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.

Today, in the mail, I got the results from the EDD that I knew in my heart I would end up getting. I was trying to keep that little spark of hope alive that they would see the error of their ways, but no. The EDD, like many twelve year old children, is not mature enough to accept when it has made a mistake.

It all started when I got a very strange and incomprehensible letter from the EDD a while back. This long letter, as far as I could tell, was to let me know that they decided to re-evaluate the amount of money that I was allowed to have as my Unemployment Insurance Benefit. I have referred to this particular piece of mail as “mystery mail” earlier in this blog. I called it mystery mail because of it’s mysterious nature. I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t suddenly do something different that would cause it to come into existence. I was given no warning that it was coming. I couldn’t find anything on it that clearly stated what, exactly, this information was going to do to me. I continued to get checks from the EDD, (well, except for the time span that they decided to withhold my checks so they could force me through the fourth telephone interview, that is), so from all the observable evidence…. it appeared that the “mystery mail” was just some anomaly that I didn’t need to worry about.

But, worry I did. I do not trust any government agency that is supposedly there to help people to actually do what it should be doing without punishing the people it provides help to in some way. I know this because I have already experienced it. As I mentioned before, my husband was, and still is, getting disability payments because he is legally blind. We have, in the past, had to pay back a bunch of money to the government because THEY made a mistake and “overpaid” us.

It turned out that I had good reason to worry. Arriving in the mail next was a letter from the EDD telling me that because THEY made a mistake, that they decided that I now owe them $340.00. There was a form in that envelope that I could fill out and send back if I wanted to dispute that finding. The cynic in me said “Don’t bother! They are just going to have another EDD worker decided that they are right after all, and I am wrong, and I will end up paying the amount they demand.”

I almost didn’t bother with the form at all. But, after I calmed down a bit, Shawn and I went ahead, filled out the form, and sent it back anyway. Part of me really wanted to believe that the cynic in me was wrong, at least this time, that the EDD would realize that we would have extreme difficulty paying them $340.00, and would stop demanding something that it was obvious we couldn’t pay back. I mean, how many of you reading this blog right now have $340.00 that is sitting in your pocket, that doesn’t need to go toward any of your bills? I doubt many people are that fortunate.

Today, I got a letter in the mail from the EDD that confirmed that I should always listen to my inner cynic, because, even though she can be a bitch at times, she is usually right about what will happen. The EDD, as my inner cynic expected, decided that it was correct after all, and is still demanding the $340.00 back. The EDD decided that paying back this amount of money was not something that was going to cause me “hardship”. Apparently if you are on Unemployment Insurance benefits, and your spouse is getting disability benefits, (and has a part time job), then the EDD thinks that you are rolling in dough, and can send them a bunch of money that you owe them due to THEIR mistake, not your own.
Because, of course, everyone in my situation has tons of extra money to just throw around. And, of course, it’s perfectly morally acceptable to make a mistake, and then demand that someone else pay for your mistake. Note, the sarcasm dripping off of my words.

This new note indicates that if I want to, I can fill out a new form that arrived with the current letter of doom, and try to fight it. I think doing so is only going to have one result: delaying when we start paying back the money they have decided we owe them. Apparently, this is my punishment for losing my job and needing Unemployment Insurance benefits in the first place. I truly wish I never, ever, ever, signed up for these benefits, even though I am entitled to them, (as someone who has paid into the system for half my life).

If I am understanding the new letter of doom correctly, it indicates that in order to fight this, I will have to appear in court. Because, ya know, everyone on Unemployment Insurance Benefits can just rush out and pay for a lawyer, we have so much extra money laying around.

There is also an indication that if I don’t pay them back this money when they want it back, it could lead to litigation. So, now they have moved up from a demand, to outright extortion.

I have not made a decision about what I am going to do next, because I am still irate about the whole situation. When, (if), I calm down, I will decide what my next move is. This is another example of how being on Unemployment Insurance Benefits means you are forced to play a game, that you don’t know any of the rules to, against someone who created the game.

