Can You Get Trailing Spouse Unemployment When Moving to California

[the_watcher]

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: California and Oregon

I was laid off from my job in Oregon and looked everywhere. Unfortunately/fortunately I found a temp job in California which turned into a permanent job in California. I initially moved then after trying to work from home my wife had to resign from her job. She spoke to the Unemployment office in California and they stated she had to file with Oregon. She spoke to a person in the Unemployment office in Oregon and it seemed fine to file, she did file and received a couple of checks. However just recently they contacted her and she is worried. After doing some searches it seems Oregon does not cover trailing spouse, not 100% sure of this. So I guess I would like to know the following details:
- Will Oregon approve the Unemployment Claim? She has worked in Oregon for 14 years with no break in employment.
- If not will we have to payback what she has received so far?
- Will California pay her Unemployment since she has never worked in California?

Thanks,

[CourtClerk]

If she's never worked in CA, she has no CA wages and no basis for a claim. She needs to deal with Oregon. You don't get to venue shop because you're scared of what they may say.

[the_watcher]

We are not trying venue shop if it seems that way, we are trying to plan out our finances in case Oregon denies her claim also what we have to do in case we have to payback, also next steps to file properly. I did some google searches but some non-government sites state the trailing spouse is accepted in Oregon while others state the complete opposite so I wasn't sure which one is correct.

[comment/ator]

What you will have to do is let the Oregon people make the decision. Whatever you do or find on Google searches isn't going to affect their decision one little bit. They know the law. They will decide how to apply it in your wife's case. And if it does come out that she has received the unemployment in error she will end up with an overpayment, But the good news is, it wouldn't be a "fraud overpayment" so she likely would not have to pay sanctions on top of the money, and they would probably let her pay back the money very gradually She should ask, if this becomes the case, for a waiver of payment application, so that she may not have to pay the money back (based on your family income and situation.)

If she receives an overpayment decision, you can appeal it, but as I said, they know the law. Once they have looked carefully at the circumstances, they'll render a decision about whether she does or does not meet the criteria. If you receive that overpayment decision, you do not need to go quoting the unemployment statues to them, or hire an attorney, they'll just tell you how much she is overpaid, and you'll work out a repayment program with them or possibly get a waiver of payment. They're used to dealing with people who are out of work and don't have a lot of money, so they're pretty reasonable.

Oregon is the only state's unemployment system she can use because even though she now lives in CA, all her covered wage employers are Oregon employers and so Oregon's laws must be applied.

[chyvan]

http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/...onmonetary.pdf This says that OR has trailing spouse.

Will Oregon approve the Unemployment Claim? She has worked in Oregon for 14 years with no break in employment.

Maybe. A lot can got wrong in a trailing spouse claim.

http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=201786 you can read here for some of the potential issues.

If not will we have to payback what she has received so far?

They will ask/threaten that you have to, but there are lots of things you can do to thwart their efforts, and maybe never have to pay it back.