[Pennsylvania] EB vs PEUC and where's the extra $300?

[ciws]

First the details and later the venting.

I filed for EB on Janaury 17th for January 2, 9th, and 16th. My PEUC had run out on December 26th and the PA UC website basically said to people in my dilemma "wait for further instructions". Come to find out now on January 29th the instructions were you can continue refiling two weeks from now, and you can email us to backdate it to January 2nd. Should I just continue filing my EB, or should i stop and go back to PEUC? IF go back to PEUC should I wait or can I start now? Can i backdate it or will that count as overpayment? What about the $300 extra will that count under EB?

VENTING.....

Why are there 5 different programs for this? Why can't it just be one or at most two programs that get more and more funding as time and needs necessitate? The mere fact that there are so many programs all with different guidelines is causing so much confusion and clogging up the call lines to the UC offices. Have you ever tried calling the UC office, it takes anywhere from 50 to 150 call until you get connected than its an hour on the phone.

The website basically takes a month to update to tell you that you need to wait even more time.. Uhhm I wish i could tell that to the creditors and the landlord. They dragged their feet on the L&I details for payments from January 2nd and onward and I had to file for EB because there was no information on how PEUC would continue, even though they say please do not, well I'm sorry but my kids are not going hungry.

And this extra $300 has been a clusterfudge. Who is getting it, what weeks are eligible, which programs is it tied to?

EDIT: so the extra $300 is only for weeks January 2nd and forward, as opposed to 11 weeks that you may use whenever you need it.
F()CK YOU!!! I need it for December 26th because schools work only half that week. YOU F()CKING 1MBEC1LES!!
This kind if clusterfudge is why I will vote for "certain" people to spite certain others which promise " $2,000 flying out the door," and now it's more like "come April you will maybe get $1,400". And of course Mr. Historic victory has no words about this.

DO YOUR F(_)CKING JOB BIDEN

 

[sherlyn]

@ciws My husband's claim is in the exact same position. His PEUC claim expired/ran out of money Dec 26th. I have contacted 3 different PA unemployment agents, and got 3 different stories/answers. The first one around Jan 20th, Gina, told me that there was a "glitch" and that if we wanted her to, she would file the back 3 weeks that were where owed, but couldn't file when the "glitch" was fixed. I saw on Jan 24th from Twitter that PA unemployment "fixed" everything for people who were in PEUC. Naturally, I thought this was my husband's claim, so I went on and surprise, surprise, his claim was still non-existent and there were no records of Gina filing the missing weeks. So, I get online for 5 hours, and get Eric, Eric tells me that "the claim needed additional correction, and he was taking the steps to correct that." I asked his what correction and Eric tells me that "funds needed to be moved from EB to the PEUC so our claim will be valid." I wait 5 more days and nothing. Then after 6 and a half hours online, I get Carlos. Carlos basically tells me "Okay, I fixed it, you will get your money, but it will be under EB not PEUC." I told Carlos that that isn't right, that the claim should be on PEUC. Carlos tells me that he can either release the funds now under EB, or he can do it under PEUC, but if I were to choose PEUC he has no idea how much longer I will have to wait, and he made it sound like it would be a LONG wait. So obviously I told him to do it under EB. We have 2 kids, and I have MS so I can't work. We have had NO income since December 31st. Until covid my husband was a manager of a store, and made enough for us to get by. Neither or us has filed for unemployment or disability in the 42 years between us that we have worked full time. I sent an email to my state representative and 24 hours later we got the 4 weeks back pay we were owed, no extra $300 though. But I still can't see the claim, it says that his social security number never existed on their website, and I can't file any more bi-weekly claims. I guess it's time for another email, and another 6+ hours online trying to get another agent to feed me lies.

 

[ciws]

@sherlyn I'm really sorry to hear that. Ever since Covid started every "assistance " agency related to unemployment has shown its @$$. Meaning we all got to see just disorganized and outdated this whole system is. A coworker of mine says the unemployment wait time music thingy has been the same since 2015, and it's so bad it almost makes my ears bleed. Lol.

That's just a small thing but its endemic of the larger problem that everything in the PA unemployment system is old and slow. I'm sure other states are bad too, but PA was the first state to run out of the original $300 from September. Maybe that was due to matters outside their control. But everyone at the school I work at was effectively "cheated" out of two weeks of those $300 because we worked 3 days for two weeks back to back in august which meant we earned more than what would qualify us for regular unemployment. Guess how much more pre tax?
$3 a week more. Because I earned $326 instead of $323 i got shafted on $600.

The problem they have now should have had a transition in place since November we PA should not be waiting on D.C to pass legislation and then give an update 6 weeks later.
I mean WHO IS RUNNING THIS!!??

Theres just no clarity.
EDIT:

I would write down before you call them everything you want to ask and DO NOT let them hurry you up off the phone because they will try to effectively say "NEXT!". you waited 2 hours on hold they can wait 2 minutes for you to wrote everything down and get a solid answer.

Tell them what you told us "Husband is the only one working right now, I need his file to be spotless, and no I cant wait another 2 weeks".

May I ask what lawmaker did you contact was it a local person or a state rep?

 

[sherlyn]

@ciws Thank you for responding, I am actually nauseated that they did that to you and your coworkers over $3???? This whole system is broken. There were single people making $85,000 a year and they got a $700 stimulus payment in March, but you made $3 past the cap for unemployment and get shafted for the extra $600???? This country is built to help the rich stay rich and the poor stay down and struggling. I contacted my state rep Sara Innamorato, and my husband's unemployment account started receiving payments 3 days later We all need to do this, the people running this system need to be held accountable, and the only way that happens is if we make sure the higher ups know that we are being fed lies every day by unemployment reps.

 

[xsmn123]

@sherlyn How did you get a hold of them online? I’ve sat in the live chat for hours and it always says they are busy. I’ve called atleast 1,000 times. I’ve emailed atleast 5 times. Think I’m going to call or email the state rep tomorrow.

 

[sherlyn]

@xsmn123 I sat there, for hours, responding to Paula the bot's questions, then getting the "everyone is busy, try again later", then back to Paula. I'm dead serious when I say count on sitting in front of your computer for at least 4 hours. I had the longest response cut copy and pasted so I just had to hit ctrl v (I have a Chromebook) to cut down on time and typing but on average it took me 6 hours to get a hold of a real customer service rep.

 

[emmanuelm118]

@ciws It’s been impossible for me to get in contact or a response from anyone! Please share how you got a hold of them

 

[ciws]

@emmanuelm118 You have to keep hitting redial, nonstop. It took me about 30 times if I call right when they open. Otherwise it's a toss up between 100 to 1000 calls back to back until the line connects. Usually it's closer to 100 to 200 calls.

Usually when you call it's a busy signal or it hangs up on you, in either case you just hit redial. Eventually it connects and then the real torture starts waiting in hold for about 60 to 90 minutes with a terrible baroque track playing that is interrupted LITERALLY every 5 seconds advertising the non helpful website.

Eventually someone picks up and they have such a way of diffusing your frustration, but they will try to speed along the conversation and you have to keep saying "I have another question".

Fyi, email support is slower than mail by carriage so dont even waste time on it, nor is it very intuitive on their part.

When you do connect with phone support ask what your "online chat code" is. They have it they used to have an online messenger style chat desk but you need a code that only phone support gives in order to have it be useful.

Also if your SO or children or parents are having issues bring that up and if necessary put them on the line to air their grievances, don't settle for them telling you "they need to call in, separately".