It is my understanding that this was a hard won battle, because many Republicans did not want to extend unemployment benefits. From what I have read, the biggest reason why there was so much resistance to passing this bill was because there doesn’t seem to be any clear plan as to how to actually pay for it. I think. If I am understanding correctly, it seems that most, (if not all), Republicans are more concerned about where the money will come from, and less concerned with the quality of the lives of the people who this bill directly affects the most.

I think it is fitting to put the quote from President Obama that so many of the newspapers are using in their articles about this subject right about here:

“After years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, the same people who didn’t have any problems spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are now saying we shouldn’t offer relief to middle-class Americans.”

So, what does this mean for unemployed people like me? I found a wonderful article on MinnPost.com, that explains it very clearly. The article is called Unemployment benefits extension 101: what you need to know. This article was posted on July 22, 2010.

Who is eligible for the extension? People who have not yet been through all of the many tiers of unemployment insurance. After your initial unemployment insurance benefits run out, you can apply for an extension. I think you can do this more than once, but I am not sure, and it might vary depending on what state you are in. So… I think this new bill means that if you haven’t run through all those possibilities, then you are now able to apply for those extensions. If you have already exhausted everything, well, too bad for you. This bill won’t help you.

For example: I live in California. Right now, California allows people to be on Unemployment Insurance Benefits for a maximum of 99 weeks. This is because of the massive job deficit in California. If you happen to be one of the “99ers”, you’re screwed. You can’t get any more help, even though this bill has been passed.

This extension is supposed to be retroactive to June 2, 2010. From what I have read, I think this means that if you are a person who has been waiting for the extension on your Unemployment Insurance Benefits to kick in, you could be getting a check in the mail in two to four weeks time. Unless you live in California, a state notorious for being extremely slow to pay extensions. One of the reasons that California is so slow is because California does everything by U.S. mail, where other states are using an online certification, and direct depositing of checks.

This Unemployment Insurance extension is supposed to last until the end of November. No idea what happens after that. What I do know is that since the deadline is going to be in November, this will mean that a lot of people are going to be in limbo in the weeks before Christmas, as they wait to see if their unemployment benefits will be extended, or cut. I know that the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the worst weeks of the year if you are looking for employment. This is when stores are too busy to hire and train someone new, and many businesses are on vacation for the holidays. I know that the weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas are extremely stressful for most people, and that this is the time of year when the most suicides occur. Things are going to get rough when this current extension runs out.

One positive thing, though is a change in the new law. Here is how the old law worked: You have a full time job. You lose your job. You file for unemployment, and your benefits are based on what you made at your full time job. You take a part time job, because you are required to continue to look for work in order to receive unemployment benefits. This job falls through, or was seasonal, and you are back on unemployment benefits. Now, your benefits are based on the pittance you made at your part time job, instead of the full time job you originally lost. The new law is supposed to allow people to keep their higher benefits, which makes sense. After all, if you are supposed to look for work, and you do, and you find work… you shouldn’t be punished for doing so.

As for me… I’m not yet sure how the new bill will personally affect my life. I am still on the first …. round?…. of benefits. They are set to expire in September. I think.

Shawn and I have had a short conversation about if I should try and get my benefits extended when they run out. On the one hand, now that this new bill has passed, it seems to me that I shouldn’t have too much trouble getting an extension. We do still need it, despite the fact that I have been getting enough freelance writing work to be roughly equal to a part time job. On the other hand… most of my experience with the EDD and with Unemployment Insurance benefits has been a complete nightmare. I am not looking forward to the stress that comes with the benefits.

Earlier today, we figured that the worst that could happen would be that I would apply for an extension, and get denied. As I write this blog, and reflect on my experiences with the EDD, I question that. I think the worst thing that could happen is that they will harass me, and then make me wait around to see if they decided to continue my benefits, and then deny me.

If I do decide to apply for an extension, the first thing I have to do is see if I can teach myself what I need to do in order to make that happen. Not looking forward to that, either. At this point, I am undecided about if I want to apply for an extension. I just don’t know.

This check was for what I now think of as the “usual amount”. It has been reduced, based on the amount of work I have done, and have reported to the EDD. It came with a Continued Claim Form for the week ending July 17, 2010, and the week ending July 24, 2010. I am to mail it back to them on Sunday, July 25, 2010. Always on a Sunday, the one day of the week that the mail is neither picked up or sent out.

