We all know that being
unemployed is a terrible thing. Those speaking from
experience know the feelings of helplessness and
hopelessness. Unemployment assistance is a wonderful thing
and let's not deny that we are grateful, when in those
circumstances, for any assistance we are able to receive.
The current recession has made us even more grateful as,
unlike in previous times, finding a job to replace the one
you were laid off from has become near impossible,
contributing to the hopelessness factor. And in writing this
piece no one wants to sound ungrateful for whatever
assistance they have received but there is something very
wrong with the way the current system of extensions to
unemployment assistance is being deployed.
What do I mean? Well, the
government has extended unemployment benefits several times
during this recession in a serious of steps referred to as
Tiers and it has not been until recently that the extensions
in New York State have been clearly outlined in a
chart. The thing is that you have to qualify for
the tiers and it is the qualification process that I take
issue with. I realize that there are many people who lost
their jobs as early as 2006 and 2007, before this was
actually classified as a recession, and that because of the
enormous numbers of people that were losing their jobs
subsequent to that time, that some of them may not have
found jobs yet. I empathize with them; all of the
unemployed. Unfortunately I am one of them.
So this is the way it works
(at least in New York State).
If you were laid off and
filed your claim between May 1, 2006 and June 23, 2008 your
93 weeks would run until approximately between February 3,
2008 and April 4, 2010, depending on when you were laid off.
If you were laid off and
filed your claim between June 30, 2008 and September 8, 2008
you are eligible for between 73 and 92 weeks. That means
your benefits could last between January 31, 2010 at the
lower end of 73 weeks through June 13, 2010 at the end of 92
weeks depending on when you were laid off and the number of
Emergency Benefits weeks extended to you.
If you were laid off and
filed your claim between September 15, 2008 and November 3,
2008 you are eligible for 73 weeks which would run until
approximately between February 7, 2010 and April 4, 2010
depending on when you were laid off.
If you were laid off and
filed your claim between November 10, 2008 and February 2,
2009 you are eligible for 60 weeks which would run until
approximately between January 30, 2010 and February 28, 2010
depending on when you were laid off.
If you were laid off and
filed your claim between February 9, 2009 and June 15, 2009
you are only eligible for 46 weeks which would run until
approximately between December 27, 2009 and May 2, 2010
depending on when you were laid off.
And if you were laid until
and filed your claim after June 22, 2009 you are only
eligible for 26 weeks which would run until approximately
between December 20, 2009 and whenever your 26 weeks ends,
depending on when you were laid off.
The point of all these
calculations is this.....if you were laid off in the latter
stages of this recession someone who was laid off as early
as one (1) year before you can have benefits that exceed
your by approximately 4 months. Does this sound OUTRAGEOUS
to you? It does to me and unfortunately I am one of those
who was laid off in the latter stages so my benefits will
run out long before people who have been out of work long
before me. Now this does not pre-suppose that those who have
been laid off longer have not suffered because being out of
work is suffering enough. However, where is the equity in
the way is which assistance is granted. As someone laid off
in the latter stages, why would you think it would take me a
whole year less time to look for a job than someone else and
more importantly, that their benefits should exceed mine in
the number of weeks such that I will could be on the streets
long before them. In the 93 weeks of benefits that the other
person will be eligible to receive they could have earned a
graduate degree (some graduate degrees can be earned in as
short as 18 months) if they had the savings or could get
additional aid or they could have learned a whole new trade
whereas what can one do in 26 or 46 weeks to increase
their chances of finding employment that would equate?
Consider this, week by week
the largest numbers of initial unemployment claims filed
according to the
Department of Labor's website occurred between November
22, 2008 and September 5, 2009, which are the people
receiving the least amount of benefits. So I ask you, are
the unemployment extensions really meant to help the masses
or are they just a ploy to appear that way, when they
actually only really assist those who were laid off first
and may have already found employment before the largest
numbers of layoffs actually occurred.
This is another case of the
truly victimized being victimized again.
How do you handle that?
I suggest, and as told to me
by someone at the Department of Labor, that you
write to your local Congressman/woman as they
are the ones who dictate how the extensions are deployed.
Along with the Congressman/woman I would also suggest
writing to any and all of your local politicians. Someone
has to listen at some point. And as most politicians are
generally looking to rise to the next level of their
political career, it would be a feather in someone's cap to
facilitate a REAL change that is in the best interest of the
masses. It is an unfortunate belief and continued practice
that "the evil you know is better than the evil that you
don't know" when it comes election time and thus we keep
re-electing incumbent candidates. But we should and must
begin look at it this way......'the evil we don't know could
actually end up being better than the evil we know because
we may find out the the 'new' evil isn't actually evil at
all'. So let's get it straight. We have the ability to
change our circumstances when politicians are made to
understand that we WILL vote them out if they aren't working
on our behalf. So write, write, write and vote for change.
