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At the beginning of my employment (around Dec 2013), I told my employer that I will be applying for Pharmacy School and will be off to school in late 2014. I was accepted to pharmacy and would start pharmacy school on August 25th. I then told my employer (the owner of the business) that I am available to work through August 2014 and after that I might quit by myself.
Well, I was laid off on 6-25-2014 having being told that there is not a lot of work available right now. She (my employer) then told me that she would rather keep the other employees who would "potentially" stay longer than me. So basically I am laid off because 1) not enough busy work and 2) because I probably won't be staying at the company for a long time.
My coworkers then advised me that I would qualify for EDD as long as I would still be available to work during school (which is what I am planning to do to fund my study). I would still be looking for work even after I start pharmacy school. But I was thinking of finding a more pharmacy-related work rather than staying at this company (which is not pharmacy related at all).
I then filled my claim on July 1st to get the better quarter earning in. I did my phone interview on 07-28-2014. The EDD person on the phone said my employer disagreed on my claim. The EDD person told me that my employer said I would be going to school in June so I quit by myself. This is not true because my last day of work is Jun 25th which is almost the end of June already. So I told the EDD person over the phone that I start school late august and not June.
A week later I received the notification from EDD that my claim is approved. Throughout the process, I submitted 3 claim forms total. But till today I still have not received any EDD debit card.
Today, I received the letter from EDD that my employer appealed the decision and there would be a court hearing. The letter said that the employer appealed because I refused to work on the hour she requested. I think this is because I told my employer that I MIGHT quit after August.
Do you think that my claim is valid since I did suggested to my employer that I might quit after August? I think I still eligible for UI because they laid me off in June rather than I quit myself after August. Also I am available to work part-time even after my school starts.
What is my chance that I would win the appeal and receive the benefit?
You were laid off. Employer doesn't want to pay benefits, so now they're making stuff up. Employers lie all the time. CA ALJ's know this.
The timeline you've given supports your claim. But - you need to find out before the hearing exactly what dates employer is citing you refused work, so you are prepared. Usually, you can view the file the day before or the day of the hearing. Call Ca about this.
Meanwhile, get your ducks in a row by preparing a clear account, in chronological order, of what happened when. Then, get yourself to the Ca appeals office and review the file. Employer needs to prove its allegations. CA is very claimant-friendly and will find in your favor, if you can refute employer allegations.
Quitting because of school is disqualifying, so be careful how you say things. You didn't quit though, you were fired BEFORE school even started. You are absolutely entitled to benefits from the time you applied until the day school starts provided you had the right amount of earnings no matter what.
I'm having problems with your July 1 application date because claims are backdated to the prior Sunday. You might have meant to say that you applied July 6, but if you didn't, you lopped off a quarter of earnings and you might have had an even better claim had you waited.
As to the school, being available for part-time work doesn't cut it. School and UI don't always mix so well. If you're going to school at night or weekends, then it's rarely a problem, but any time school cuts into the 8am to 5pm weekday times, it sure looks like you aren't able and available for a real job. However, it can be overcome.
If you can convince UI that you'll quit school if a full time job comes your way, or that there is a substantial field of employment for the remaining hours you can work, then you can collect and go to school. This only will affect benefits from the first day of school going forward, not from the time you were fired.
As for the hearing, you can show your shool schedule to over come what your employer is saying regarding your June start of school. The employer "thought" they had a rock solid reason to fire you and not have you get UI, and now they are making a desperate attempt to "change" their story. I bet when you view the evidence file, that the employer's version is completely silent on this June start of school date.
I filed my claim on July 1st because i didn't know that they back-dated. On the interview, the person said she can fix it for me and she did. So now my claim is effective July 6th.
I'm ok with not getting EDD once schools starts. But I really didn't want to miss out on the 2 months of EDD.
Beside of my school schedule that shows that my start date is in August, any other evidences that I should bring? The downside is I don't have any document of the reason my employer laid me off. It was done verbally
The downside is I don't have any document of the reason my employer laid me off. It was done verbally
This is the beauty of the UI system in a discharge. You dont' have to prove why you were let go, you just have to make it so that the employer can't prove that you were fired for a disqualifying reason. The employer already stated, "you quit in June to attend school."
You can prove that you didn't quit to attend school in June because it hadn't even started yet, and the employer has no letter of resignation to support any other interpretation. You're pretty much done. Sure the employer can bring up misconduct things but it will fall on deaf ears. UI is about "why" you lost your job. Once the employer starts to lock down a reason, it's nearly impossible to change it because no one will believe you because if it were the truth, you'd have said it from the very beginning.
Same thing happens to claimants when they say they were in a "quit or be fired," then they write a letter of resignation like, "my life is going in a different direction and my last day will be. . ." That's not the kind of resignation that someone submits when there is no choice but to quit or be fired.
I was in a similar situation that you were in, and I can assure you that from my experience the CA ALJ is absolutely impartial. It's literally a big rectangle shaped table with a man at it's head and you/whatever help you've brought and the employer. Every document that the employer gives to the ALJ is given to you beforehand. I sat there patiently, listened to my former employer spew out bogus garbage without interrupting and then when she was finished I calmly corrected the discrepancies in her story to the ALJ. Remember, as long as you present your story as you've presented it to us, the presumption of innocence ALWAYS lies with YOU (the employee). I got the notification of my benefits reinstatement a few days later with a payment shortly thereafter. So you have absolutely nothing to be nervous about, go in there and kick some ass.
So is it normal that I submitted 3 claim forms but have not received any Debit card or payment from the EDD? I'm guessing the delay is due to the appeal and interview.
I'm guessing the delay is due to the appeal and interview.
The appeal has nothing to do with it. Once benefits are approved, they can't be taken away until AFTER a decision is rendered adverse to you because of the hearing, not because an appeal is in the works.
You earlier stated you had a letter approving your benefits, so the only reason you're not getting money now is because CA is slow. If you have the energy, you should prod them into action so you can spend the money. If something goes wrong at the hearing, you'll feel much better about yourself if you've spent the money before they have a chance to take it back.
I'm new to this whole UI process so please bare with me.
I am thinking of visiting the EDD office to ask about my payment status as suggested by you guys (thanks).
Is the nearby Worksource center (was known as one-stop career office) the right office I should visit? There is no UI office locator on the EDD website.
Thanks
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