At the end of my last telephone interview with a minion of the EDD, I was told to expect one of two things in the mail. I would either be getting a check, (indicating that my Unemployment Insurance Claim will continue), or I would be getting a letter, (informing me that my benefits have been terminated). I have been waiting, somewhat anxiously, to see what the answer would be.

This is the second check I have gotten from the EDD since the telephone interview. I have not been sent a letter, of any kind. Each check came with a Continued Claim Form, indicating that there would be another check coming, sometime in the future.

I am going to take this to mean that the “other shoe” has, in fact, dropped. It seems that my answer is yes, I will still be getting Unemployment Insurance Benefits as a result of that horrific and stressful telephone interview.

Part of me is cringing, though, because it seems that every time I feel confident that I have gotten everything sorted out with the EDD, another letter of doom finds me.

I also caught her in a lie. She insisted that I had not filled out the name of the company and the address of the company on the continued claim form that I sent in right before I stopped working for the answering service. I asked her to send me a copy of it, because I knew full well that I had, in fact, filled out all of that information correctly. (As I do on all of my continued claim forms). I bet she regrets admitting that she “didn’t have” the form, and that was the reason she couldn’t send it to me.

This telephone interview ended in a cliffhanger. The minion informed me that in “ten days/ two weeks” I would receive one of two things in the mail. I might get an Unemployment Benefit check, which would indicate that the EDD decided that I was still eligible for benefits after they called the answering service, and reviewed whatever information they got from that phone call. Or, I would be getting a letter, which would notify me that my claim had been terminated. There was nothing I could do, but wait for the answer.

Today, another brightly colored happy envelope arrived from the EDD. It contained a check, which was attached to a Continued Claim Form. This one is for the week ending July 3, and the week ending July 10, 2010. I am to mail it back on Sunday, July 11. The check is less than what I have gotten in the past, but I don’t know exactly why. It could be because I reported the income I earned from the freelance writing jobs. Or, it might have something to do with that audit (for lack of a better word) that the EDD did not too long ago. (The one where they decided that they made a mistake, and were “overpaying me” and now wanted me to give them $340.00, for their own mistake).

The telephone interview was on June 24, 2010. It hasn’t been two weeks. Should I assume that this check means that I will continue to get Unemployment Insurance benefits? (Well, until my claim ends in September, that is.) It won’t officially be two weeks time until July 8, 2010. There is the possibility that a letter telling me my claim has been terminated will still arrive in my mailbox, another letter of doom.

I am so very tired of this roller coaster ride.

There is a place called One Stop. Find it here:

Creekside One Stop Career Ctr,
Private Industry Council of Slo County Inc,
Creekside Career Center
880 Industrial Way
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

(805) 788-2600

It’s located in the building that the big Goodwill place is at. It’s not too far away from The Graduate.

From the information I have uncovered, it seems that the One Stop houses a small portion of several different governmental organizations that are designed to help people. In other words, if you are having problems with the EDD, you can go here, and speak with an actual person, who can set you up with someone who has the authority of making an actual decision about whatever is going on! Amazing!

Now, I haven’t actually been there myself yet, so, this information is based on what I can surmise from the internet, etc. But, it appears as though this One Stop is designed to actually help people, and specifically people who are having problems with the nonsense and harassment that the EDD is giving them. Bring the mystery mail the EDD has sent you, and maybe this place can help you understand it. Bring in the forms that say that you now owe the EDD money, and maybe someone at the One Stop can straighten that out for you. (I hope! I haven’t tried it yet.)

I have mixed feelings about the One Stop. I’m absolutely elated that there is an place that is easy to get to (if you live out here), that seems to be designed to help people with their EDD related problems. I’m also angry that the EDD never told me about this place, not once, ever. I’ve been on Unemployment Insurance Benefits since September, 2009, and the EDD has never even implied that there was a place that could help me. It’s as though they didn’t want me, and all of you, to know of it’s existence.

If you use the services of the One Stop, please leave a comment on this blog. Tell us if your experiences at the One Stop were helpful, or not helpful, or … well, any details about how it went would be great. My hope is that people who are being harassed and confused by the EDD can come across this blog post, and find the help they need.

