My wife has been unemployed since last year, and now 11 months later we receive a hearing notice to determine whether or not the employer answered to the initial claim in a timely fashion.
I went over all the paperwork, and figured out what happened.
When my wife initially filed her claim online, she inadvertently entered in my social security number instead of hers.
We received a letter in the mail shortly thereafter saying that it did not match the Social Security Database, so she called back and had them correct it. She did not file a new claim, because the website says not to.
After the initial claim with the wrong SS# was in the State's computer system, it automatically generated a letter to the employer informing them of their rights and how many days they had to respond.
The employer received the letter with the wrong SS# on it, but, they did not check the employee records to verify if everything was correct. The sent over the documentation to their payroll department, who also did not check their own records and they generated a response and faxed it within the time on the letter.
Here is where it gets complicated.
After we called the State and corrected the SS# issue, the State's computer system then generated a new letter with the correct SS#, and they sent it to the employer 10 days after the first one.
The employer never responded to the second letter, to which the state automatically approved the claim because a response was not filed within the time frame applicable to State law.
The appeal documentation shows both letters with both SS#'s, it also has a letter in it from the State that only references the second letter, not the first, and it says that they never received anything from them in accordance with the second letter.
The appeal documentation also shows the payroll department is falsely stating that their employer records show that the SS# is the one from the first letter, which is false, they should have figured that out pretty quickly along time ago, they process the payroll and tax info, my payroll stub has my social sec # on it.
So now, I have no idea what to do, because I feel if she admits that she made a mistake entering it online initially 11 months ago, they will rule in their favor.
The only issue being disputed in the claim is the timeliness/response issue, so they never even looked at the semantics as to why she was fired. However, they included lots of paperwork, including signed pages from the employee handbook, and statements. What happened was accidental, and it was her word against theirs, with no witnesses.
Part of me blames everyone, because I entered it wrong, the State's system is a little too automated, the employer and the payroll company both failed to cross check the SS# themselves when they received the first letter. The State failed to send the employer any type of letter stating an error took place, instead, they re-generated a new letter with a correction on it, to which the employer ignored.
I don't know if I should not even attend the hearing and just let the judge rule based on what he has on his desk. Part of me thinks that he probably cant even figure it out himself if the State cant even figure it out. Only I have pieced it all together.
I dont want to end up owing a ton of money to the State because their system is entirely too slow and was never designed to handle these high un-employment rates. Their computer system is entirely too automated and it ends up confusing everyone when errors are made.
What do you think I should do? Not attend the hearing? Attend and just lay it out? Attend and just answer any questions, and not make any case for myself?
I cant handle more debt, this is going to seriously destroy us as a family as a married couple. If they garnish us it is really going to change so much in our lives, Im going crazy.
How do you think the judge will rule if he realizes that it was her fault initially for entering in the wrong SS#??
What is fair for all parties involved??
Should I have a attorney represent her for the hearing?
Do I stand to dispute owing the State their money based on their clerical error and 11 month delay in the matter?, (I.E.) ((Automatic Generation of Claim without cross checking the SS database first)) The State themselves wont even reference to the employer anything about the first letter, only the second letter, implying that the employer should have checked the SS#.
I know its her fault for originally entering the wrong SS# in, but for this to go on for 11 months and now we can potentially lose and owe thousands seems rather extreme and unfair.
I went over all the paperwork, and figured out what happened.
When my wife initially filed her claim online, she inadvertently entered in my social security number instead of hers.
We received a letter in the mail shortly thereafter saying that it did not match the Social Security Database, so she called back and had them correct it. She did not file a new claim, because the website says not to.
After the initial claim with the wrong SS# was in the State's computer system, it automatically generated a letter to the employer informing them of their rights and how many days they had to respond.
The employer received the letter with the wrong SS# on it, but, they did not check the employee records to verify if everything was correct. The sent over the documentation to their payroll department, who also did not check their own records and they generated a response and faxed it within the time on the letter.
Here is where it gets complicated.
After we called the State and corrected the SS# issue, the State's computer system then generated a new letter with the correct SS#, and they sent it to the employer 10 days after the first one.
The employer never responded to the second letter, to which the state automatically approved the claim because a response was not filed within the time frame applicable to State law.
The appeal documentation shows both letters with both SS#'s, it also has a letter in it from the State that only references the second letter, not the first, and it says that they never received anything from them in accordance with the second letter.
The appeal documentation also shows the payroll department is falsely stating that their employer records show that the SS# is the one from the first letter, which is false, they should have figured that out pretty quickly along time ago, they process the payroll and tax info, my payroll stub has my social sec # on it.
So now, I have no idea what to do, because I feel if she admits that she made a mistake entering it online initially 11 months ago, they will rule in their favor.
The only issue being disputed in the claim is the timeliness/response issue, so they never even looked at the semantics as to why she was fired. However, they included lots of paperwork, including signed pages from the employee handbook, and statements. What happened was accidental, and it was her word against theirs, with no witnesses.
Part of me blames everyone, because I entered it wrong, the State's system is a little too automated, the employer and the payroll company both failed to cross check the SS# themselves when they received the first letter. The State failed to send the employer any type of letter stating an error took place, instead, they re-generated a new letter with a correction on it, to which the employer ignored.
I don't know if I should not even attend the hearing and just let the judge rule based on what he has on his desk. Part of me thinks that he probably cant even figure it out himself if the State cant even figure it out. Only I have pieced it all together.
I dont want to end up owing a ton of money to the State because their system is entirely too slow and was never designed to handle these high un-employment rates. Their computer system is entirely too automated and it ends up confusing everyone when errors are made.
What do you think I should do? Not attend the hearing? Attend and just lay it out? Attend and just answer any questions, and not make any case for myself?
I cant handle more debt, this is going to seriously destroy us as a family as a married couple. If they garnish us it is really going to change so much in our lives, Im going crazy.
How do you think the judge will rule if he realizes that it was her fault initially for entering in the wrong SS#??
What is fair for all parties involved??
Should I have a attorney represent her for the hearing?
Do I stand to dispute owing the State their money based on their clerical error and 11 month delay in the matter?, (I.E.) ((Automatic Generation of Claim without cross checking the SS database first)) The State themselves wont even reference to the employer anything about the first letter, only the second letter, implying that the employer should have checked the SS#.
I know its her fault for originally entering the wrong SS# in, but for this to go on for 11 months and now we can potentially lose and owe thousands seems rather extreme and unfair.
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