Between GigsSurviving unemployment

I really, truly, meant to get back to this blog, and write some more. The reason I haven’t been writing here as much is a simple one. I write this blog for free. No one is paying me to write it. I have picked up some other writing work that does pay. Paid work has to take priority.

With freelance work, there is no way to know, for certain, how long it will last. The best advice I can give to someone who is on unemployment, and working as a freelance writer, is to write as fast, and as much, as you can (while still being able to produce quality work). Theoretically, one day, you might be able to turn that into your “day job”.

Last time I wrote a blog here, I mentioned the EDD debit card. I live in California, which means that unemployment benefits in my state were being distributed in the form of a check. In my experience, this system was flawed.

First, you had to fill out a paper claim form, and mail it back to the EDD. These forms always said to mail them out on a Sunday, (which is impossible). You cannot mail them out any sooner than the date they want you to mail it, which means that you cannot plan ahead, in order to get around the problem of the post office being closed on Sundays.

Then, you had to wait for the paper form to be processed. Eventually, it would be, (and the wait can be as long as a month if you have just been approved for unemployment benefits).

At some point, the check would arrive in your mailbox. If your mailbox doesn’t lock, then you run the risk of having some nefarious person abscond with your benefit check. If your postman delivers the mail after four or five in the afternoon, (like mine often does), then you have another thing to wait for. You have to wait until the next day, so the bank will be open, so you can deposit your check.

All this waiting isn’t helping any of the people who are eligible for unemployment benefits. The longer they have to wait for their benefit checks, the later their payments will be for their bills. (Late bills often generate fees, which a person who is unemployed is going to have difficulty paying for).

Some of this problem can be resolved now that benefit payments have moved from a paper check to a plastic debit card. However, there are serious problems with how the EDD is organized that are going to continue to cause difficulties for people.

I first learned about the new change to the EDD debit card when I got one of my continued claim forms. Inside, was a leaflet, printed in color, on both sides. It showed a picture of the new card, and said something along the lines of “Keep an eye out for this in your mailbox”.

The next continued claim for I received had five of these exact same leaflets. This tells me two things. One, someone at the EDD didn’t care enough about the quality of their work, and decided to just throw a ton of the leaflets into a random envelope, instead of just one.

Two, it means that somebody out there may not have received any leaflets, at all, and will be incredibly confused when their checks stop arriving. It also means that money is being spent to print more of the leaflets, (that didn’t need to be printed if the EDD wasn’t so wasteful in the first place).

What happened next was that suddenly, I stopped receiving unemployment benefit checks. They just stopped coming. If I remember correctly, there was around a three week gap between when the last one arrived and when the next one should have arrived. There was no information sent to me that told me when I could expect to, you know, actually receive my unemployment benefits again.

Being suddenly left in the dark about this sort of thing is stressful. I was lucky, because I had some work at this time, and because my husband had a job. I don’t think everyone who had their checks suddenly stop while the EDD sorted out the debit cards was as lucky.

Eventually, I got an envelope in the mail from the EDD that contained what looked like a typical, regular, credit or debit card. I admit that I haven’t spent much time staring at this card, but, from memory, I don’t recall their being any markings on it that would let vendors know that I was one of the unemployed, walking among them.

Since then, my unemployment benefits have been added to this card in a timely fashion. I no longer have to try and rush a check from the mailbox to the bank, (hoping that I will make it in time). This is the only improvement that I have noticed with this new change.

I still have to fill out a paper claim form, and attempt to mail it back to the EDD on a Sunday. This means that I am still waiting for the mail to pick it up, and to sort it, and to deliver it before anyone at the EDD can even start to process it. I really wish they could switch over to an online form, that would allow me to instantly input my information into their system, so they can quickly put my benefit money on my shiny new EDD debit card.

The cynic in me sees a very big problem with the way the EDD debit card functions. I fear this problem could one day be used as a way to deny people’s claims.

