Gah! I just got off the phone with an unemployment claims examiner from the NYS Department of Labor, and I'm practically ready to blow a gasket.
For most of last year, I was working for a small family business. It was registered as an LLC, with my parents owning 60%, and my brother and I each owning 20%. On December 1, I was laid off, and I applied for unemployment benefits. Although I'd lived in Idaho the last few months, I had been working over the 'net, and the company's office was in NY, so I had to apply there.
A month later, I got a notice telling me that my claim was denied because I hadn't sent in a form regarding business and self-employment income. I had indeed sent the form, so I tried to call them to correct the mistake. I spent a week trying to contact the department on the phone, but I kept getting "call volume is too high, please call back later". So I wrote a letter.
Last Friday, I finally got a voicemail in response to my letter. The claims examiner was out of the office sick on Monday and Tuesday; I finally got to talk to her today.
And now she's decided that since I have a 20% membership stake in the company--even though I'm no longer involved in operations in any way, was never a corporate officer, and have no income from my stake--I'm not totally unemployed, and thus am not eligible for benefits.
So now I've got to wait for her to mail me the official determination; mail back a request for a hearing; and wait for the hearing to be scheduled. In the meantime, I've been unemployed for two months, and I haven't seen a cent of unemployment benefits; I'm living on credit cards.
May I scream?