ma) Longstory short that claim expired on June 6th of this month. I was told I had to open a new claim which I did. I was also told there may be a hold up once again due to the termination from my last employer. Now why is it i have to go through the same big ordeal with them when I already did and was granted benefits. Nothing has changed for me since Janary when I opened it. What is there to review again when its already been reviewed? Also from Jan to June 6 I used 21 out of 33 weeks of unemployment benefits. Am I going to have to go through this once again once the extended benefits kick in after the 33rd week? Will it just automatically kick in? Since I was out of work all of 09 now and 2 months in 08 is my total weekly benefit going to be significantly reduced now? I was getting 625? Will the fact that Ive been out of work all that time significantly reduce my benefit amount? I just feel so exhausted,depressed,defeated by the whole job market and feel kicked around by Mass DUI as well.
super quick question. when you work PT and can earn say up to $200 a week, is that net or gross? In other words, if I make 300 but 120 get taken out in taxes, etc, is the amount they count 300 or 180? hey, thanks, this is such a valuable blog!!
I checked with the Division of Unemployment Assistance and confirmed that if you are working with an employer who takes out taxes, you are supposed to report your gross earnings, not net. If you are self-employed, you report the net of earnings minus expenses. This page on the DUA website provides some guidance about earning money while collecting unemployment.
There are many unknowns with regard to collecting unemployment. For example, if while collecting unemploymnet, you attempt to supplement your income and you take on a full-time commission only job – you will likely lose your unemployment compensation – if you can image! The laws need to be adjusted to help individuals not punish them for taking something on that doesn’t prove to bring in any money.
Hey everyone, do not be discouraged. I was laid off from Dec 2008 to Jun 2009 and things did work out. What delays there were in paying benefits these weeks were paid retroactive and then continued normally. We were able to get the Direct Coverage through MSP for we could not meet the COBRA payment of $1080/mon. My only gripe was not being able to get any other assistance (TANF) because I “made too much $ from UI” go figure! And what bothered me was the people at the Supermarket using the TANF card for food then driving away in the Mercedes or Cadillac SUV. But that being said I lucked out in getting back to work. Keep the faith.
I’m hoping someonen can help me. And I apologize in advance for the confusion of my question.
I filed my initial unemployment claim on June 7th. It’s July 4th and I have not received payment. When I log on to check the status, it tells me how much I have in my account but I have not received a check.
I have a freelance job. I worked one day yesterday (Friday) which I will report tomorrow (Sunday). I will be working this freelance job this coming Mon-Fri and I will report this on Sunday. I will be back to making no money the following week so I will re-open my claim that week. (I will make half of my apparent weekly UI wage on that one day on Friday and I will make more than my UI apparent weekly wage in that full week I work)
So..my question is…when I report my wages earned and then re-open my claim…is this going to slow things down even futher? When will I ever get paid????
Dear Anxious,
Do you file every Sunday as directed? You should see during this time the ability to check the status of your weekly claim. If you did not make more than 1/3 of your benefit you should be issued a check. Please check the status page and if needed you might have to call or go to the nearest office in the AM to find out the issue. Hope this helps.
What a wonderful blog! thanks for all the tips!
I have a question – does anyone know what happens if you click “no” for the first 2 questions when asked if you looked for work and were able to work?
Due to a hospitalization last week, I was technically not able to work. I don’t want to be fraudlant and claim I was. If I click “no” do I get disqualified from my benefits and have to re-submit my claim?
is there any significance to an amount shown in your account balance prior to receiving your first check or even knowing youre approved? I filed 6/23/09 and on 7/08/09 an amount showed up as account balance. does this mean i will have something coming? Thanks great site..
Paul, You should-the amount displayed is your benefit amount allotted to you while on unemployment. Each time you file and receive a check this number will decrease by the amount paid out. Hope this helps.
Thanks Bill.. I probably should have been more specific as to ask if the amount meansi’ve been approved.. but i’ll keep my fingers crossed thanks to all!
@ Kare –
DTA does, in fact, have emergency expedited Food Stamp benefits. If eligible, you receive them within 7 days of inital claim.
What has changed, is if you file for emergency Food Stamps, you need to re-file within 30 days for the benefits to continue for 6 months. This information was told to me directly by two different DTA case managers while applying at the beginning of last week. I received my first installment by the end of the week.
Stay positive and keep the hope going, everyone. This too shall pass.
Does anyone know what day to look to see if a payment has been made? If they post on Tuesdays then I won’t have to check 3 times a day every day waiting for that first check payment to be displayed.
Just curious. I filed on 6/5 and have not received anything although I have received my vacation pay (reported it) and think that is why my file is so delayed.