The EDD debit card can be used anywhere that takes debit or credit cards as a form of payment. Just slide the card through the little machine at the cash wrap, and you will be able to use it to pay for whatever you purchased (assuming that you still had money on the card.)

Every time someone uses a debit or credit card, there is an electronic “paper trail”, so to speak. This means that somewhere, in the bowels of the EDD, there is a record of what you purchase with your EDD debit card.

I doubt anyone could find fault with using one’s EDD debit card to pay for groceries, or medical care, or to fill your car’s gas tank so you could drive to work. If you used it to pay the bill so your child could see a dentist, that would probably be considered acceptable. You might be able to use it to do online payments for some of your bills.

Things get a little gray after that. What if the groceries you purchased included a bottle of wine to have with dinner one night? What if you bought junk food, like potato chips and soda with your EDD debit card? How about if you used it at McDonald’s a couple of times? Would this be deemed as “acceptable” things to spend your benefits on?

What if you didn’t use your EDD debit card to purchase food? My fear is that someday, there will be someone at the EDD that uses the information about exactly what you are spending your unemployment benefit money on.

That person, or group of people, could, potentially, use that information as a reason to deny your claim, (or lower it). There wouldn’t be any way to prevent this from happening.

They could, potentially, decide that if a person makes X amount of purchases from stores that do not sell food, that they really didn’t need the benefit money in the first place. It could be denied in the blink of an eye.

The only way I can think of to prevent the EDD from gathering a “paper trail” about exactly what you purchase with your money is to pull it off the card. There is a way to transfer the benefit money right of the card and into one’s checking account. From there, you can use it however you like. Yes, the bank would have a record of what you purchased. But, the EDD would not.

It has been a long, long, time since I’ve written anything on this blog. The reason is a simple one. I have found a good amount of work as a freelance writer, and have decided that paid writing has to come before writing that doesn’t pay me.

I have been doing my best to respond to the comments that people leave for me on this blog, though. I would hate to leave someone who is desperately looking for an answer, or for some compassion from someone else who has been through the same experience, to be ignored.

My goal is to be able to make enough money as a writer so that I won’t have to try and get another extension when my current claim runs out in September. I also desperately want to avoid having to go back to some form of retail work in order to make ends meet. I think these are reasonable goals.

Once in a while, topics that I used to write about in the Between Gigs blog don’t end up appearing here. Instead, I am occasionally lucky enough to write about something regarding unemployment for one of the places that I do freelance writing work for.

Today, I wrote an article on Families.com that talks about some rather big changes to Unemployment Insurance that are going to be taking place really soon in California, Illinois, and Indiana. You can read the article here.

When I get the chance, I will be writing a very opinionated follow up article here, on my Between Gigs blog, describing what I think about the changes that will happen in California, where I live.

So far, I have received three Unemployment Insurance benefit checks from the EDD since they decided to extend my claim. I have not had any kind of hassle from the EDD yet, which surprises me to no end. I think, for now, I’m just going to be thankful for the money. I will try my best not to think about the possibility of them demanding that I send all of this money back to them one day. They have done that to me before. I will never be able to trust them again.

The first check since the extension was about $50.00.
The second check was for around $116.00.
This third check is also for $116.00.

The checks have been arriving every two weeks, like they are supposed to. I have no explanation as to why my experience with the EDD has changed. Before, the minions of the EDD were really mean to me, and extremely condescending towards me. The EDD sent me exactly zero dollars for the first 38 days of my original Unemployment Insurance claim. They withheld many of my checks, until I’d submitted to yet another telephone interview, (there have been four of those), where a minion of the EDD basically acted as though I was lying to them. And after all of this, they demanded that I send the money they dragged their feet about sending me right back to them!

Now, since the extension, which appeared automatically without me doing anything at all…. the EDD is suddenly…. doing what it is supposed to be doing.

I have no explanation.