The last contact I had with the EDD was via telephone interview, on June 24, 2010. The woman on the phone said that I should expect to find one of two things in the mail from them, within “ten days/two weeks.” I would either get a check, which would indicate that they have decided to continue my Unemployment Insurance benefit claim, or, I would get a letter telling me that they have decided to terminate my claim.

Yesterday, June 28, 2010, I got an envelope from the EDD. It was one of those brightly colored envelopes that means that there is a check inside. I was not expecting this at all! From the tone of the woman who did the telephone interview, I was convinced that I would never receive another check from the EDD ever again. Yet, here one was.

This check was reduced, because I had been working, and I reported my income to the EDD, (something I am required to do). It came with a continued claim form for the week ending June 19, 2010, and the week ending June 26, 2010.

I was expected to mail this form back to the EDD on June 27, 2010, which was, as usual, a Sunday when no mail can be picked up or delivered. It also just so happened to be the day before I actually received it. The mail does not arrive to me until after 3:00 P.M. at the earliest. There was no way I was going to get this Continued Claim Form into the mail on June 28. The best I could do was fill it out, and put it back in the mailbox for the mailman to pick up today, June 29, 2010. My best guess is that it is still sitting in the mailbox, waiting on the mailman, as I write this blog.

Every Continued Claim Form comes with the warning that if you send it in late, it could cause your benefits to be delayed. There is no information about what to do when the EDD decides to send the form to you late, forcing you to send it back to them even later.

It has been two business days since I had my latest godforsaken telephone interview. My experience with the EDD tells me that there is absolutely no way that the EDD managed to call the answering service I used to work for, ask them questions, send those answers to an adjudicator, and have the adjudicator make a decision about my Unemployment Insurance Benefits claim based on those answers in just two business days. I haven’t seen any evidence that the EDD can work this quickly and efficiently. Quite the opposite!

Which means that this check does not indicate if the EDD has decided that I am eligible to continue getting benefits, or, if it has decided to terminate my claim. Remember, I had to put up with two telephone interviews with the EDD this month. The first one was on June 8, 2010. The guy from the EDD who called me on June 8 said that I would be getting checks from them again, and I think this check is part of what he was referring to. It is simply too soon for the EDD to have processed all the information it needs from the June 24 interview, and to have gathered and processed the information they got from whomever they spoke with from the answering service I used to work for.

Which means this check tells me nothing about my fate with the EDD. I will be putting this check in the bank today. I will feel a tiny bit of relief, knowing that this small check will help us pay some of our bills. In the back of my mind, however, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I’d like to get this damned telephone interview done and over with already. Since I got this letter, sometime last week, I have been anxious to the point where it is making me sick. My allergies are off the charts, and it’s not entirely due to environmental factors. It’s been days since I could keep food in me, to put things politely. I’m having trouble falling asleep, and having trouble staying asleep, something that is extremely unusual for me.

When I do sleep, I have nightmares. There are two themes that keep repeating. One series of nightmares consists of me working in a woefully understaffed day care center, with too many children for me to legally be left with all by myself, no help in sight, and me desperately trying to keep things from reverting to a scene from Lord of the Flies.

The other series of nightmares consist of me being back in high school, as a student. Im in a class where I cannot grasp the lessons or the material, and I’m pretty sure the teacher hates me. I am completely panicked that I’m going to be called on, again, because I know that I won’t know the right answer, and that I cannot “read” the teacher to discern what she wants me to say. I have this feeling of extreme dread, because I know that no matter what I do, or what I say, I’m going to end up in trouble anyhow.

Both of these dreams are basically about the same thing: having absolutely no control over what happens to me, or what happens in my life. This is how I feel when it comes to Unemployment Insurance, and the EDD. I never know when they are going to demand something from me, what they will ask, or what answer they are looking for. Even when I give them what I really think is the right answer, they still come back and harass me.

I need this to end.

1:37 : The phone rings. My anxiety level shoots through the roof. But, it’s not the EDD, it’s Shawn’s mom. I’d much rather talk to Shawn’s mom than the EDD, but this is not possible right now. We have to keep the phone lines clear until the EDD gets around to calling me.

