Laid off--Support thread

[HeyIt'sMe]

I'm so happy to be able to report that after 8 long months of unemployment my husband finally accepted a job! The salary was above our bottom line, so it made accepting it a little easier, unfortunately he'll do some nights and weekends, but with a little give and take we can make this work.

Congratulations!

Things do seem to be looking up - my good friend's DH was laid off on November 11, 2008 but starts a new job on November 16! Wow, one year and 5 days of being unemployed - they never thought it would be that long.

 

[disneymarie]

After 13 loooong months of searching I finally found a job making almost what I made before. Unfortunately it is too late to save my credit score, but I did it! I start in January, no I need a business wardrobe and have no $$ to get one, but I can deal with that frustration since there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.

Good luck and best wishes to all who are still searching!

Oh golfgirl I am so happy, I had been following your story and so hoping something would come along. When I started back to work I did a few things.
First went through what I had, Skirt, slacks sweaters, scraves shoes.

My god send when I had a first paycheck was Kohl's sales, especially after Christmas.
I got shoes for $19,99, a few long skirts, causual for $14, slacks and tops for $15.

I also had gone to salvation army and found accessories, like pins, clips, necklaces, even a pair of heels.

I freshend everything I had that was useable, like a jacket and skirt,...pants set. I wore uniforms as a police officer but had two outfits for court and speaking.

There is a place in our area too for women returning to the workforce that need an outfit for the interviews and work, Dress for success, never used them, I was so glad with a first pay to grab some things at Kohls and Boscovs;

Good luck I hope you love the job and a new year a new start.

My dh quit the pt time warehouse job, they are begging him to come back but it was too stressful. Temp help is not assisted to learning from the full timers...
Others were not asked backed and he has had two calls from the temp office to say how much they wanted him back.
I wish he would try again....we are hurting so bad.
But such a blessing for you,
Great.
Ps what size are you, if you want to PM I have a whole set of things I will never be able to wear, linen skirts, pants from eddie bower,
Like new.
Di

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Well, I guess I should join you all. Im the equlvant of layed off. Working 1 day a week which means I cant pay my rent, my bill or anything. Hopefully I get a call for a interview soon!

 

[Kathi OD]

I'm glad to read that some of us are starting to find positions. DH is still laid off...it's been 17 months now! Fortunately, he is starting to get interviews after a very long dry spell. Unfortunately, they are at least 2 hours away and almost to a one, the interviewer said they were reluctant to hire someone who lived so far away. It's not like DH hasn't worked 2 or even 3 hours away from home before, so we're kind of bummed as we truly think that is what has kept him from being offered at least 3 of the jobs he interviewed for. Our cash reserves are dwindling fast due to the always "unexpected" expenses (new sewer line, car repairs, & illness). We're grateful for the latest extension as last Friday would have been his last week of UE and hopeful that the increase in interviews means a new job is just around the corner.

 

[golfgirl3613]

Disneymarie,

Thanks so much for the well wishes. I will PM you later! Thanks again.

 

[disneymarie]

We're grateful for the latest extension as last Friday would have been his last week of UE and hopeful that the increase in interviews means a new job is just around the corner.

kathi, I am in the same position, I ran out of Federal last week and this week is my first of State funded....did I understand the lady tell me there is only 7 weeks of this?

Gottcha golfgirl really happy.

 

[CruiseBoundnKY]

Let me start off by saying to those of you who have recently lost their jobs, that I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

I have been unemployed since May 2, 2008 I applied for my last unemployment check on Saturday. I just accepted the very first job that I have had offered to me which is at Kroger working in the Pharmacy as a clerk/tech. It's about $9 an hour less than I was making, but on the other hand over the last year and a half I have refocused if you will. I never want to turn my back on my children and family the way I did when I was away so much.

So, in the end I think things are looking up. The best thing is that Kroger pays weekly, so we will see financial relief pretty immediately.

Good Luck everyone!!!

 

[Beckypooh1972]

I work for a title company and hours have been cut from 40 to 28.

Wow that really stinks! My hubby's work threatened to cut hours back to 32 a week. DH realized all of the staff would be better off taking turns going out on layoff and drawing unemployment for a few weeks than having everyone get hurt with a cut in pay for an indeterminate amount of time. He pitched the idea to his boss and his boss agreed - all year this has worked out well for the guys my husband works with. All but one of the staff has been fine with taking turns with brief layoffs rather than taking the hours reduction. Not sure if this would work for you or not but you might consider suggesting it to your boss. You might also be able to file for unemployment to compensate for the lost hours.

 

[Kathi OD]

kathi, I am in the same position, I ran out of Federal last week and this week is my first of State funded....did I understand the lady tell me there is only 7 weeks of this?

Gottcha golfgirl really happy.