The day after I wrote the previous blog, I got something in the mail from the EDD. Needless to say, this was not something I was expecting. After all, my attempt to fill out the online form that I thought I was supposed to fill out in order to apply for an extension of my Unemployment Benefits, was a failed attempt. I got stuck at the part where it the form wanted a physical address for the company that I am getting freelance writing work from. They have a P.O. Box, and the EDD doesn’t seem to want to accept this fact. So, I ended up closing the window, and not filling out the form at all.

Then I get mail from the EDD. I knew it couldn’t possibly be in response to the online form I didn’t finish filling out the day before. There is no possible way the EDD could have any idea that I tried to fill out the form. I thought that maybe the envelope would contain some kind of letter that officially informed me that my claim had ended. Maybe it would come with some clear directions about how to correctly file for an extension. I opened the envelope….

… and it was none of the above.

The top of the form said:
“NOTICE OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE AWARD”

What? Really? Could it be true? I kept reading. It said my new claim began on September 19, 2010, and will end September 17, 2011. Somehow, someone at the EDD has decided to automatically extend my Unemployment Insurance Benefits. I have no idea how, or why, this happened. Did I somehow wake up in a parallel universe, where the EDD actually is efficient and helpful? How did this happen?

There were details about how much money, in total, this Unemployment Insurance “award” was for. It tells me how much my weekly benefit amount will be. Well, assuming I don’t work that week, but, since I have steady part-time writing work now… I already know that I will see a reduced amount on my checks.

As always, there is a sentence that implies that I am a lazy couch potato, sitting at home, playing World of Warcraft all night, sleeping all day, and not working. It says, in bold print:

You must look for full time work each week.

I am already working part-time. It’s getting closer to being equivalent to a full time job, but it’s not there yet. Apparently, the EDD hasn’t changed that much, since it still wants me to feel like a failure because I am not working for commission in a sales job, or flipping burgers.

The envelope also contained a brand new “Pink Form”. This is the form that tells me that I have to sign up with CALJobs, (which I am already signed up for). It says that there are “thousands of job openings listed daily for your review”. My experience with CALJobs tells me that this is a lie.

I also got another “Blue Pamphlet”. This is the booklet with a blue cover that is “A Guide to Benefits and Unemployment Services”. I still have my original copies of both of these items.

Ok, so… it’s out of my hands then. All that angst about “should I try and get an extension, or should I not?” didn’t matter. It’s been decided for me. There doesn’t seem to be a choice. I have been awarded an extension to my Unemployment Benefits.

On the one hand, I am relieved. I don’t have to take time out of my (currently busy) writing schedule, and attempt to hunt down the mythical, helpful, minions of the EDD that are said to exist at a magical place called “One Stop”. I don’t have to try new and ingenious ways to type in a P.O. Box into the online form, in the hopes that it will accept something. I don’t have to subject myself to the frustration I am certain to face if I try to call the EDD. I will have the potential “safety net” of some money coming in from Unemployment Insurance benefits for another year.

On the other hand, I am nervous. I keep thinking that I’m going to get another letter, telling me that this was a mistake. I am terrified that said letter will arrive halfway through this next year, and demand that I pay the money I received back to them, (you know, like they did to me once before). When I first got Unemployment Insurance Benefits, it took 38 days to get my first check. This was after I had to put up with a telephone interview where the minion of the EDD basically implied that he thought I was lying to him about losing my job. What will they do to me this time? I am already anxious about having to face yet another telephone interview.

The next day, I got another envelope from the EDD. This was one of their happy, multicolored, envelopes. Could this be a check? I ripped open the envelope, expecting the worst. Have you seen the movie “Inception”? You know the parts where the dreamer starts to figure out that he is not actually awake, because something too strange has happened in the dream? That’s about what I was feeling at that moment. Where is my totem? Does it spin?

Inside was a Continued Claim Form, but it wasn’t quite the same as the previous Continued Claim Forms. This one had the second week covered in Xs. I believe this is a signal that the next thing I get from the EDD will be a letter telling me that they have assigned me another telephone interview. I really hope I am wrong about this assumption. There was no check. The perforated stub at the top of the page is nearly blank. This does not bode well.