1:42 : The EDD still has not troubled itself to call me.

1:50 : I am playing stupid games on facebook, in an effort to distract myself. My stomach hurts, as it has since I woke up this morning.

2:00 : Nope, they still haven’t called me. The EDD has, once again, wasted an entire hour of the time they demanded I set aside for them.

2:02: The EDD finally calls. A woman with a very thick asian accent tells me her name, but I cannot discern what she said her name was. She asks to speak with me, and I confirm that I am the person she is trying to call. She asks me if I got the letter that told me that they would call me today. I tell her that yes, I got the letter. (Why else would I be sitting here, waiting for the EDD to call, and wasting my time?) She asks me to confirm the last four digits of my social security number, and I do.

From here, she starts asking me a series of questions that are about the part time job I had at the answering service. This was a job that I started back in October of 2009, and ended the last week of December 2009, because I did not make it through the training.

Her: “What was your job title?”
Me: “Job title? Um… I was a trainee… telephone operator.”
She says ok, and repeats the information, which I am certain she is typing into her computer.
Her: “How much did you make per hour?”
Me: “Hold on, let me check.” I don’t remember. It’s been six months since I worked there. I consult Shawn, and together we come up with what was probably the amount I was paid per hour. I tell this to the Minion of the EDD. Now, she wants to know when I stopped working for this employer, and when I started. I tell her, and point out that all of this information is on the forms that I have sent to them.

Then, I am subjected to a series of questions that I believe are designed so that they can try and trick me into saying that I quit this job, (which is not true).

Her: “Why are you not working there any longer?”
Me: “I did not make it through the training.”
Her: “Did…not.. make it.. through…training… ok. Why did you not make it through the training? What did they require?”
Me: “Could you repeat that? I don’t understand your question.”
Her: “Ok, you didn’t make it through the training. What did they require from the training?”
Me: “I have no idea how to explain that to you.”
Her: “What did they want from the training?”
Me: “I have no idea how to explain that to you, either.”
Her: …..

Her: “Ok, so we found out in May that you are no longer working there.”
Me: …
Her: “So, why did you not tell us you no longer work for that job?”
Me: “I did tell you. I put on my claim form “Didn’t make it through the training.”
Her: “But… why did you not make it through the training?”
Me: “… I was not where they needed me to be at that point in the training.”
Her: “What did they need you to be?”
Me: “Not where I was at.”
Her: “So, like.. did they say to you “You aren’t where we need?” Did they give you warning… how?”
Me: “The manager and I came to the mutual conclusion that I was not a good fit for this job.”
Her: “Ok… not … good … fit for job….”

Her: “But, why did you not say when you filed a new claim that you were no longer working there?”
Me: “Filed a new claim?”
Her: “Yes, when you filed your new claim, why you not put from the drop down box why you don’t work there any more?”
Me: “Drop down box?”
Her: “Yes, when you go online… you use the drop down box…”
Me: (cutting her off) “I have no idea what you are talking about. I never went online to make a new claim.”
Her: ….

Her: “Ok, so we didn’t know you were not working there anymore. We find out in May.”
Me: “I wrote it on the continued claim forms. I wrote “Did not make it through training”.
Her: “But, you did not put the name of the company, or the address. You didn’t fill in the box that says why you no longer work there.”
Me: “I have put the name of the company and the address of the company on each and every continued claim form I have sent you. Every single one.”
Her: “Well, I have here that you did not put that down on the form for the last week you worked for answering service.”
Me: “No. I wrote the name and address of the company on all the continued claim forms.”
Her: “Well I have here that you did not on this one.”
Me: “Send me a copy of that form.”
Her: …. “send you… a copy?”
Me: “Send me a copy of that form. I know I wrote down the name and address of the company on all of the continued claim forms.”
Her: “We don’t have a copy. We cannot send you a copy.”
Me: “You don’t have a copy of the continued claim form, yet you say I didn’t fill it out?”
Her: …. “Well…. the form gets scanned into the computer. I don’t have the form here. It is on the computer. I cannot send copy from the computer.”
Me: “I put the name and address of the employer on all of the continued claim forms.”
Her: ….

