I am Hilton Young and I am unemployed.  I worked a dead end job for 3 years, after which they began to tighten their rules to make up for the tough economy.  As a result, of this and the fact that the 'veterans' weren't actually told the rules had changed, I began making mistakes that I didn't know I was making.  Eventually my supervisors began to 'ride' me and it wasn't out of the ordinary to have my work day start out with 3 or 4 supervisors coming over to tell me to 'stop fuckin up', or let me know that 'everyone was watching me'.  I tried my best to stop doing anything I was doing that could be considered bending the rules and focus, but the frustration continued to build and cause me to make more mistakes until I was finally laid off for making mistakes.  I had an idea that Virginia made it difficult to claim unemployment to prevent fraud, but I wasn't prepared for their stop your money until we're sure your claim is legit, attitude.  I mean, I know its fair, and there are people who have money, and quit their jobs just to get unemployment, but they really should be sensative to people who are just getting by and need unemployment to survive while looking for work.
   
    I worked for a temp agency, so the first thought was to go to one of our other two job sites to work, however I knew from their want adds and talking to the recruiter that the other locations both started requiring background checks and I would have to be rehired to change locations.  I knew this would result in a bad background check and my being disqualified from the other job sites.  Since I had bills to pay, I had to make a decision.  My supervisor told me to just go to the other site and work, but the site supervisor was on vacation and I couldn't get in touch with the recruiter to find out if I would be wasting my time and just dismissed later after they conducted the background check.  I knew from previous experience that you have to file for unemployment quickly because there is a 1 week waiting period in Virginia.



    This waiting period is the first inconvenience that the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) presents you with.  This means that if you have had a job where you were payed weekly, after your last check you may have to go a week without pay.  If you are low income and have barely made it from check to check, this hurts.  But then comes the next hurdle.  Your pay may be enough to get by, although it won't be what you made, so you really count on the checks arriving on time.  However, the VEC will find any small discrepancy and stop your benefits without telling you until you should have gotten a check.  Then you'll have to call in or walk in and have the problem fixed, although you'll have to keep up with it because they will forget or lose records of your issue being resolved and stop your benefits again randomly in the future.  My guess is that one person solves the problem,  but another person reviews your file and doesn't know the problem is already solved. 

    Needless to say, when you're unemployed and only getting about 75% of what you're used to earning, you can't afford to have your check delayed.  The problem isn't helped by the fact that Virginia closed a lot of their VEC offices to save money, so as in my case, you probably can't afford gas, but everytime you have an issue on file, you need to go to an employment commission office that is 20-30 minutes away in another city. 

The final and biggest inconvenience is the eligibility check that may be sprung on you.  In my case, it came after having received my first two checks.  At this point the VEC automagically becomes suspicious that you may have been fired for misconduct (which automatically disqualifies you for unemployment).  They won't deal with the fact that you need money to live if you haven't found a new job yet.  They simply schedule everyone in the state that hasn't had an eligibility interview yet all at once, which means they will stop your benefits again until the phone interview, involving you and your employer.  This interview will come two to four weeks after your benefits are stopped.  Not only do you have to live with no money. but you will do so wondering if your former employer won't lie and say you were fired for misconduct.  If they don't then voila, you get 3 or 4 weeks worth of pay at once, but how do you make it until then, and how do you know you won't struggle to make it to the interview only to get denied because your former employer lied. 

I have no idea personally, how I will make it, since I have bills that should have been payed and my bank loves those $35 insufficient funds fees.  I will find out soon though, I guess.


I wrote this.