Thanks for everyone who can help me. My account shows the balance and the information states that they are processing my claim.
I made my initial claim on June 8th. I called UI and spoke to someone about my claim on July 6th. They said I did not report my one week severance I received from my last job (but I DID report it) and that an auditor would be calling me within THREE weeks.
I called UI this morning and the woman that I dealt with was able to provide me my auditor’s name (She also said my auditor called on July 8th but I did not receive any calls) but could not locate her number. However she was able to transfer me to my auditor’s extension (??). I left a message with my auditor.
I know the auditor is probably swamped but I’m in full panic mode here because I am reaching week 9 of unemployment and the money I do have is running out.
It’s frustrating that in order to reach my auditor, I have to call the UI claim line on my designated SS day and wait just to be transferred.
Can anyone give me some tips?
I applied for benefits on June 3rd; the day I was fired from my job.
Last week (mid July) I spoke with an auditor who told me that they are so far behind, that she will be calling me around the first week of August. Because I was FIRED, it will take longer, she said.
Is this true?
I left my job on 6/17, it was a commission only sales job. I only worked for the company for 3 months. I was promised about 33K to start with more being paid on new business. Let’s just say after 3 months it was obvious that what they told me was extremely inaccurate.
I filed on 6/17 and am still waiting to hear from an auditor. I was told 8 weeks. Not sure how they expect someone to survive for 8 weeks while they take their time calling. Granted, I left my job, but I was almost writing them a check monthly to work for them it was so bad.
Hope you all have better luck than I am having. Very discouraged!! Never collected in my life and I have been working for 29 years….pitiful!!
It’s me again….
I actually went to the ue office and when I got there they said that I still had to wait another week or two. She said that it was because of something that my employer said. The ue administrator made me feel awful for asking where my first check was after 6 weeks. She matter-of-factly stated that I still had another week or two before someone would contact me. It seems so long and I wish that I truly could understand the process. Why do some folks receive a check almost right away while some wait. I have worked diligently for 20 some odd years and have NEVER received a check before and had to wait 8 weeks….uuuggghhh…
I did quit my job. but clearly there was a problem since I had been there for so long. Just ask the questions and let me know.
When I finally receive my first check will it be for all of the missing weeks or will it be for only one week?
I just can get any questions even though I actually went to the office. they would give me NO information. I have tried to call and get NO person on the other end. I find this extremely frustrating and maybe they are looking for a good person to streamline the process. UUUUGGGGHHHH….
This is the 9th week since I filed. Supposedly the adjuster will return my call. Doing the weekly check-in thing and searching for work. I have no money coming in – don’t know what to do. It’s bad. How are people surviving this?
Hey Lynne, I just needed to respond to tell you that we are NOT surviving this. Unfortunately I filed on 6/17 and am still waiting for my adjuster call. Very upset, no money coming in, no idea how to pay my bils.
The only good/bad thing is I did find a job that I will start on 8/10 which is good, but I would make quite a bit more if I just collected unemployment. I have no choice because I NEED to get some money coming in and have no idea when or if I will get a UI check.
I heard that once you accept a full time job your UI stops. Pretty sad that I would get 1/2 of my weekly wage on UI and by working I will get 1/4 of my weekly wage. I can’t survive on that and have no idea what I will do.
Wishing everyone the best of luck and what would happen if I refuse this job because of the low pay?? I bet they would not issue a UI check either….UGH
just wanted to share my update. ive been reading these messages for the last few months for input myself.
i was laid off on june 3rd and filed on june 5th. was told that someone would call me personally within 4 weeks to go over it all or whatever and that i would then start receiving checks and get back pay for that 4 week period.
well i filled out my weekly claim online every week and watched the weeks tick bye. 4 weeks…5 weeks…6 weeks…7 weeks.
now at this point im worried that i missed a call or didnt fill out a form that i needed or something. any calls to the telecenter got closed by the “sorry but we are experiencing a large call volume please try again later” message.
so completely stressed out and confused i waited in line for the UE office to open yesterday. i was not the first few in line so they put me on the list and told me to come back in 2 hours at 10:30am. once i came back they game me a number and told me to wait. once my turn came i spoke with the woman and told her that i had filed about 8 weeks ago and never got my “4 week” call. she pulled up my page on her computer and said that it appeared that i should have been receiving checks according to her records. when i informed her that this was not the case went to ask her supervisor. as it turns out my claim had been approved just a day prior to my showing up at the office. and my check along with 6 back week checks had been deposited into my bank account. had i checked my bank acct that morning i would have seen it but what are the odds of that.
in any case im all set now. im getting weekly checks deposited to my bank and i got all my back pay weeks. it is surprising that it just got approved without the call to me that they said i was gonna get. i guess they are just backed up enough that if they paperwork checks out (when they finally get to it in 7 weeks) that they sometimes dont bother calling.
so anyone in my situation who is wondering what the hell is going on like i was. hope this story helps.