Her: “Ok, so… why did you not fill in the box?”
Me: “What box?”
Her: “On the continued claim forms, there is a box to put why you are not working for employer. It says “quit” “terminated” or “laid off”. We send these forms to you every two weeks….
Me: (cutting her off). “No, you do not send these forms to me every two weeks. You send them occasionally. You do not send them every two weeks.”
Her: …. “Ok….but, why you didn’t fill out why you no longer work for them on this form? Did you forget? Or just not want to fill it out? Or why?”
Me: “Hold on. The form says I can choose “quit”, “terminated”, or “laid off,” correct?”
Her: “yes, it says those, and you supposed to check the box.”
Me: “I did not quit. I was not fired. I was not laid off. Is there a box that says “Did not make it through the training?”
Her: “No”.
Me: “Well, that’s probably why I didn’t fill that part out. Because I was not fired, I did not quit, and I was not laid off.”
Her: “But … we didn’t know you were not working there, because you didn’t write on the form that you were not working there.”
Me: “Yes, I did. I wrote “didn’t make it through the training.”
Her: “Well, you have to file a new claim every time you stop working, or else we don’t know you stopped working. We find out in May that you don’t work there. That’s what I call about.”
Me: “But you did know. I told you. I wrote “did not make it through the training” on the form.”
Her: “We did not know. You supposed to file new claim…”
Me: “Where does it say that?”
Her: “Where does it say what?”
Me: “Where does it say that I need to file a new claim?”
Her: “It doesn’t say. We would send you letter to say you need to file new claim… and..”
Me: “No, you never sent me any letter like that.”
Her: …..

This went round and round for a while. Then she tried a new tactic.
Her: “What was the name of manager?”
Me: “Um… let me think.” I come up with the name of the person who was the manager when I worked there. I have to spell this person’s last name for the minion of the EDD.
Her: “When you did not make it through the training, did they tell you?”
Me: “No. The manager and I came to the mutual conclusion that I was not a good fit for the job.”
Her: “Ok, but, did they give you warnings?”
Me: “Warnings?”
Her: “Yes, did manager say, you not doing good, or you did this wrong?”
Me: “No, it didn’t work like that.”
Her: “Why not?”
Me: “It just didn’t work like that over there. I don’t know why.”
Her: “But, how you know you not make it through training?”
Me: (at Shawn’s suggestion) “I am dyslexic. I was getting the phone numbers wrong.”
Her: “Ok, so you… got… phone…. numbers… wrong. And, did they warn you this could make you fired?”
Me: “no”
Her: “Did they say, ok, you make the number wrong, and we give you a warning?”
Me: “No.”
Her: (weary) “Ok….. So, what were the duties of the job?”
Me: “We… answered the phones and spoke with the customers who needed to speak with or leave a message for a client of the answering service. We passed that information along to the appropriate person.”
She repeated this as she typed it into her computer.
Her: “Ok, so… what did they do to make things better for the training?”
Me: “I don’t understand your question.”
Her: “I mean.. what did they do to help you with the situation?”
Me: “More training. Training by different people. I could ask people questions, and they would answer.”
Her: “Ok, they do this and… decide you weren’t doing good?”
Me: “The manager and I came to the mutual conclusion that I was not where they wanted me to be in this training, and that I was not a good fit for the job.”
Her: …. “So, they fire you? or?
Me: “The manager and I came to the mutual conclusion that I was not a good fit for this job.”
Her: (very tired) “Ok…..

Her: “Ok, so we gonna call this job, and talk to them, and then we send you a letter ten days to two weeks to let you know.”
Me: “To let me know what?”
Her: “If you claim continues. We have to call them, and ask them if you work there, and why you no work there no more, and see what they say. We have to decide if they should have fired you, or not, and see if they gonna pay your unemployment benefits or not. It depends on what they say.”
Me: “Wait, let me understand. You are going to call this job, and talk to them, and based on what they say… you will let me know in two weeks?”
Her: “Ten days, or two weeks, yeah.”
Me: “And I will be get a letter in the mail to let me know this?”
Her: “Well, a letter or a check, ten days, or two weeks.”
Me: “A letter or a check?”
Her: “Yeah, if we gonna still pay you, we won’t send you a letter, we just send you a check. If you get a check, you know that you eligible. If not, we send letter to tell you, and that’s how you know. We talk to the job, and then we send it to an adjudicator, and the review it.”
Me: “Ok, so in ten days to two weeks time, I will either get a check in my mailbox, or I will get a letter saying that you have cancelled my claim?”
Her: “No, not cancel! If you get a letter, it means that you are not eligible. If you eligible, we don’t send a letter to tell you, we just send check. That’s how you know.”

