Results 1 to 4 of 4

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    2

    Default Refused Unemployment Insurance in Illinois

    My wife was hired by a small, private daycare operation in August and was given the task of developing and coordinating their pre-K curriculum on the pretense that it was an ongoing assignment. She actually developed the curriculum faster than the employer had expected and was suddenly asked to provide all the original materials (including her own copies to work from) to them within a day's time. The next day (a Friday), she was told that she would no longer be paid salary and was being changed to hourly. That following Monday she was told that she was officially laid off and that as a consideration for her dedication as an employee would be considered in the event that the daycare needed someone to fill in for teachers that needed to leave early or take personal time and that this might amount to 3-5 hours at any given day, but there was no guaranty of anything being available. Additionally, the amount of pay was effectively a $6 per hour reduction and the free child-care benefits would not continue. The daycare was otherwise fully staffed and nothing was available immediately. My wife had declined this as it didn't make sense to be 'on call' part-time as it would impact us seriously in a financial sense. We need something more stable.

    My wife filed for unemployment after this and was recently turned down given the excuse that the employer notified the IL unemployment office that she had offered my wife a full time position as a teacher which is an outright lie. IL bases the employer contribution to UI partially on their record of how many terminated employees file for UI within a given time period. It sounds to me like they are trying to save money here by giving false information about the termination status. There isn't anything in writing that proves that no real position was offered or available. Can an employer be liable to their former employee for falsification of information that resulted in a denial of UI benefits? Does anyone think that there may be other infringements that occurred here in the means in which the employer cunducted themselves in this situation that could be worthy of pursuing?

    Sorry for the long message, but to get the full jist of the matter, it is kind of necessary to go over the key parts.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Refused Unemployment Insurance in Illinois

    In my state, which is not Illinois, the fact that she turned down work at all would probably be enough to disqualify her, regardless of whether the employer got a little creative with the facts. I don't know if Illinois is the same. However, nothing but a little time can be lost by appealing the decision.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Refused Unemployment Insurance in Illinois

    But there has to be some kind of limit, I would image, as to what is acceptable. If there weren't, then an employer could theoretically lay someone off by giving them the option of resigning or accepting a ridiculous offer like working two hours a month at minimum wage. Or for that matter, put them an 'on call - as needed' basis and never call on them. Then you would never have to worry about dealing with increasing UI costs for terminated employees.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Refused Unemployment Insurance in Illinois

    Well, technically, there doesn't HAVE to be a limit. But some states feel that some income is better than no income.

    As I said, my state is not Illinois, but the tendency is that if you turn down work, they're almost sure to turn you down. However, if you accept part time or lower paid work, you can often (and I've had this happen myself when I was laid off) be paid at least a partial unemployment benefit to make up some of the difference.

    I was laid off from my HR Director position when my company was on the verge of bankrupcy. I was granted unemployment; I took a six week temporary job in the middle of my claim and was able to pick up the remainder of my claim when it was over. This was just after the dot-com crash and there were 300 applications being submitted for each individual position; by the time my UI claim was ending I had so far always been among the 299 unsuccessful candidates. So to make sure I had at least some income I accepted an offer of help from a friend and took a position cleaning hotel rooms at the hotel she managed. The UI office decided that since I was clearly making every effort to find work and not being picky about it they would grant me a second, partial claim even though I was working, since my new job was only a quarter of my previous pay. I was given another 26 weeks of partial benefits. But if I had turned down the temporary job because I only wanted full time, and turned down the housekeeper job because I only wanted work in my field, they wouldn't have given me a penny once my initial claim ran out. Do you see where I'm going with this? She could have accepted the part time work so that she'd have at least some income, probably been granted partial UI, and continued looking for full time work. Instead she turned down the only offer on the table at that time.

    Not all states take the same position and as I said before, she is legally entitled to appeal the decision. But while I've never had employees in Illinois so I can't say for certain, I've heard through the HR grapevine that IL may be taking the same position as my state. So I can't be overly optimistic.

    1. Sponsored Links
       

Similar Threads

  1. Disqualification: Will Checking "Refused to Work" Get Your Unemployment Benefits Terminated
    By BSalton in forum Employment and Labor
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 03-03-2011, 01:08 PM
  2. Unemployment Benefits: Unemployment in Illinois
    By Dmartain in forum Employment and Labor
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 10-14-2010, 10:23 PM
  3. Auto Insurance: Unearned Car Insurance Premium Refund Refused
    By sailorr in forum Insurance Law
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 08-30-2010, 10:54 AM
  4. Someone Hit My Car-Refused to Give Insurance Info
    By focus123 in forum Moving Violations, Parking and Traffic Tickets
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 11-10-2009, 10:52 AM
  5. Illinois Unemployment
    By Lauren in forum Employment and Labor
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 10-15-2009, 11:10 PM
 
 
Sponsored Links

Legal Help, Information and Resources