My husband had 13 weeks of state-funded benefits (also in PA), if that's the one where you have to send in your claim rather than do it online. However, there are different number of weeks for different people and I'm not sure how they determine who gets how many weeks.

It was actually the state benefits that he just exhausted. However, the state sent us 4 more claim worksheets for the next 4 weeks. I think they figured the extension would be passed and thought it would be a good idea to be prepared. We're not sure how it's going to work yet, as there is nothing on the state website about it yet. It's also confusing as to whether it is 14 weeks or 20 weeks. I read somewhere that you will only get 20 weeks if the first 14 weeks would have been exhausted by the end of 2009 to get any of the remaining 6 weeks. Well that means no one will qualify because there are less than 14 weeks remaining in the year. The Senate's inability to move on the legislation in a timely fashion means that come the first of the year, there is going to be a real financial fiasco coming.

From the progress Illinois website (http://progressillinois.com/2009/11/10/reid-open-another-ui-extension):

UPDATE (3:47 PM): The Orange County Register makes a valuable but depressing catch regarding the unemployment benefit extension bill passed into law last week. As initially constructed, the legislation granted 20 weeks of unemployment insurance to jobless workers who will have exhausted their benefits by the end of the year and live in a state with an unemployment rate at or above 8.5 percent. But there's a catch. Mike Lillis synthesizes for the Washington Independent:

Because the bill was held up for so long in the Senate, an end-of-the-year filing deadline will prevent anyone from accessing the final six weeks of benefits, according to state officials and sources on Capitol Hill. On Friday, President Obama signed into law legislation extending jobless benefits by 14 weeks nationwide, with an additional six weeks for those states where unemployment rates top 8.5 percent. Those benefits kicked in on Sunday. But there’s a glitch. The new law treats the 20-week extension as two separate extensions of 14 weeks and six weeks, with participants required to exhaust the first 14 weeks before applying for the next six. However, the current law keeps a Dec. 31 application deadline, roughly seven weeks from now, making collecting the full 20 weeks impossible.

That’s not all. The emergency unemployment benefits provided beginning in 2008 are also tiered. The filing deadline applies to all tiers. That is, the new extension would effectively grandfather the unemployed into the tier where they sit at the end of December, preventing them from jumping into the next, even if they were eligible.

I really think that more help will be coming sooner, rather than later. There are far too many people who cannot find work and unemployment is the only thing keeping them in their homes and current on other bills.

 

[MKCP5]

I am completely lost on where I sit in this. I am on an extension in MA, my second I think, and it runs out around the end of the year. When I ask if I am eligible for any other extensions, I am told that there are so many different programs out there, both fed and state, that they cannot tell me if I will be eligible until my benefits run out. Sure doesn't help me plan much.

It's very tough for all of us now though, you dont even know if they got your resume' most times becuse they do not acknnowledge and you have sent it out via cyberspace

Prayer prayer prayer

 

[MRDUCKIE07]

MKCP5---I know exactly how you feel, it seems like the unemployment office doesn't really want to tell you anything and when you apply for jobs and try to contact the companys they don't want to check if your resume has shown up or not...its very frustrating.

 

[charming23]

I just want o say congrats to those who have found something.

I also want to say to those still unemployed keep looking and I hope something comes your way.

I can fianlly say that after almost a year I finally have an interview with a local insurance company. I was not excepting anything when I posted my resume on an Ohio jobs website. Lets hope it works out.

 

[boufa]

To clarify a lot of the unemployment confusion... it is simple...

Whatever extension tier you are at on December 31st, 2009 is all you will get. So if you are like me, on tier 1 and it runs out for me in late January then I WILL get payments until then, but that is it. Under the current setup, no one can advance to a new tier after the end of December 2009.

I have read scattered reports that congress will be readdressing the issue before the recess for Christmas. The 6 week screw up could help speed the process up. My personal guess is that they will go into it looking to extend the deadlines to December 2010 and compromise it down to July 2010, and then readdress it at that time.

To illustrate how big the end of 2009 deadline is... the most recent extension cost $1.5 billion, if they add no new weeks, but simply move the deadline to use the current 4 tiers to the end of 2010 it will cost $82 billion!!!!!

 

[disneymarie]

I an still so confused,
I was sent four of the seven weeks, When I get down to three sent I will receive three more for a total of 7 weeks, This says EB on the top.

The woman that I spoke to before they came in the mail said that I exhausted State benefits these were Federal.
I guess this takes me until Christmas maybe, then there will be NOTHING:?
We are depleted at the end of the year for our 401K that has been paying the mortgage.

DH has been off since the end of Feb.

