Thursday, January 08, 2009

Unemployment



With no major projects to report upon (all the jobs have been moved to India), let's see what life is like in the unemployment office. Not good, apparently.

"Hi "Tom":

I was hoping you might start a conversation about people's experiences with unemployment now that a lot of us are unemployed.

I would like to report that when I recently filed for unemployment, I was awarded $280.00 per week based on the New York State Department of Labor not having accounted for more than half of my wages over the past year. I don't know if the fault lies with the government, or with the legal temporary staffing agencies not reporting my wages correctly and timely. I have appealed that decision to the Dept. of Labor by providing proof of income/wages from my paystubs. I am not sure how long it will be before the mistake is corrected and my unemployment increased to the proper amount.

To make things worse, today I find out that my last employer-- a temporary agency known as ------, is challenging my unemployment claim, claiming I was discharged as opposed to laid off due to lack of work. I just can't believe it!! My employment which was supposed to last about a week ended after three days because I had done such a good job for the client. Now, the person at the agency who filled out the form for the Dept. of Labor tells me that it is "not fair" for her company to have to pay for my unemployment insurance when I only worked about three days for them and that it is a lot of money for them to have to pay out. Has anyone else had this problem? Now that times are tough for everyone (employer and employee), is this what we should expect from the agencies who benefitted from our labor during good times? Needless to say, I am appalled and interested to hear if this has become common practice.

I would also like to hear about people's experiences trying to get through to the Department of Labor to get answers to their questions and with their claims being properly handled. Has anyone had difficulty applying for emergency extended benefits?"

91 comments:

Anonymous said...

The maximum an unemployed person can get in NYC is $405/wk. -- ridiculous!! Nobody can live in just $405/wk. with the cost of living so high. A HUGE increase is absolutely necessary!

Anonymous said...

I was once on a project where they did everything under the sun to get people to quit so they wouldn't be on the hook for unemployment. They claimed the AC was broken, they started doing construction in the next room with a jack hammer, and they cut our hours in half.

Anonymous said...

I don't know of any agencies called -----. Seriously, why don't you tell us who they are so we can avoid them? Why are you protecting the schmucks? They didn't protect you. Besides, this is anonymous, so let 'er rip.

Anonymous said...

ditto to what 5:06 said

Anonymous said...

I think ------ is VINMAR.

And their argument is a loser. You are entitled to unemployment if you're fired, discharged, or laid off. You are not entitled to it if you quit.

So, even if you were discharged before the project ended, you're entitled to unemployment because you didn't quit of your own accord.

Anonymous said...

Even if you quit, be aware of the doctrine of "constructive discharge" which may allow you to treat your quitting as a termination under unemployment comp law.

Anonymous said...

You are not entitled to unemployment if you fired FOR CAUSE.

I love how governor Patterson wants to increase the amounts people receive on welfare...but we are expected to live off of 405 per week.

Ps. And I am a liberal democrat!

Anonymous said...

Soon, all of these unemployment funds will run out of money.

Anonymous said...

unemployment - how do these people live on 400 bucks a week??

They must have savings. I don't do you???????

Anonymous said...

I don't have much saved. The $405 a week is a pittance - a slight help, but not much. I seriously might have to declare bankruptcy - which, of course, will do nothing to ease the pain of $140,000 in non-dischargable student loan debt.

How did this happen? I went to law school to be able to make a good, stable living, not to be collecting inadequate unemployment.

Anonymous said...

Jersey is $560.00 a week. NY is a rip-off.

Anonymous said...

During normal times, $405 is more than adequate. It's not a lot, but it definitely provides for a cushion in between projects.

These of course are not normal times. When you haven't been called for work in months, and when you finally do get called, the project only lasts for three days, things can get pretty desperate. It's hard to keep your head above water.

The gov't really needs to prop up the unemployment funds. No more bailouts to fat cats, no more silly bridges to nowhere. It will tidy people over until things improve, and it will cut down on the massive number of foreclosures that is dragging down the economy.