And that was the end of the call. Based on this conversation, I fully believe that the EDD will decide that I was not eligible for Unemployment Insurance Benefits after my job at the answering service ended. I believe I am going to get a letter telling me that I am no longer eligible for Unemployment Benefits at all. I believe that this letter will demand that I send the EDD back all of the money they sent me since January, 2010. I have no idea why they assume I can pay them back the money, since the reason I needed the money was because I didn’t have a full time job. If they stop paying me the pittance they occasionally send out…. where, exactly, do they think the money will come from that I am supposed to pay them back with?

All I can do now is wait and see what happens.

As far as Shawn and I can tell, this is the result of the mystery mail that appeared not too long ago. The EDD decided to re-evaluate my claim, and has decided that I shouldn’t have been getting the amount I was getting on my checks. Instead, I should have been getting a lower amount. But, because they are extremely incompetent, it took them a long time to figure out that they were mistakingly paying me too much money. So, because they screwed up, I am now expected to somehow come up with an extra $340.00 to give them.

Oh, and they also decided to reduce the overall amount of my claim, while they were at it. This means that the amount of money I supposedly had left to receive, the amount that would appear on the little perforated part of the paper that was attached to the checks they would occasionally give me, was, basically, a lie. At this moment, I have no idea if this means that my claim is going to end earlier than September 2010, as I had been led to believe, or how small the checks I receive from the EDD in the future will be. (Assuming, of course, that they even bother to send me any more checks).

Along with this form of doom, was another form, basically saying that I could contest this claim if I felt it was wrong. If I do that, then someone else at the EDD will re-evaluate this situation. But, since they, too, are a minion of the EDD, they will, of course decide that the EDD is right, and I will still have to pay the EDD back the money they mistakingly sent me.

My cynicism is founded on actual experience here. Shawn is on disability, because he is legally blind. This is a condition that is not going to improve, is not going to go away,and is not something he caused. He was born this way. This condition prevents him from working a variety of jobs. To supplement, he gets a small amount of disability payments from the government. If you are reading this blog and cannot understand why a legally blind person can’t do the same job you are doing, then try this experiment: Get a pair of “cheater glasses” from the drug store. Next, smear Vaseline across the lenses. Now, wear them, and see how easy it is for you to get through your day!

When Shawn and I moved from Illinois to California in 2005, the Social Security Administration decided it was time to re-evalute his disability benefits. Mostly, this was because a new case worker was handed the file after it was sent from Illinois. In short, the Social Security Administration decided the proper way to do things was to cut off his benefits payments, immediately, with no warning. Eventually, they sent us a letter informing us that he had been overpaid, and they demanded that we pay them back for what was a much, much, much larger amount than the EDD is demanding from me today.

The letter he got also had a form that he could fill out if he wanted to dispute the claim, which we did. But, since a minion of the same government organization was the person who reviewed the claim, they, of course, decided that they were right, and we were wrong, and we would have to pay them back the money they demanded anyway. This is a micro-version of what actually happened.

This is how I know that attempting to fight this claim is going to do me no good at all. Why bother? The system is rigged, and there is nothing we can do about it.

This will be on my mind tomorrow as I wait around for the EDD to call me, for the fourth time, on yet another godforsaken telephone interview.

According to the Free Online Dictionary:

Harassment: ha·rassment n.
Synonyms: harass, harry, hound, badger, pester, plague

These verbs mean to trouble persistently or incessantly. Harass and harry imply systematic persecution by besieging with repeated annoyances, threats, or demands: The landlord harassed tenants who were behind in their rent. A rude customer had harried the storekeeper.

