I have spent the last week dealing with the unemployment office and the institutional idocy therin.

I usually work in Executive Support or HR/Staffing - usually a combination of both.

My last position was at an Engineering firm - I was laid off last year due to the economy and the company merging operations overseas.

When I was offered a month long temp assignment, I jumped at the chance - I could work, get out of the house and earn some much needed extra money. If I had known then what i know now, I would not have picked up the phone, or I would have purposely blown the interview.

This journey started when my temp assignment ended (as expected, it lasted for a little more than a month). As instructed, I tried to re-open my claim with UE - I was told that I needed to make a secondary claim just as a procedural measure to re-open and start benefits again. Sounds good, right? Wrong.

Somehow, the outside company that handles the Unemployment Claims for the temporary agency contested the claim - I have been assured that this was a clerical error, and this was brought to their attention and they rescindid the protest immediately, providing letters stating that it was done in error and they wanted my claim to be approved.

Sounds easy, right?

Wrong.

IDES will not accept these letters. They will not call the agency. The claim is "being investigated", probably on the way to being denied outright...

Until this is resolved, I am recieving no money from Unemployment. No income whatsoever.

While dealing with this, the morons at IDES sent me to two closed offices, one office that didn't handle my claim, and refused to see me because I was not "in their area" I eventually was given the address to the correct one. These idiots see in black in white and only respond to yes or no questions. There is no way to get through with logic and basic intelligence. They can't answer questions, and I am starting to think that the goal is to kill someone with a heart attack so they don't have to approve claims.

It is degrading, and dehumanizing. Made moreso by the people who work there. If you ask me, the people who SHOULD be unemployed are working FOR the unemployment office. I was actually yelled at by a woman yesterday because I offered to provide detailed information about my job search.

Seriously...this is yet another system that is completely broken.

They may be able to help cut through the red tape.

"While dealing with this, the morons at IDES sent me to two closed offices, one office that didn't handle my claim, and refused to see me because I was not "in their area" I eventually was given the address to the correct one."

Why do you find it necessary to refer to hard-working (and probably underpaid) employees at the IDES as "morons"??

It is possible (and likely) that these employees are working extra hard because their agency's budget has been cut back.

They made a mistake. They are human.

Instead of demonizing public employees, please try to be more understanding.

Yes, the person who sent me to an office that had been closed for two years was an idiot.

Yes, the person who sent me to another office (in another fucking city) is an idiot.

Yes, the person who was not aware of how the claims process works in terms of re-filing with the AGENCY and not the previous employer is an idiot.

This is an incredibly frustrating process made even more difficult by the fact that SOME people working for the agency are untrained and inept. One person was unaware that they needed to ask for my SS#. I say this BECAUSE I come from a family of public employees. I have been one. There is a moron in every office - unfortunatly most of my professional career has been spent cleaning up after them. It is possible that for some reason, I inevitably get a person who has no idea what they are doing. They system is broken, and the people who make mistakes and refuse to see logic are making it worse.

And yes, I have every right to be frustrated without you suddenly equating me with the Pet Rock and his cronies from Wisconsin.

I can certainly understand your frustration.

But I don't think it is the right thing to do to call hard-working, underpaid public employees (who, according to you, are "untrained") insulting and degrading names.

If the employees you encountered were "untrained", whose fault is that? It is likely the fault of the politically-appointed managers or the fault of the state legislators who defunded training dollars.

Your insults should not (in my view) be directed at the people who are simply doing the best they can under very difficult circumstances (and who occasionally make mistakes).

You insults should be at the people who created the mess. And they are likely Republican legislators who cut taxes on the rich and also cut funds for public agencies and who deny public employees the right to bargain.

Here's a dirty little secret - in order to save money, many states, mine included contract out these call-center positions to people who have about 3 days (TOPS) of training. No benefits, minimal pay, and the turnover is huge. I do consider that to be absolutely unacceptable for this to be the case for a state organization. I do not consider contractors such as this to be "public workers". They are on par with the people you talk to when you order a pizza from a major chain who are in a call center, or Comcast customer service. Yes, there are good ones, but in my experience, they ARE poorly trained, especially when it comes to dealing with such a complicated issue.

I am not insulting the hard working people who are highly qualified and trained, who have been laid off in favor of these contractors. I am sure that there are plans in place to outsource these jobs overseas.

DESIGNED to frustrate and deny any compensation as long and often as possible. The politicians are the people who have made the laws and regulations governing ALL state agencies. The state workers MUST follow agency procedures, whether they agree with them or not...They have NO CHOICE if they wish to keep their own jobs.

Your state political system is fucking you, not someone at a desk-they just take the blame.


mark

It isn't that the employees are necessarily stupid-- it's that the framework they're forced to function in is inefficient.

Contact your state rep in the meantime, and see what can be done to get the "investigation" expedited.