Anonymous said...

Is Hudson closing?

Anonymous said...

The funny thing is that Obama's infrastructure project, designed to re-employ Americans is completely useless to people like us. Unless you are trained in pouring concrete, or you are a plumber, or an electrician, you are shit out of luck. The value of education is the biggest lie out there.

Anonymous said...

How desperate are you guys? I love to suck off desperate guys for $$$. Contact me with a pic at d_kallans@hotmail.com.

Anonymous said...

Right Obama's plan will help illegal immigrant day laborers far more than us idiot professionals.

It will be a feeding frenzy for unions, corrupt mafia run construction companies and other democratic constituents. But no, not white collar schmucks that have a JD that more taxes than of the aforementiond.

Anonymous said...

104,
How much longer will you stay a liberal Democrat? LOL

Anonymous said...

3:05 - Bad idea. You will catch hepatitis, and then when the economy picks up again, you will revert back to your lawyerly heavy drinking. You will ultimately come down with cirrhosis of the liver and be dead by 35. A good way to get out of your student loans, though.

Anonymous said...

I am really worried about the emergency benefits. Will need them in the near future adn worry about some dirtbag agency trying to screw me. I will fight it like holy hell though should that happen.

Anonymous said...

Those Effers at Hudson send out that lame group email daily about doc reviews in every language but English. Effers!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

That's because all of the work in our national language (English) is being performed by unlicensed, non-native english spekers. Their native language is Hindi!

Can you imagine the potential feeding frenzy of professional liability and unlicensed practice of law that will be coming down the pike? Somebody's going to get rich pretty soon and it won't be David Perla.

Anonymous said...

That's because all of the work in our national language (English) is being performed by unlicensed, non-native english spekers. Their native language is Hindi!

Can you imagine the potential feeding frenzy of professional liability and unlicensed practice of law that will be coming down the pike? Somebody's going to get rich pretty soon and it won't be David Perla.

Anonymous said...

The only jobs available are for those people that speak languages that aren't spoken in India.

Anonymous said...

I see Synergy put out an ad frenzy on Careerbuilder. Huron Consulting will probably be getting a ton of work and will be paying our poor breathren in the Carolinas and Florida 20 an hour with no OT shortly.

Anonymous said...

Police, teachers, and firefighters all leave with full pensions after 30 years. The old schlubs in this "profession" aren't going anywhere.


250,000 Attorneys

By some estimates, about 250,000 baby boomer attorneys have begun entering retirement age. And with the recent plunge in the values of 401(k) plans and other nest-egg assets, DeRuyter and attorneys like him are seeing their dreams of a worry-free retirement vanish.

At the same time, many law firms that had expected attorneys to leave because of retirement -- and would now welcome it as work has slowed -- can no longer rely on older attorneys to hit the road. As a result, many law firms are saddled with too many attorneys and too little work.

"You have to clear the decks for new blood," said Bruce MacEwen, a consultant and editor of Adam Smith, Esq., a blog that focuses on law firm management. "Retirement is the flip side of associate attrition."

In 2005, about 50 percent of law firms had mandatory retirement plans requiring attorneys who reached a certain age to either leave or relinquish their equity status, according to a survey by Altman Weil.

The trend since then has been for law firms to do away with such policies, spurred in part by a lawsuit against Sidley Austin brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of 32 former partners.

The action alleged that the law firm violated federal age discrimination laws because of its retirement practices. The case settled in 2007 for $27.5 million without a decision on its merits.

In addition, the American Bar Association last year passed a resolution that called for law firms to end mandatory retirement, describing the practice as outdated and contrary to public policy.

In 2007, K&L Gates announced that it was ending its policy requiring equity partners to withdraw from equity status at age 70. At the time, Chairman Peter Kalis called the old policy "anachronistic." Also in 2007, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman abandoned its policy, moving instead to a system based on individual evaluations.