Hound suggests unrelenting pursuit to gain a desired end: Reporters hounded the celebrity for an interview.

To badger is to nag or tease persistently: The child badgered his parents for a new bicycle.

To pester is to inflict a succession of petty annoyances: “How she would have pursued and pestered me with questions and surmises” (Charlotte Brontë).

Plague refers to a problem likened to an epidemic disease: “As I have no estate, I am plagued with no tenants or stewards” (Henry Fielding).

According to U.S. Law Books dot com, the legal definition is:

Harassment:
The Modern Penal Code section 250.4(MPC) defines harassment as a petty misdemeanor if with purpose is to harass another, he:
1) makes a phone call without a legitimate purpose; or
2) insults, taunts or challenges another in a manner likely to provoke violent or disorderly response; or
3) calls at inconvenient hours or in offensive language; or
4) subjects another to offensive touching; or
5) engages in any other course of alarming conduct serving no legitimate purpose of the actor.

Today, I got letter from the California EDD. No, it wasn’t a check. I highly doubt I will ever see a check from them ever again. This letter was to inform me that they have decided to assign me to yet another telephone interview. This would be the fourth telephone interview I’ve been required to put up with since I got on Unemployment Insurance benefits in September. This would also be the second telephone interview I’ve been required to put up with this month.

They just called me on Tuesday, June 8, 2010. You can read all about how that went. This next telephone interview is assigned for June 24, 2010. From what I can tell from this letter, they are going to ask me the exact same questions that the previous minion of the EDD, Michael, asked me when he called a few days ago.

I am feeling harassed, by an agency of my own government. I believe, with all my heart, that the EDD is doing this to lots and lots of people. I’m angry, and outraged. It is completely unacceptable for a government agency to resort to increasing forms and instances of harassment to one of it’s own citizens, who has never committed a crime. The money they were supposed to be sending me all this time, (which they avoided sending me each and every time they could come up with the flimsiest of excuses), is mine. It is what was taken out of each of my paychecks from the time I was fifteen years old and got my first job, until I lost my job as a teacher, at age thirty-six, half a lifetime later.

It’s no secret that the state of California doesn’t have the money to actually pay for… well, much of anything anymore. I believe these bullying tactics from the EDD are specifically and intentionally being done for two purposes: They are desperately trying to avoid having to pay the thousands of people who became unemployed after the State of California erased their jobs, and: they desperately want to have it look as though the number of unemployed people has gone down.

If they can find a loophole that will prevent a person from getting Unemployment Insurance Benefits, then that person won’t appear in the statistics next month. Or, if they can harass enough of the people who are already under extreme stress because they don’t have a job, to the point where they tell the EDD worker exactly where they should go, then that person is also out of the system. Do this to enough people, and you can essentially “cook the books”, and make it look, on paper, as though there are less people who are unemployed.

The correct way to reduce unemployment is to create real jobs that a person can actually live on, that provides decent benefits. You know, like most of us had before the economy tanked, and took all our jobs with it. Before I needed Unemployment Insurance Benefits, I was working full time, in the field that I earned my degree in, and making a decent amount of money. I did not quit my job as a teacher, it quit me. If that were not the case, I would never have had the need for Unemployment Insurance Benefits, because I would still be working there!

I have decided that I am done with the EDD. To me, it feels like I have spent more time waiting for late, missing, and withheld benefit checks to arrive than I have had weeks where they actually paid me on time. Of the weeks where I was sent a check on time, it was often a reduced check, because I had been working. On more than one occasion, a piece of paper would arrive telling me I had earned too much money, and I was to surmise from this that no check would arrive, at all. Based on the past behaviors of the EDD, I believe it is logical to assume that they are going to simply drag their feet, and passively aggressively end up not paying me any money until the time period for my Unemployment Insurance claim ends. Yes, there is still money leftover. I am certain they are aware of that.

Therefore, when the next minion of the EDD calls me, I am going to tell that person that I am tired of the harassment. I am tired of them withholding my checks, with no warning. I am tired of them sending me confusing mail that I cannot understand, but fear the meaning of. I am tired of their increasing phone calls. I am going to tell them to end my claim, and leave me the hell alone!