LTTE “Unemployment benefits, learning to do with less” (Mobile Press-Register, Alabama)

[jody]

http://blog.al.com/press-register-commentary/2011/01/letters_unemployment_benefits.html

Our unemployment system is broken

I have read with interest the comments regarding unemployment benefits. First of all, unemployment tax is 100 percent paid by the employer, so no one collecting it has paid a penny into their unemployment fund.

As a small business owner, we have hired countless numbers of young men who have eventually just quit showing up for work. They are allowed generous leave time for personal reasons, but decide they just don’t want to work anymore. Then they file for unemployment benefits, which are paid from a tax that we, the employer, have been charged for. If the benefits are granted, our unemployment percentage rate goes up, and we then have to pay more tax out of our pockets for people who won’t show up for jobs we have to offer. How much sense does this make?

I have the utmost empathy for people who have lost their jobs and truly want to be employed, but somehow the system we have now does not seem to be the answer.

FELICIA MCALLISTER
Daphne

[sinkingfeeling]

1. In most states, nobody can collect unemployment if they voluntarily quit a job.

[Enrique]

2. yep, the letter is a lie

I've heard lots of lies like this from supposed business owners. Another one is the difficulty of businesses to find workers, because the labor pool supposedly prefers to live on UI benefits.

Politicians often use those phantom business owners in anecdotes on the stump, but they NEVER give the name or phone numbe of those businesses.

[dflprincess]

5. Either that or this "small business owner" is an idiot

and doesn't know he can contest an unemployment filing in cases like he describes.

[udbcrzy2]

10. He probably does contest it

He's probably one of those guys who fires people and then reports that the guy 'quit' the job
to fight having the guy collect unemployment. In other words, he's a scumbag.

[jtuck004]

3. Maybe their employment system is broken?

If they have such a revolving door, maybe the business owner cares less about the workers
than profits, which drives the workers away. Perhaps it's such a crappy place to work
that they leave as soon as possible?

Some places really aren't worth staying at.

[madrchsod]

4. the reality is the employee pays the tax not the employer

if you quit you do`t get unemployment money from that employer immediately. you can draw from their account in the future. the tax on employeers is figured by the amount of claims which would be lay-offs or firing without just cause.

[Enrique]

6. i emailed a reporter and asked him to check this story out

found a reporter named Jeff Amy at that paper who has done some stories about unemployment:

Dear Mr. Amy,

I was wondering if you would consider following up on an anecdote that appeared in a letter to the editor in your newspaper.

http://blog.al.com/press-register-commentary/2011/01/letters_unemployment_benefits.html

A small business owner claims that unemployment benefits are hurting her business because they can't find workers. I've been unemployed for over a year and I've heard many such anecdotes and they always sound bogus from my point of view. Usually the stories are related by politicians and the businesses in question are mysterious (I always wonder, why not name the business so out of work workers like me can go apply?), but in this case the letter is signed and a reporter could follow up.

One part that sounds especially bogus is that she says the workers quit and then collect unemployment. I know that's not how it works in Florida, and I doubt it works that way in Alabama.

I'd love to see a story where a reporter follows up. Go ask this Felicia McAllister, give me the names of these workers that quit so they can collect benefits, and then go talk to those workers and see what's really going on. Any chance of that happening?

[jody]

7. Excellent demonstration of the power of the Internet. Hope Amy follows up. n/t

[meegbear]

8. I just googled "Felicia McAllister Daphne" ...

the very first thing to come up is her donating in 2008 to repugs.

Oh yeah, her Employer/Occupation is listed as "Homemaker".

[Kat45]

9. No surprise there.

The only surprise is that a real name was used on the letter (though I think letters to the editor do have to be signed).

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. I did same thing.

Here is the donation reporting site for anyone who wants to use it.

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/felicia-mcallister.asp?cycle=08

[area51]

13. Homemaker, eh?

Typical astroturfing republican letter. Wonder how much she got paid for sending that propaganda piece into the paper?

[OnlinePoker]

14. Homemaker - maybe it means she builds homes? Nah...don't think so. n/t

[OnlinePoker]

15. Delete...dupe.

[Crazy Dave]

12. "Welfare Queens" and now "Career Unemployment Workers"

What will they think up next? People without health insurance deliberately causing their own chronic illnesses?