46 Minutes. This AM's filing on-line wait for unemployment in MA

[yy4me]

Had time between pages to be checked to have coffee, wash the dishes, pick up the den. You know the routine.

Sing in
Wait
check appropriate squares
wait
confirm entries
wait
notification of filing
wait
your check will be paid out...
wait
log off
wait
directed to unsecured location
wait

Today, it took only 46 minutes to sign in and answer 4 questions.

I think the unemployment insurance folks need help.
Enough with the state double dipping pensioners and high paid mucky-mucks.
Filing for my weekly pittance should not take almost an hour. I hear the phone wait is even worse.

I am told that any complaining will do no good, there is just not enough staff and the system is overloaded.

[MADem]

1. I have a relative who is on the dole in MA. He does it by phone and it takes no time at all.

You call in, the system is automated, and you answer the questions using your touch-tone phone. The check is direct deposited into your account.

I think you might want to try the phone system, and maybe not take to heart that which you hear or are told. The MA unemployment system has been damn good to a couple of my relatives who got laid off with no warning; they never had these troubles to which you refer--but then, they did the "phone" thing, not the "sit around and wait" thing.

[yy4me]

2. Thank you for the "phone" advice, I will try it next week,

I'm sure you did not mean it with scorn, but my unemployment check is a lifeline for me. I paid for it with about 50 years of work. Somehow it does not see to me to be "on the dole". It is a way to survive while this 66 year old body tries to find work in an impossible economy.

[MADem]

3. You don't think it's a lifeline for my relative?

Look, there are three people presently unemployed in my family. I'm not rich by any stretch, in fact, I'm not even well-off in comparison to my neighbors, but I have, in my old age, learned to be frugal and I'm filling in the gaps in the mortar for all of my unemployed family members and it's no walk in the park.

Times are tough all over. No scorn was intended or, I thought, implied.

The term "on the dole" is a carryover from an era past that is a common useage in our family. It's also a common term in the UK and Ireland, as well. It's what you do and where you go when there is no work to be had. That's the only intended definition on my part. I hope you find work, and I hope that, as the weather gets better, you do what I'm urging my relatives to do--economize in small ways, delay turning on those lights, turn down the heat, go visit friends in the evening to watch TV (hey, you're not using your electricity--maybe they'll give you a meal, too). Pinch every penny--you'll need them come the fall and winter. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

You might also look into food stamps, and see if there's a food pantry in your local area. The money you don't have to spend on food can be applied to other necessities or saved in a rainy day fund. If you are single, it's not much, just a few dollars a month, but every little bit helps.

[yy4me]

4. My apologies if I misunderstood your term. We all grow up

with ideas embedded in out mind as to definitions of words and phrases. I thought you meant that I was deliberately taking monies to which I was not entitled. My mistake.

Many people I know are now in the unemployed category. I do as your advice states. I doubt there is a way that I can save any more than I do. Nothing much in the way of spending does not get scrutinized and thought twice about as far as my life is concerned. It is out of necessity that I scrounge because of events in the last year. Unemployment is only one of them.

Yes, it is a lifeline, I was not disputing that in any way. I would be sunk without it. I am now alone, my husband died this past June. I was laid off shortly after, rehired and laid off again 5 weeks later. Both of us were on Social Security plus I worked. It wasn't much in either SS or my pay but we got by and paid our taxes and basically kept our ship of state afloat. Now I have one Social Security check and an about to expire Unemployment Benefit. I do not yet know how to file for an extension if it is needed.
Not much to brag about or argue about. I can sympathize with you and your family because I am in the same boat.

All my intent with my post was to say that filing was so time consuming.
Next week, by phone and see how it goes.

Thanks and enjoy this sunny but cold day. Can we be friends? I don't like to argue or be confrontational.

[MADem]

5. You need to check with the unemployment people. My relative got

laid off last year, too, and his benefits were extended (I won't even go into how his employer tried to contest him even getting the benefits--turns out they did that to EVERYONE they laid off, and the judge/mediator nipped that in the bud in fairly short order--but what AGITA in the interim). Check and see if that applies to you. IIRC, they pretty much did all the work for him--he didn't have to do much, but it could be that his extension kicked in around the time he was fighting (for the second time) with his ex-employers (real assholes) for the benefits he deserved and had more than earned.

This link may be helpful--the money quote is below: http://www.massresources.org/pages.cfm?contentID=38&pageID=17&subpages=yes&dynamicID=605

At this time, Massachusetts residents may be eligible for up to 33 weeks of federal extended benefits beyond the 26 weeks of state benefits, for a total of 59 weeks of benefits:

Starting July 7, 2008, the federal government approved an extension of 13 weeks for Massachusetts.
On November 23, 2008, the federal government added a second extension, up to 7 additional weeks of benefits.
Starting February 15 and ending December 31, 2009, the federal government extended benefits for an additional 13 weeks as part of the Economic Stimulus Plan.
For more information about how to apply for extended benefits, see Information On Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits on the Division of Unemployment Assistance web site. You can file an extended benefit claim by calling the special toll-free number: 1-888-998-8418.


There's a rumor out there in "unemployed land" that the feds have an ADDITIONAL thirteen weeks available if states request it--not sure what the details are, but a few states are paying up to seventy two weeks. So that may be in the offing for MA as well.

Of course we can be friends, I wish you only the best. I hope you find work, too. Do know that you can get away with working part time so long as your pay does not exceed a certain threshhold, while you look for full time work (details in the link above). I don't know your living situation, but if you've the room and you're the type who can stand a roomer, perhaps that might be a short term solution as well.

[Kat45]

6. It used to be worse. When I was younger, you had to go to the unemployment office.

Then you'd spend quite a long time waiting in line until it was your turn to talk to the unemployment person and answer the questions. IIRC, you also had to have proof of having applied for three (?) jobs in the past week. Not that your situation is good, but it does beat the old way. I am also unemployed but I cannot collect because I was working for a church and am thus ineligible for unemployment.

[JayMusgrove]

7. I remember going to the Unemployment office and waiting in lines..

Every week, then changed to every two weeks, then by mail. The 3 times I collected unemployment each time was different. The last time, I was collecting in Mass for a job I had been laid off from in Calif. I just had to send in a form on the right day every two weeks, but I remember having to list jobs I had applied for.