Quote: "Thing is, you quit, and so few quitters get UI, the UI workers don't bother." This is absolutely NOT true. There is a standard procedure that goes on, in every state, in compliance with federal unemployment law, and people in the unemployment system in every state have a set way of dealing with all claims. Whether or not they think this is a valid claim, or whether they are "dumber than dirt." A great many of the claims that are submitted are pitifully, blatantly obviously deniable just at first glance. But each and every one is put through the very same appeals process.

When you quit a job, you have the burden of proof to show that you had a valid misconduct reason to quit the job. That you had tried to correct the situation and that you have exhausted every reasonable alternative to quitting BEFORE you quit the job. Yes, it is much more difficult to get approved when you have quit than when you have been terminated. Because it was your choice, and it takes a really valid work related reason for that to be approvable, to show that you are out of work "through no fault of your own." The medical issues are not such a big deal in the approval or denial of the claim. If you have any restrictions on the type of work you are able to do, or are unable to work due to your health conditions, that is an ability to work issue, and is separate from the separation issue.

You file the claim. Information is gathered, and since it is a "voluntary quit" claim, it must be adjudicated. This will always take four to six weeks to do, and in extremely high claims load times, it may take more time. There is a federal quality standard called "late first pays" which pretty much means that they mustn't simply let your claim lie around on someone's desk for months. They have to act upon it within a certain amount of time. They should've told you that returning their requests for information and submitting your forms were time sensitive. You don't have all the time in the world to get back with them, and neither does the employer. This is an internal measurement. But the whole claims taking and adjudication process is built around this timely decision factor. It is entirely possible that you didn't get all your information submitted to them in a timely manner, and while somebody was waiting on you patiently to submit more or to answer them back, someone else, possibly a supervisor, went in and denied, intending to let it be worked on in appeals if you had any more to submit, or told them to get this darn thing off their desk. In either case, when a decision was made, it appears the decision code was not submitted to the system correctly, or you'd have gotten a notice of decision. In letter form. That's what matters, not what they tell you on the phone.

Unemployment insurance is NOT a needs based program. It is not given to you because you are poor or needy, and no information is required about your income before you file your claim. Therefore, you cannot sue the state for being late in paying you or making a decision on your claim. They don't care if it is just a little extra money to put with your millions, or if you're starving to death. They have a certain amount of time to make what is called the initial decision, either granting benefits or denying them and giving you a short interval in which to appeal and request a hearing. (Usually 15 days from the date of the initial decision.)

Calling during this process to ask what is going on, if the claim has been heard from, if all the answers have been provided by the employer, etc. is generally futile. The person you reached can only tell you whether or not a decision has been reached based on the code on file in the system and the claim shows up as pending, approved or denied. Pending just means the initial decision code has not yet been entered. Trying to locate and discuss the claim with the particular adjudicator who is making your particular decision is like trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack. It just doesn't happen, and your adjudicator did not have time to discuss it with you anyhow.

What you have to do once you file the claim and quickly submit all the evidence they have asked for, quickly respond to any inquiries they make to you, is to sit home, filing the weekly certifications, and wait to receive the initial decision letter, telling you either you are or are not approved for benefits. This letter will be very curt and brief, is a form letter and will probably cite some code as the reason for disapproval if the claim is denied. There will be information about how to appeal and how much time you have to file the appeal.

If you received this letter, and you did not file the appeal before the date to file the appeal ( "15 days from the date of issue of this determination") then it's over. You cannot appeal anything, and you cannot protest or complain or file suit against them for misconduct.

Remember when you ask about the state being difficult to get unemployment approval from, that the state has supervision of the department of labor that does unemployment. Their state department of human resources is going to be very knowledgeable about how to terminate or have people quit and not allow them to be in position to be approved for unemployment easily. You can bet they got everything in quickly. And you can bet that if you have a hearing, they will be there with plenty of information relevant to your situation. That's just what the state does. As any employer has the right to do, just as you have the right to appeal a denial.

Yes, it sounds like something went terribly wrong with your claim process and your initial decision. They found it, long since you should have heard about it, and said your claim was denied three months ago. Realizing no decision letter had been sent, they said you WOULD be receiving a decision letter, like maybe none was sent when it should have been, three months ago, after the decision. And now you've just received the decision letter, right?

That's good, in a sense, because you will now be able to appeal and will get to review all your information, IF you respond within the appeals window. DO NOT try to do this any way except as chyvan suggests. Submit something RIGHT AWAY, just say, "I want to appeal" and get it in. Forget about giving reasons or documents in this appeal request. This is, of course, if you're still in the window of time to appeal. Otherwise, forget the whole business.

If you've been making weeky certifications all this time, and your claim is approved in the appeals hearing, you will be back paid for each of the weeks you have filed for. If you stopped filing, call and reopen your claim and request to begin certifying for weeks again while awaiting the hearing and second decision. As I said, you might be approved in the appeal, and you'd be backpaid, but only for weeks for which you certified.

Things to think about for the hearing, OP, would be, "Did you try to resolve the problem before quitting?" as in did you ask to be transferred to another department or another location? Also, did you have any other employees in your department who were having health issues related to this situation? Did you discuss with your union and your human resources what accommodations might be available for you to help you deal with the mold issue and your subsequent health issues? Were you the only person who was suffering from such terrible problems related to the mold in the walls? And for goodness sake, have all your medical information collected before you go into the hearing. An attorney is not necessary for a hearing, you can probably manage to submit the information you need to get in and speak for yourself.

But since neither you or chyvan has ever worked within the system, you don't have a clear picture of how things work, and you're only grabbing small pieces of the elephant and drawing your conclusions from them. As it has been said, don't try to reinvent the wheel, don't try to get on the phone and ask to be treated any differently than the thousands of other people who have filed claims with your state agency this year. Everyone is dealt with in a standard manner. Sometimes in this process, the ball is dropped. I believe they were remiss in not submitting your decision into the system quickly enough. It sounds like you didn't get a timely decision letter, though the decision was made a while back. But that ship has now sailed. If you are still within the timeliness markers, get in an appeal in and get a hearing.