The good news right now for the growing number of law firms without mandatory retirement policies is that they may be able to retain high performers longer, since those attorneys will stick around to ride out the decline in their retirement portfolios.

But the downside is the diminishing workload that law firms are experiencing, coupled with an excess of attorneys whom they expected to be leaving and who might not be pulling in much business.

A recent client advisory issued by Hildebrandt International stated that the consultancy expected profit levels in 2008 to be down by 10 percent for most law firms and down by as much as 15 percent for firms with significant capital markets practices. The consultancy said it did not expect a turnaround until late 2009.

At the same time, MacEwen said, associate attrition has fallen to nearly 0 percent, so that both ends of the law firm pipeline are clogged. When that happens, things can get ugly.

"There is, unfortunately, a very dysfunctional temptation to hoard work," MacEwen said. "The people who have the work to distribute are the ones who hoard it."

The overcrowding situation is far worse than it was during the technology bust at the turn of the century, Cotterman said, because of the devaluation of retirement assets. Short on cash, law firms are unable to usher older attorneys out the door with early retirement incentives. "Now law firms can't afford the kicker," he said.

Anonymous said...

Maybe if the ABA wants to pass a mandate forcing law firms to do away with early retirement, they should quit sending all the fucking work to India.

Anonymous said...

No, we need to throw these old dirt bag lawyers that ruined out profession down the stairs.

These people need to get out of the way and let the next generation of lawyers take control and return the profession to a level competency and decency, these boomers have destroyed our country.

They must go now!

Anonymous said...

"he person at the agency who filled out the form for the Dept. of Labor tells me that it is "not fair" for her company to have to pay for my unemployment insurance when I only worked about three days for them and that it is a lot of money for them to have to pay out."

I used to be in Computers/IT. The recruiters there were called headhunters, and they ruined the business. HOw? They acted unethically and shipped jobs overseas to cheap shops. Now there is little work in US for I.T. and the overseas software is crap. IT is only a matter if time before they finish off the legal field and move onto the next victim.

Anonymous said...

Maybe for the BAs and BIS degrees. The companies are fighting over the BSes.

Their granting forigners exemptions for immigration purposes since there's such a shortage.

Anonymous said...

I'm not 100% sure about the mechanics of unemployment.

Here is my feeling:

Yes, it indeed may seem unfair that a company that hired someone for only three days gets on the hook for paying unemployment, but I have a feeling that's not what actually happens. For one thing, I'm pretty sure there is (or at least there used to be) a 6 month rule, meaning you can only declare unemployment if you were employed by that particular company for 6 months (or more). This means that the 3 day company wouldn't be on the hook for it. As far as I understand, it would be the company that laid you off prior to the 3 day company.

So, let's say Peak employs you for like a year, then lays you off, then you get a 3 day gig with umm... vinmar. Your unemployment after Vinmar would be paid by Peak, no? Is this not the way it occurs. I'm not an unemployment specialist, so I don't know for sure, but that is my understanding. In retrospect though, I guess you had to have declared unemployment when Peak lays you off.

Second, although I wouldn't say you're "lucky" to have a temp agency pull this crap about you being fired for cause, you are at least in a better situation than a biglaw associate. Apparently, biglaw firms do the same to associates they want to lay off. But, instead of laying them off, they'll fire you for "cause." Now, not only do you have problems with unemployment benefits, but you're screwed for getting your next job because anyone looking to hire you will call up your old firm which will then say they fired you for cause.

Regardless of whether you're a temp or a perm associate, it's pretty messed up for people to just make up reasons like that.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but you also get a huge ass severance to shut up about it. As a temp, you have to go fight the state bureaucracy over a measly 405 a week.

Anonymous said...

ALL the jobs are in India, now? Uhhh, I'm working, and I'm pretty sure my project is in New York.

Anonymous said...

You're right 1206. Let's rephrase that to all the jobs but yours. Happy now?

Anonymous said...

No, 12:06 is right. Tom the Temp exaggerates.