I applied on July 5th and have not heard anything yet. How long does it take? Does the state have a deadline for how long they are allowed to take to process a claim? Is there somewhere I can find a live person to find out where my claim is and what the status is? I do the webcert every week and keep checking the mail but am getting anxious. Advice appreciated.
I was laid off June 17th. My employer said to be sure to apply for UI benefits that same week, even though the employer was giving me 6 weeks “transition pay.” I filed for UI by phone as directed answering all questions flly and accurately, including stipulating that I was receiving transition pay for 6 weeks. I also checked my claim on-line and put in the same information in the on-line response section, again stipulating the transition pay I was receiving. After 5+ weeks of my claim being “in process”, I called DUI and the rep accused me of not having told them about my transition pay(!) I lost my temper and directed her to look at her own records to see that I had repeatedly provided the information. She obviously hadn’t checked that. THEN she sent me a letter which arrived less than 24 hrs. later (they can be fast after all, huh?) that said I was disqualified because of the transition pay and would have to reapply for benefits. RE-APPLY? Here’s the kicker–another lady at work who got laid off the same day as me and got the same transition pay has been receiving UI benefits during her transition pay period.
Hey Melanie, consider yourself lucky that you had transition pay. Even if you got laid off you would have a waiting week for the first week and then at least two weeks before you would have received your first check, so if you just stopped getting your transition pay, you should have to wait 3 weeks to get your first check. Maybe that is what the UI worker meant?? Not sure.
Just to update everyone, I am now in my 8th week of unemployment. I called to speak with my adjuster last Thursday and did not receive a phone call. I called again today and she had a message on her phone that she is on vacation until next week…UGH
I called the alternate adjuster she left on her voice mail and left a pretty scathing message as to how long are we supposed to wait. I would like to take my son to get school clothes etc but can’t afford food or rent while I am waiting on them.
Needless to say I received a phone call within about a half hour from another adjuster. She took all my info…let me know she was calling my former employer and I should not have any problem receiving UI as I had a valid reason for quitting my job.
I am hoping to get my 7 weeks of back pay by next week and can pay my bills, pay all the friends back that I have had to borrow money from for the last 8 weeks, and pay my rent!!
I am starting a job on 8/10 which will pay me significantly less than I would receive on unemployment, but I need money coming in NOW, not whenever.
Good luck to all those still waiting!!
Thank you all for your posts. It’s not good news but helped my blood pressure realizing I wasn’t the only one in for a long wait.
I applied July 7, 2009
I did receive a letter telling me the total benefit credit and weekly pay rate.
I have no idea if that means I have been approved and can expect a direct deposit check in a few weeks.
It really is a great help to know it isn’t that I have made an error or something.
Thanks, and good luck with the jog hunt.
How long have You been waiting after filing?
Greg
Hi,
I was laid off on June 23 and filed on June 25th. I have not received a check yet. I managed to get through only once, to find out that a former employer responded that I still worked for them ( likely a secretary in another building that did not know me. I haven’t worked there in over a year. I have not received a phone call and feel helpless. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Thanks for this post and for experiences shared.
Worried in MA
I filed for benefits June 30, received my determination letter July 20, but have not received any payments yet. Like everyone else above, I’m at my wit’s end and wondering how much longer I need to wait.
Can someone tell me how long it typically takes to get paid from the date of the determination letter? It’s now been 3 weeks…
June, you will need to get through to clear up the discrepancy because a person who should not have talked to unemployment gave them false information. Anytime I have actually talked to someone they are looking at a computer with my information on it. Your bass had to report in whenever you last worked.
I was finally contacted 8-10-09 there was an “issue” I’m trying to iron out. “Early retirement” (forced) vs Laid Off. I did find this email but can’t vouch that it is what got me a call back.
HaProblemResolutionUnit@detma.org Good Luck ! It’s your money paid for you exactly for times like this.
Greg
I filed july 21 and received my determination letter August 10. I now noticed that the amount in my account via the web cert system has decreased by the equivalent of two weeks of benefits – however still no word on receiving any benefits
My account on web cert is down $2,000 Yeah !!. Maybe I’m too optimistic but I expect my claim has made it through the system and will be deposited soon. I had signed up for direct deposit.
Fingers Crossed for all of you. I think they are overwhelmed and from what DUI head said on the news the other day that the new people they have hired to deal with this huge increase in applications take a long time to be trained.
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