I just got off of phone w/Remote Srvces rep....Sharon was her name, and she was as helpful as she could be (I even requested that she transfer me to her mgr. Irving's vmail so I could let him know)...Unfortunately, Remote Srvces reps don't have full access to payment-related data, etc., so really all she was ultimately able to do was:
1) tell me how many dollars I had used from each tier,
2) to "re-open" the current claim for me so that it might process overnight and get me into the EB program (as she said that it appears I had just apparently finished out my Tier IV)...but she couldn't really tell what would happen overnight during processing
3) Advise me to keep trying the Benefits payment Control folks (the # on your OP letters) since they were the ones who could really tell the details on which weeks got applied where, etc., and potentially even help advise on the OP Waiver issue, and
4) told me to submit a waiver of OP request via email (rather than go to crowded local offices) at
esc.ui.customerservice@ncesc.gov - Sharon couldn't opine on how the OP process is likely to go, but confirmed her understanding that they're working through how to pull forward everybody into their initial benefit year process. She said to put the Subject line: Overpayment Waiver, and she said to include the last 4 of your SSN, your name, and to put all the amounts into one letter rather than sending separate emails for each OP letter.
I also got into some detail with her about whether I might actually have really qualified for a subsequent benefit year or not (where most probably didn't)...She said she *thought* the system had just kicked everybody out who was in a second benefit year b/c DOL had told them they were doing it all wrong...For my own situation, though, I had in excess of the required minimum wages earned in Q1 2009, which surprised her a little when she saw that I had been kicked back like the whole mess of folks...fwiw, she didn't know anything about the 6x rule requiring earnings from multiple quarters (like JDLJR has suggested) -- Rather, she suspected that I had been booted b/c most of my wages in early 2009 were severance from the last employer I had in 2008, and that they might not call that "returning to work" wages earned for purposes of qualifying for a sub benefit year...interestingly, I think I had just enough wages from another employer during Q1 09 too, but that just complicates matters...What was interesting about the whole thing is that she said IF I had actually qualified for a second benefit year legitimately under the rules (as properly applied, not as originally/actually applied to most), then when those benefits were exhausted, I would've still just gone back to a pull-forward of year 1 tiers...so qualifying for second year, in her book, was actually a good thing since it only adds potential weeks (excluding, for the moment, the very real possibility that the benefit levels for year 1 and year 2 aren't necessarily the same, and a total guess on what benefit level would be applied to year 1 tiers being pulled forward after year 2 benefits exhausted!). She also confirmed, though, that if you did really qualify for a subsequent benefit year, you can't "start over" the tiers...you pick up where you left off in year 1...no "do overs!" :-)
So, for all you out there with spreadsheets, add another layer of complexity to your formulas and strategizing about how to best play this mess out!
HTH - GLTA!
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This ones only for $342 though. I guess I'm up to like $2500 now.