Anonymous said...

Obama's recovery will help us next year. It is a trickle down plan. This year for assistance, you need to be blue collar.

Anonymous said...

it has nothing to do with "fairness", if they want to argue about whats fair, hit them back with the argument that its not fair for them to tell you a job is going to last several months and then it only goes two and half days, if they want to be able to treat people like that, contrary to public policy, then they have to pay for it, thats why the law on this subject IS the way it is, it is to de-incentiveize this exact type of practice that this agency, and some others, have engaged in.

Anonymous said...

Who's Anita?

Anonymous said...

Given the economic climate, I bet if you continue to fight with Labor Department, while threatening this agency with legal action, they will merely change their position. You have to be very very diligent on this one, and just press. But I believe the analyses pointing out that another employer, prior to the 3 day gig, is on the hook is accurate. The lamo agency person who spoke of "fairness" had no authority to even discuss this issue with you - call her and ask for the name of their corporate/outside counsel, follow=it up in writing, and cc the NYS Labor Department and the EEOC etc e.g. all pertinent regulatory agencies. At least your matter will get attention rather than being handled by some temp agency recruiter.

Anonymous said...

I want a bailout! My taxes are going up to help the auto industry, the housing market, and maybe even the porn industry (according to a CNN article this week, Larry Flynt and Joe Francis asked for a bailout.) It's funny that I have to pay more money to help these guys, when I cannot even get my student loan payments pre-taxed (if you don't know, student loan INTEREST is deductible, but only to the first 60k, which is a low threshold).

Anonymous said...

Anita, so I hear tell on this site, is an unpleasant woman who made many people's lives difficult. How's that?

Anonymous said...

Unemployment goes back about 18 months and the last employer provides almost nothing, except that they will notify the agency of the reason for your dimsissal. The temp agency cannot prevent you from getting unemployment.

New York is quite liberal. If you lose your job due to "no fault of your own" they should give it to you. So just go ahead and apply for benefits, don't even bring it up to the agency. It's not their call. They will be notified by the state in due time asked to report on your termination. If they lie about it, they will have an issue with the state. They of course will not lie in most cases. Many employers will contest the unemployment which means that you may to appear for a hearing in person or over the phone.

If an agency employed someone for three days, they are unlikely to be on the hook, you need to have been working for the last 18 months to get it and all of your prior employers will be included in the calculus. If they included the income from three days only, you get about $5 per week.

Don't

Anonymous said...

WOW. DID EVERYONE SEE THE STORY ON FRAUD BY AN INDIAN OUTSOURCING FIRM IN THE NY TIMES!!! LOVE IT

Anonymous said...

Be careful not to exaggerate. I'm working on a project that is not in India; it's in DC, although it is a foreign-language project (which is all I do, anyway).

Anonymous said...

Efff the US companies that outsourced. Then again, they will just get bailed out.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/business/worldbusiness/08outsource.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=outsourcing&st=cse

Anonymous said...

Good to see the fraud coming to light. It will be just the tip of the iceberg. The American companies and law firms involved in this "outsourcing" will be very, very sorry they tried skirt labor laws and use cut rate workers.

You get what you pay for! The plaintiffs lawyers will lining up to begin the bottom feeding.

Anonymous said...

Yes, they review all of your records from all the way back. When I set up my initial interview, the woman had a list of the names and numbers of all the places I had previously worked at. They have a pretty amazing system for all the people that get pushed through every week.

Anonymous said...

So many lawyers applied for unemployment this week that the entire system crashed.

Why are we sending thousands of jobs to a corrupt third world country? We need those jobs here and the tax dollars those jobs generate.

Jonathan said...

