Funemployment 2016

Fun with unemployment.

You know the drill. These gigs I work are temporary by nature, so I file for unemployment during the gaps between them. For the past year+, I actually haven't had very long stretches of unemployment. Last year, I think it was less than a month.

Anyway, I was on unemployment at the beginning of this year. Each week, every Sunday, I claim benefits online, which is usually pretty simple.

Then I got a gig that was supposed to last three weeks.

Instead of stopping the claim completely, each week I'd log into the unemployment benefits site and claimed that I had worked more than 4 days that week and earned more than $420. (In which case, you do not get paid any unemployment benefits that week.)

This went smoothly. Though the gig ended up lasting five weeks instead of three because it was shitty. January 19 to February 17.

The week I was supposed to get back onto the unemployment benefits, the online system stopped me with this:

We have information that indicates you may be working either full-time or part-time. Under the law, you are not eligible for benefits on any day you work. Because of this, we cannot accept your certification for benefits through this system. If you are not working, or are working only part-time, call 855-822-6536 for assistance. Please be ready to tell us all dates you have worked, as well as names, addresses, and telephone numbers for all the employers you have worked for since the beginning of your claim.

That's fun, isn't it? So I get to call the unemployment hotline Monday mourning when they're open!

I really hope I don't have to jump through bureaucratic hoops to get this going again. My next job is supposed to start in April so I've just got to get through one month on this thing.