From the Lioness' Den...

BUREAUCRATIC BULLSHIT AT ITS WORST

All I want is to be able to continue to go to school full-time and collect unemployment while doing so in order to make ends meet.  That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.  I don't want to sit on my ass and do nothing 80% of the time.  I don't want to forgo what I'm entitled to receive just so I can continue to go to school.  Here's what I have been told in the past 24 hours...

FROM THE STATE DEPT OF HHS (Health & Human Services)

1-I don't qualify for any food stamps, medicaid etc. at this point because the money I have earned in my 401k over the past 8 yrs puts me over the resource limit.  I can only have $2000 in resources (money I can get my hands on) and qualify for anything.

2-I need to cash out the 401k (and pay the 10% penalty) and dispense with the money if I want to get any aid from the state. Never mind that's all I have saved for retirement, and once it's gone, it's gone. Yeah, I can pay off my car, credit card, and other bills - and I had already planned on doing that. The rest could probably go toward paying rent & utilities in advance or something like that.  What I can't do is roll it over into an IRA, buy CD's, invest it or anything else that would be considered a resource.  Once I have it down to just $2000 then I qualify for aid.

3-Taking the part time job would not be an issue, since for a household of 2, I can make up to $1400 a month and still receive benefits from the state.

FROM UNEMPLOYMENT

1-I can't collect unemployment as things sit right now. Because I am a full time student, and I didn't start school until this past March.  The base pay period they look at starts April '06 and goes thru March '07. In order to continue to be a full time student and collect unemployment, the majority of the wages earned in the base period have to be earned while being a student. Since I didn't start until this past March, that does not qualify.

2-I can appeal the decision...that can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks - during which, I would need to continue to file the weekly claim, but would not receive any money.  Once the appeal goes through and is heard, if I come out ahead, then they pay me retroactively back to the beginning.  As things sit, I keep getting told "That's the way the law is written and that's what we have to go by."  The way it sounds,  I wouldn"t even win an appeal.

3-I can cut back to part-time student status and collect without a problem, as long as I look for full time work.  I asked what kind of sense that made.  Cutting back so it takes me longer to finish school, so I can't get the job I want for a longer period of time, so I depend on unemployment and the state for a longer period of time.

4-I can't take a part time job while I look for full-time work. Because - any money I make over $63 a week is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the amount of unemployment benefit.

SO

Do I....

1-leave things the way they are, live off the money from the 401k as long as I can and say fuck the unemployment then hope the state steps up when I need them to?

2-cut back to part-time student status, cash out the 401k, pay off the debt and pay up some rent, etc. Collecting unemployment while looking for (but not necessarily accepting) a full time job?

3-go buy a Powerball ticket and hope I have the winning numbers so I can quit worrying about this shit?

OBVIOUSLY common sense is not a job requirement to either make the laws or work for the state in either the health & human services arena or the unemployment arena.  Even though the aid programs and unemployment program are there to help people out when shit hits the fan, it sounds like once you're down, they want to keep you down.  Don't go to school full time and work part time.  We won't pay you while you're doing that.  Quit school or cut way back and sit on your ass while pretending to look for a job and we'll hand you everything.  First though, you have to spend all the money you earned for retirement in the last 8 years, but you can't tuck it away as another nest egg.  Get rid of it!!

Hug me....hold me....tell me it's going to be OK.

Powerball!

2:46 PM, Aug. 17, 2007 .. Posted by AndeeDawn

I say go for the Powerball. It seems it would have the best odds of working out. :-(

Seriously, I've been there with the unemployment and oh my gosh! what a bunch of BS to put up with. In our state, you can only collect unemployment for 4-6 months---regardless of your school status.

I guess what I would do is cut back to part time status at school---look for the full time job, but not take one until I had no other choice. But that is just me.

Try to take things easy & relaxed this weekend. Maybe the answer will come to you.

Have a great week. I'm outta here until the 25th.

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6:16 AM, Aug. 18, 2007 .. Posted by Anonymous

Nice to know that bureaucracy is bs the world over. I send you hugs and stuff from a very rainy England

auntiegwen xxx

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5:31 PM, Aug. 18, 2007 .. Posted by Bruinsmama

how about Vegas, baby!!!!

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5:59 AM, Aug. 21, 2007 .. Posted by Newfieswoman

Go with the Powerball. And pray like you never prayed before.

HUGS YOU. HOLDS YOU. CRY ON ME SHOULDER. **everything is gonna work out fine one way or another, you will see**. Huggggggggs, hugssssssssssssssssssss and more huggggggggggggggggggggggggggs from NW

p.s. did me hug you, hold you and tell ya everything will be ok??? ;) ;) Only the tough survive remember that. And yer tough enough, courgeous enough, and the bestest anyway so everything will eventually work out fine. NOTE: fuck what they say. APPEAL, APPEAL, and APPEAL till there is no more APPEALS left to go to. Just kill um with paperwork. Worked for me eventually for disability and it was the longest 14 months of me life. ;)