Exactly, Obama's plan for building will make the Boston Big Dig union feeding frenzy look like small fry! It does nothing to help college educated white collar cubicle drones, and will just assist overpaid union bufoons into getting that extra house at the lake or their 2nd Hummer.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your input everybody. The agency in question is not one of the regular ones that most of us work for; it is new on the block for this type of work. The payroll woman told me her agency was on the hook for the full $280, which doesn't make sense to me. I think some of you are right in that past employers are also on the hook. The problem is that the Dept. of Labor had almost no wages for me for the prior work I had done through other employers/agencies even though they had all of their info. Perhaps this woman was making it up -- who knows? Maybe her agency is not paying the full amount. I appreciate your comments though. By the way, you are not entitled to unemployment if you quit or were fired for cause. I have responded to the Dept.'s inquiry about the reason for my "discharge." Now I have to see what happens. If these people persist in this lie, and the Dept. of Labor accepts their word, I will sue the agency.

As far as jobs going to India, I think we need to become advocates. We need to address the issue with the local bars from an ethics viewpoint, in terms of accountability/quality of the work done, and in terms of fees charged the client. Are the agencies doing the work getting paid by the document, and then the client is charged for work by the hour? Are they encouraging people to do 100+ documents per hour when that is not doable and is unethical? Big law firms are ruining not only our temporary legal industry. In the end the clients will expect them to ship more of the work that their associates do to India. That has begun already. Everybody is short-sighted and that is why our economy is going down the tubes. In the name of saving a few bucks, big law firms, like corporations, are creating serious unemployment and undermining our economy.

Anonymous said...

The BLS reports that the real Dec. 2008 unemployment rate (U-6) is 13.5%, not 7.1% that is reported by the media (the "official unemployment rate").
Not good, folks.
Source:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm

Anonymous said...

Is anyone else suspicious that 844 consistently refuses to name the agency. I'm guessing its vinmar because he said they're pretty new to this kind of work. But it makes me wonder why he'd choose to protect some rogue agency's reputation over warning fellow coders of an agency to avoid...

Anonymous said...

It's Vinmar. I used to be the bookkeeper. I quit Friday. I so tired of this crap.

Anonymous said...

The agency has no say whether you get unemployment or not. Just apply and let the state handle it. You do not have to tell your former employer that you are seeking unemployment insurnce, the state DOL will notify them.

Remeber too, that these agencies often owned and/or run by non-attorneys, so they really aren't authorities in given areas of law, they just hire warm bodies to fill seats on these large projects.

Anonymous said...

Qualified or unqualified foreigners, does anyone ever stop to think that this was all caused by us? There are always a large number of people jumping from project to project in order to get the next big pay day, leaving lesser paying places to hire more people. Read back in the archives of this blog and you will see a ton of posts complaining that a place doesnt give overtime, or pay for meals, or provide car service, or some other perk. Not saying that people do not have a right to try and find the best money for themselves, but that stuff does have a negative impact. You have smaller places raising their hourly rate to tr and compete, which costs the clients money. Or if a place does not want to raise their wages, they have to spend the clients money to get new people and retrain them. Whether it works or not in the long run is to be determined, but like it or not clients needed to find a way to save money. Its not like American companies are doing so well that they can afford to pay hire fees. (This does not include CEO's with those huge salaries %&*$ them)

Anonymous said...

Agencies give us no notice before they lay us off, so why should we extend to them a courtesy they never show us?

Anonymous said...

Because you are the employee and a fungible commodity. If you burn your bridges with the agencies, you will get zero work, when there is some.

You have no bargaining power. If you are clever, you will treat the agencies like gold and they will keep you at the top the list.

It's not a perm job jacko, it's temp which means temporary. Deal with the realities of the situation, rather than some unattainable dreamworld.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the advice, jacko, but I jump from job to job and still get mote. And now you're out of work just like me, but at least I made hay while the sun shined.

Anonymous said...

If you are completely fungible, then it does not matter if you are good or bad employee. And, what does burning bridges mean with agencies? I have seen people do some pretty henious things, and get hired again and again. So, I am guessing that does not mean how you work out at the law firm assignment.

Anonymous said...

