Why Was I Sent a Notice of Telephonic Fact-Finding Interview
My question involves unemployment benefits for the state of: Virginia
I applied and was awarded 13 weeks' unemployment compensation last month. 2 weeks ago, I received a call for a job from a temp agency which they said was for one day, "possibly longer." I worked one day, then was asked if I would like to work one week. I told both the employer and the temp agency that I was interested; however, my son's high school graduation ceremony was at the end of the week so I would not be available that day. The temp agency said they'd check with the employer to see if it would be ok for me to work the days I was available. They later called and told me the employer preferred to have only one individual who could work all week. There were no problems with my job performance. I thought that would be the end of that. However, when I made a call to the unemployment commission later that day (I had a question on an unrelated issue with using their website), I was asked if I had worked that week. I told them the truth, giving them my temp agency's name and the details as outlined above. The next day, I got a call from the commission asking me about whether I had failed to accept suitable work that week. Again I told them the truth. After that I received a "Notice of Telephonic Fact-finding Interview" to be held June 27 at 10:30. They listed the issue raised as being: "Did you fail to apply for work or fail to accept suitable work during the week claimed?" I feel like telling them to forget the whole thing, I will pay back the few weeks of compensation I have received from them. But then I was concerned that I would be accused of fraud, and face penalties and maybe jail time. Please tell me what to do! I have nothing further to add than what I've already stated.
Thanks for your help
Re: Why Was I Sent a Notice of Telephonic Fact-Finding Interview
The worst that's going to happen is that you'll be denied unemployment for that particular week. You're not going to be required to pay back all your benefits and your claim is not going to be stopped. Relax, tell the truth and don't panic.
Re: Why Was I Sent a Notice of Telephonic Fact-Finding Interview
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cbg
The worst that's going to happen is that you'll be denied unemployment for that particular week. You're not going to be required to pay back all your benefits and your claim is not going to be stopped. Relax, tell the truth and don't panic.
Thanks for the quick response! I feel a little better now
Re: Why Was I Sent a Notice of Telephonic Fact-Finding Interview
I'm not as optimist as cbg. When you work for a temp agency even when it's only one day all kinds of bad things can happen. She's right that they won't go back in time to make you pay things back, but I suspect that from this moment forward, you won't be seeing another dime of UI money until you purge the disqualification by working, earning the right amount of money, and being laid off again.
I think it'll be treated as a refusal of suitable work.
Re: Why Was I Sent a Notice of Telephonic Fact-Finding Interview
In Virginia, as long as you are looking for fulltime employment sufficiently (they want to see two job actions each week), the worst thing that's going to happen for any temporary jobs you do take that week is that you will lose benefits for that week. If you make a habit of not looking or being available for work, you may attract more attention. I've not heard of anybody who had an issue not working a temp job or looking for work based on a single day.
Do note however that you should keep track of all the attempts you have made to find work. In addition to the telephonic or internet reports you make of these, eventually the department will call you in and ask you to show what you did. They'll typically want to see actual data on two of the weeks you have previously filed for. It's usually done in conjunction with a job skills workshop (which actually isn't bad, why they wait many weeks before making you take it I have no idea).