So, the form has been filled out, and will be in the mail tomorrow. Here goes Year 2 of the Unemployment Insurance Adventure!

Well, it’s official. I have now received all of the money that was on my original Unemployment Insurance Claim. I got my last check this week. It did not come with a Continued Claim Form. Instead, it had a big blank space where that form should appear, with bold letters written across it that said something along the lines of “do not try to fill out this form”. But, there was no form.

The perforated part at the top of the page said :

“YOU HAVE RECEIVED ALL THE BENEFITS PAYABLE ON YOUR CLAIM. SINCE YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR A NEW CLAIM CALL YOUR UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE OFFICE IMMEDIATELY OR VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.EDD.CA.GOV“

Past experience has taught me that it is, in fact, impossible to get a hold of the EDD by telephone. If I was going to apply for an extension of my Unemployment Benefits, it would have to be through their website. The question becomes: Do I want to do that? At first, I was undecided.

I first applied for Unemployment Insurance Benefits a little over a year ago. I lost my job as a teacher’s aide in Special Education on September 25, 2009. I applied for Unemployment Insurance Benefits online that same day. It took the EDD over 38 days before they managed to send me my first benefit check. In part, this was because they made me wait until they could get around to doing a telephone interview with them. In part, as I would learn later, it is just due to the general incompetency that the EDD is known for.

Those 38 days were a nightmare. I remember feeling shellshocked through most of it. I lost my job in the blink of an eye. One day, I had a good job, with benefits. The next day, I got a letter in the mail stating that my very last work day would be the very next day. There was no warning. For a while, it was like I had fallen into a nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. I kept expecting to wake up.

I remember feeling completely panicked about our finances. How were we going to be able to pay our bills without my income? How long could we stretch my last paycheck out for? What bills were already paid this month?Would we become homeless? Every day that went by without a response from the EDD made me angrier and angrier at them.

I remember feeling sick as I waited for the first telephone interview, and then feeling angry when the EDD minion didn’t bother calling me during the time that the EDD assigned me. They expected me to wait around by my telephone, like a lovelorn teenager from the 1950′s, but they couldn’t bother to call during the time THEY selected? I remember that when the EDD minion finally did call me, he ended the phone call demanding that I fax to him a copy of the letter that told me my job had ended. I hadn’t received one cent from them yet, but this didn’t stop them from treating me as if I was lying to them.

And, if you have been reading this blog, then you know the rest of the story. I’ve never been so frustrated with a situation in my entire life. In one year, I have been through four telephone interviews with the EDD. I’ve had my benefit checks delayed for weeks at a time because they had assigned me a telephone interview. I’ve had claim forms rejected because they think I did not fill them out correctly, when I know full well that I have. I believe they do this intentionally, to delay sending people their checks.

This past year has been one long exercise in frustration. It’s also been a challenge to my self-esteem. Every claim form requires you to check a box that says that you have continued to look for work. This makes a person feel as though their efforts to find work aren’t good enough, no matter how many hours they search through want ads, no matter how many applications they fill out, or resumes they send. I’ve been told that my freelance writing “doesn’t count”, as if my choice of employment is, somehow, not really a job. It is terrible to have to wait a few more days, or until next week, to buy groceries, because the EDD didn’t bother to send me the check I was supposed to have already received.

I was especially infuriated by the EDD when it decided to contact the company who I get most of my freelance writing work from, and demand that this company start paying for my Unemployment Insurance Benefits. Fortunately, this company told the EDD that I was not an employee, I was a contract worker…. which happens to be the truth. I was lucky that this company continued to give me work after that. The EDD could very well have cost me my only form of employment with one phone call that day.

