Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits rose for a fourth straight week, reaching a record, as companies accelerated firings.
The total number of recipients rose to 4.81 million in the week ended Jan. 31 from 4.8 million the prior week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. First-time unemployment applications fell by 8,000 to 623,000 last week, a smaller drop than economists expected.
Wait! It gets better!
It's hard enough to lose a job. But for a growing proportion of U.S. workers, the troubles really set in when they apply for unemployment benefits.
More than a quarter of people applying for such claims have their rights to the benefit challenged as employers increasingly act to block payouts to former workers.
The proportion of claims disputed by former employers and state agencies has reached record levels in recent years, according to the Labor Department numbers tallied by the Urban Institute.
[snip]
"I couldn't believe it," said Kenneth M. Brown, who lost his job as a hotel electrician in October.
He began collecting benefits of $380 a week but then discovered that his former employer, the owners of the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, were appealing to block his unemployment benefits. The hotel alleged that he had been fired for being deceptive with a supervisor.
"A big corporation like that. . . . It was hard enough to be terminated," he said. "But for them to try to take away the unemployment benefits -- I just thought that was heartless."
After a Post reporter turned up at the hearing, the hotel's representative withdrew the appeal and declined to comment. A hotel spokesperson later said the company does not comment on legal matters. Brown will continue to collect benefits, which he, his wife and three young children rely on to make monthly mortgage payments on their Upper Marlboro home.
I know about this scam all too well, when about ten years ago, my daughter was fired by Kinko's and applied for unemployment benefits. At first, she received a few checks, then she was notified by mail that Kinko's was challenging her right to obtain benefits. I did a little research on unemployment law, and felt comfortable that my daughter could make a straight case. I even called up the department that was going to handle Kinko's appeal and asked for them to send me all the documents filed in the case. Of course, I was told there were no documents (not true).
When we got to the hearing, I discovered that Kinko's had a full time lawyer working at the unemployment appeals offices. While waiting for our turn, I listened to him instruct and direct various Kinko's supervisors on how to testify against the employee whose unemployment benefits were being challenged. To say I was pissed off is to put it mildly.
Then, to make matters worse, at her hearing, the lawyer and the appeals board "judge" (they are not real judges) REFERRED TO FUCKING DOCUMENTS PRODUCED BY KINKO'S!!!! I knew then that my daughter didn't have a chance representing herself against a lawyer and a stack of documents that they would not produce to me when I asked for them. I would never have let her go there without an attorney had I known the game was played this way.
And the funny part is that they built the Kinko's she was hired to first work at, right at the corner of where we lived, and she was hired specifically to work the late night shift. After about two or three weeks, they moved her to one that was about five miles away, and put her on the 8:00 a.m. shift! She had no car, and that was not the Kinko's she applied to, nor was that the time slot she applied for or was hired for. And guess what the reason was they threw at her for her firing? Being late at least three times by between two minutes and five minutes ... this after having to take two buses to get there at 8:00 a.m.
To this day, I do not use Kinko's for anything (except when I want something free, then I go to my buddy who still works at the original Kinko's my daughter used to work at, and still is on the late night shift as a manager).
My daughter's benefits were cut off, and they wanted her to repay about $120. I made them try to collect it bit by bit from her State refund checks, which were so paltry it took them like six years! Ha Ha Ha!
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