This article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/business/worldbusiness/08outsource.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=outsourcing&st=cse

It's interesting. It reminds me of that guy who swindled banks and wealthy investors out of $50 bil.

I saw a special about the ponzi scheme on CNN. The analysts said that one of the reasons he could swindle investors is that we live in a globalized economy.

He used jurisdictional issues against any efforts to do proper due diligence. He also used techniques like arbitrage and local conflict of laws rules in his favor.

It's funny to watch the legal industry go down the same direction as the finance industry just went. All blinders ahead.

Anonymous said...

11:18

You might want to try finding a non-temp job. Having to kiss-up to some non-atttorney 20 year old sales girl is not my idea of a sustainable career.

Personally - I'm not going to go out of my way to help an agency that lies about how long a project will last, lies about the hours, black lists people for stupid reasons, and tries their best to get out of paying benefits. And for this privilage they take a percentage of my pay check. If you'd temp between things instead of temping as a career, you wouldn't be in that predicament. You'd have experience.

Anonymous said...

11:30

"If you'd temp between things instead of temping as a career, you wouldn't be in that predicament. You'd have experience."

And we all know experience and $2 gets you on the subway. Experience is nothing but an excuse to pay less and provide no benefits. Get bent.

Anonymous said...

Interesting comparison between Madoff and the legal industry - I agree. Who knows what levels of corruption and fraud are present in these India LPOs, not mention legal training and language issues.

What Madoff taught is that greed rarely works out well and that people that look the other way because they are getting such a great deal, will ultimately pay a much higher price for failing to do their due diligence.

Anonymous said...

Interesting comparison between Madoff and the legal industry - I agree. Who knows what levels of corruption and fraud are present in these India LPOs, not mention legal training and language issues.

What Madoff taught is that greed rarely works out well and that people that look the other way because they are getting such a great deal, will ultimately pay a much higher price for failing to do their due diligence.

Anonymous said...

As far as jumping from job to job, it is all market driven. When things are booming, the agencies need warm bodies to fil their seats and will hire a child rapist from Cooley if need be.

Anonymous said...

11:00 - I'd pick a child rapist over a fraudster anyday.

Anonymous said...

11:31 - that's why you're a contract attorney; because your judgment is flawed.

I would suggest that all of you get some sort of technical skills in carpentry, steelwork, plumbing or masonry. I quit practicing law 15 years ago (NY big firm) and have never been happier. There's a lot to do out there in the world. Stop whining and take control of your own lives.

Anonymous said...

Good point, I am retraining to be a dishwasher.

Tom, what happened to the reports from India?

Anonymous said...

are you serious?

$405.00 per week is a fortune on unemployment compared to what they pay in the UK. In the UK it is £60.00 per week - no matter how much you earnt before you were laid off.

Anonymous said...

you also get public healthcare, housing etc in the UK

Anonymous said...

Yeah we get public "healthcare" but put it this way you go into an NHS hospital - you wont come out - how "free" is it really? The quality of healthcare is v poor. And as for housing - the dole will only pay the interest on your mortgage for so long

I am an unemployed UK lawyer myself and I echo many of the comments on this site about the poor job prospects of lawyers - its the same in the UK - the UK market is also saturated

But really you americans have it sooo good - you just dont know it! I see some of you talking about overtime, cars, meals - you dont get any of that over here!

Anonymous said...

2:41 - Perhaps my judgment is flawed, but I (11:31) am doing quite well for myself. I just don't happen to share the prevalent and ill-considered notion that child rapists are the worst kind of people. There are lots of things worse than that which is called "child rape," a term which includes some rather benign and consensual activity, I might add.

Anonymous said...

Oh my god. Looks like we have some child molesters on here. This really makes us look good.

Anonymous said...

5:13 - you don't have to be a "child molester" to think the witch hunt has gone on long enough. Cut the guilt by association racket.

Anonymous said...

5:13 - You are right, but let's get back on topic.

Anonymous said...

5:16 - You are right, but let's get back on topic.