So, considering all this…. do I really want to apply for an extension of my benefits? Can I endure another year of this? Is it worth the small amount of money I would (occasionally and sporadically) get from the EDD to put up with this kind of mistreatment for another year?

My situation right now is not anywhere near as desperate as it was when I first applied for Unemployment Insurance Benefits. Then, I had no income whatsoever, and no idea when or if I would get hired ever again. Now, I have been working as a freelance writer since January, the work has been steady, and I love my job and the companies I write for. I have been consistently making about the same amount of money from writing as I would be getting from one of those “ten hour a week minimum wage” jobs that are all that can be found now. Our bills have all been paid. We are not homeless. We can reasonably expect that this will continue.

Even so, I figured that it couldn’t hurt to go to the EDD website, and fill out a form. I firmly believed that they were going to reject my claim, and I worried that the EDD would, once again, harass the company I get most of my freelance work from. I realize that trying to get an extension now will be easier than if I wait a few months, see how things go, and try to apply then. So.. I gave it a shot.

Today, I learned that if you want to apply for an extension for your Unemployment Insurance Benefits, you use the exact same online form that you used when you first applied. I also learned that if your place of employment has a P.O. Box, the EDD will not allow you to continue to fill out this form, unless you can supply them with a “street address”. Now, I write content for websites. The company doesn’t actually NEED a physical address. It exists in cyberspace, it’s contract workers all work from their homes, and the work isn’t tangible (unless you decided to print it out). The EDD cannot understand this. So, attempt one…. was a fail.

I asked my husband, Shawn, how bad off we would be if I didn’t get an extension. Clearly, I cannot use the online form. I know I cannot call. It’s possible that I cannot apply for an extension in the first place. He said we would be “okay”. “Okay” is worlds better than we were doing at this time last year.

The only other option would be for us to go track down the “One-Stop” that is supposedly located nearby. I have heard tales that claim there are EDD workers there that are actually helpful, and that these mythical workers can work magic. They can help people fill out the forms, and they have the authority to approve claims, and accept things that no other EDD minions can. I think it is worth trying to track down these legendary creatures. I’ll let you know how that goes.

A while ago, I blogged about the $340.00 that the EDD demanded I pay them, due to THEIR mistake. I think when I last mentioned it, I said that we wasted time filling out the paperwork to contest their decision, got rejected, and got sent something that basically said “Nah-Nah! We are right and you are wrong, Nah-Nah!”. So, the retirement money that I fought to get from CalPERS ended up going right back to the State of California, in the form of this extortion.. I mean.. payment.. to the EDD.

About a week ago I got another strange letter from the EDD. It had the EDD official logo where the return address is located. But, my name and address was hand written. Somebody at the EDD took a blue ink pen, and wrote my name and address on the front of this envelope, and sent it to me. It even has a spot where they messed up the zip code, and used white out to cover that mistake, so they could fix it. I thought at first that what I was looking at was that nifty little font that some junk mail comes in now, to fool people into thinking that the envelope of unwanted solicitations was really a letter from an actual person, who they would want to hear from. But, no, the white out means that this was actually a hand written, self address, stamped envelope from the EDD. (And by “stamp”, I mean not an actual stamp like the common people would use… but a stamp from an ink pad that shows the postage was, in fact, paid for.)

What on earth could this be? I opened the envelope, and inside was a single, tri-folded, piece of white paper. Opening that, I realized that the EDD sent me a reciept for the $340.00 they extorted… I mean billed… me for (due to THEIR mistake).

I have continued to receive Unemployment Insurance checks from them, on time, which, naturally makes me wonder what they have up their sleeves this time. I fear another telephone interview is on the way. I have no legitimate reason to have that fear, but, this means nothing, since I didn’t think when I got on Unemployment Insurance that they would force me through four separate telephone interviews, but they did it.

The perforated stubbs on the top of the checks tell me I have around $500.00 left in my Unemployment Insurance claim. I’ve gotten exactly zero information about when, if, or how to renew my claim. I guess I will just have to see what happens.