My job is actually posted last week and they will not even respond to the resume. Don't want to pay what my rate was at I guess. But my hour were cut for them to place a coworker dd in the times available. Just stopped scehduling me,

 

[MKCP5]

To clarify a lot of the unemployment confusion... it is simple...

Whatever extension tier you are at on December 31st, 2009 is all you will get. So if you are like me, on tier 1 and it runs out for me in late January then I WILL get payments until then, but that is it. Under the current setup, no one can advance to a new tier after the end of December 2009.

I have read scattered reports that congress will be readdressing the issue before the recess for Christmas. The 6 week screw up could help speed the process up. My personal guess is that they will go into it looking to extend the deadlines to December 2010 and compromise it down to July 2010, and then readdress it at that time.

To illustrate how big the end of 2009 deadline is... the most recent extension cost $1.5 billion, if they add no new weeks, but simply move the deadline to use the current 4 tiers to the end of 2010 it will cost $82 billion!!!!!

I disagree that it is that simple. Every state has their own programs, which are then given an override by feds then there are restrictions in each state. Like in MA it says on my ue that you may not collect for more than a year--but the programs last longer than that--who knows?! It is alot to sort through

 

[mom2d&b]

I too am now a statistic. I lost my job on Friday. I am devestated. My income was more than DH and we were just barely making minimum payments. Before Friday it looked like we would be in a much better financial place in Feb. Now......who knows. My stomach is in knots and has been since this happened on Friday. I am not eating and thus getting headaches. The headache goes away when I force myself to eat. Everything I do is translated to $$$. I was happy that yesterday I split a frozen pizza between lunch and dinner, total $1.25. I am trying to think positive and also remember I need to eat to live. I feel like a lump right now.DH has told me it is OK to take a week or so to chill but I can't we need to replace as much of my income as soon as possible. Everyday I spend chilling is a day we loose income. I need to focus on the positive and remember that on Friday when I got home I applied for unemployement and so far I have applied for 14 jobs online. I have also already let a few friends know of the situation and 1 had a job lead for me. It is so hard, I was with my company for just over 16 years. I am trying to remain positive and remining myself that now at 44 I can think about what I want to be when I grow up.

 

[MKCP5]

First of all to you. I know it is devastating. I am at a loss to give you words of comfort but know that you are not alone and it WILL be okay. Somehow you do survive. Things change, you readjust, but you figure it out. Come here and vent. Everyone gets it and everyone knows how important it is to do that. Just keep trying, that is all you can do. Prayers to you and your family

 

[boufa]

I disagree that it is that simple. Every state has their own programs, which are then given an override by feds then there are restrictions in each state. Like in MA it says on my ue that you may not collect for more than a year--but the programs last longer than that--who knows?! It is alot to sort through

I agree that there are state programs, but ALL of the federally funded programs run out at the end of December 2009. For the vast majority of people if you are not on your initial 26 weeks, then you are on federal money. Even state extended benefits are federally funded, until 12/09. Whatever tier you are on, if it is federally funded, will not be extended when it runs out in 2010.

I hope this will change, call your congress people... I am very confident that they will extend the deadlines, I just hope they do it BEFORE it runs out, rather than after.

 

[boufa]

I have been out of work since Feb 2009. Things seemed like they were bad at first, but when you take daycare out of the equation it was survivable. Life has been challenging though. Seems like every thing in the house has broken and needed fixed this year. My wife keeps saying that 2009 is the year she will be very happy to forget. IF congress extends the unemployment programs into 2010, then I am pretty sure we are gonna be o.k.

We made a tough economic decision recently. It was part driven by the unemployment and partly driven by all of the credit card changes. We are not proud of it, but it needed to be done. We had to keep our house and our cars, and it was the only way.

On the bright side, there have been some positives... my wife and I have decided that there will be nothing positive about this until I get a job, so don't tell her I said this.... I have learned an enormous amount of financial discipline. Something that was lacking somewhat in my life, and it is a lesson that will make me better for the rest of my life. I have had a chance to watch my 3 year old grow up. When I lost my job, she was talking but tough to understand, and now she is out of diapers, and holding conversations with me, and she has grown so much, also I have appreciated the time I have had to spend with the family. I used to work a lot of weekends, and I never realized how much I missed when I had to work.

There are still sleepless nights, but like the billboards around town here say "Recession 101: Its a test, not a Final" I will pass the test and be smarter for it.... keep the faith everyone.

 

[BARBARAAPPLE]

My family is now part of the statistic.My husband was called in on Friday at 4.00pm for a conference call and was laid off, he had been with this company for 6 years. I am nervous to say the least.I am a stay at home / homeschool mom of 2 and I watche a few children in the day, so he is the main bread winner in this house.And unemployment is not alot.Not sure how we will make it, but I am turning it over to god cause this is much bigger than me.

I wish everyone luck as we all try to stay a float.