Anonymous said...

"Experience is nothing but an excuse to pay less and provide no benefits."

I have two interviews this week and only sent out three resumes. Experience gets you a real job with real benefits.

Taking jobs that anyone can do and doesn't develop any skills gets you an unemployment check when there's a recession.

Anonymous said...

7:28 You are clearly out of touch and inexperienced in life, besides being callous. This is worse than a recession and many people who are collecting unemployment have experience in their fields. Maybe you don't the newspapers.

Anonymous said...

907

You shouldn't assume that this person is telling the truth or what type of job they gained interviews.

First, a lot of people lie here for some reason. Not sure why. I guess they get something out of it.

Second, even if the poster is telling the truth having been looking for a few weeks myself I know that the quality of the job market is not that good. There are some jobs. But they want to pay under market rate even compared to a few months ago. So, even this poster claiming to have an interview is suffering in this economy.

Don't let other people's need to push buttons get to you. They are just trolls.

Anonymous said...

907

A follow up: if you are in doubt about whether this poster is lying, you should think about it this way- why would someone preparing for two permanent job interviews come to a site for temp attorneys? Just an observation.

Anonymous said...

9:44 - There are many reasons why people come to this site and you should be careful about inferring too much from any given person's presence. Some come to vent, some come for research, some come because they find it entertaining, perhaps being guilty of schadenfreude. A few come for reasoned discourse about some important economic issues facing our profession, but they likely soon leave when they see that the board is dominated by whiners who far too-often paint a rather unsympathetic picture of themselves, either by displaying a vast ignorance of fundamental economic principles and/or law, or by making racist rants.

Anonymous said...

Where are the jobs? I am getting desperate. Each day, I walk over the Manhattan Bridge to an internet cafe in Chinatown to look for jobs. I have only worked three days since Dec. 16. I am sending out e-mails every day. I have registered with new temp agencies. There is no work. Yesterday, I seriously considered jumping off the bridge.

Anonymous said...

12:41 There have been droughts before and they have passed. We can't scare ourselves to death every time there is a dry spell. The temp market can turn around for the better as quickly as it dried up.

Anonymous said...

Strategic Legal advertized a project last week for Albany, NY. Chelsea Silverman is the Strategic contact person. Has anyone any info on this project???

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it was a misprint, the gig appeared later in Albany, MN.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the clarification regarding the albany project

Anonymous said...

Came across this. Sorry for the basic question but how are you able to get UI benefits as an independent contractor? Do the agencies pay into the pool?

Anonymous said...

Im Having A Problem Geting Unemployent Benefits From Illinos
My Last Employer State's I Was Remove
From Site Due To Client And Staff
Complaint's.
I Informed They Investigator, There
Were No Complaint From They Client
As For Staff Complaint's, How's It
Possible,When I Worked Alone!
Can Anybody Help Me?

san diego lawyer said...

Unemployment is a tricky situation. Hopefully with this new administration, we'll be able to make some changes and help people that are out of work. God knows, we need it.

dvd backup said...

Unemployment is always a topic for controversy, but I will say that it is unfortunate for those who have lost their jobs with no fault of their own and must live off of unreasonable income. Try the best that you can to get a livable amount, but at the same time try just as hard if not harder to become reemployed.

Anonymous said...

I worked as a Temporary Employee for Pinnacle Technical Resources in Dallas, TX for AT&T. They were both very shady companies. Suddenly when the work became slow, the temp agency started firing everyone for cause. Even if they had to go back through months of calls to find a mistake. They would look for "any" reason.

Also, the temp agency used an "Unemployment Mill" called Barnette Associates out of New York to deny claims. This company had been the subject of numerous lawsuits by different states because they only get paid when they deny a claim so they became known in the legal community for denying ALL claims and hoping the person would lose interest on the appeal.

AT&T and Pinnacle Technical Resources owned by Nina Vaca looked the other way during these employment abuses.

You can't trust any of them.