I am getting $655 a week in unemployment benefits!

[SL6827]

I finally got my unemployment going. I have never recieved this much of it in my life. I qualified for only like $55 a week with the normal unemployment but I am getting $655 a week. Now I will stay I will put back at least 1/3 of for tax purposes, but still that is me netting around $400 a week. I never thought me substituting in the school system maybe one or two days a week would pay off like this.

 

[mefordis]

I think they are going to extend the $600 / week until January. Enjoy it.

 

[SL6827]

I think they are going to extend the $600 / week until January. Enjoy it.

Well the schools "should" be opened back up by then. We will see.

 

[tvguy]

My company is furloughing us for a week, started a couple of weeks ago and goes until the end of June. The extra $600 a week on top of California unemployment means most of us will be making more money the week we aren't working than we do working. Apparently not common for most middle class workers.

 

[mefordis]

My company is furloughing us for a week, started a couple of weeks ago and goes until the end of June. The extra $600 a week on top of California unemployment means most of us will be making more money the week we aren't working than we do working. Apparently not common for most middle class workers.

Nice to see the money in the hands of the people who can use it.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I wouldn't count on an extension of the $600/week (although I could see an extension of allowed unemployment time).

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My company is furloughing us for a week, started a couple of weeks ago and goes until the end of June. The extra $600 a week on top of California unemployment means most of us will be making more money the week we aren't working than we do working. Apparently not common for most middle class workers.

For PA unemployment, on the weeks I don't work at all it comes to $1082 per week which is close to my take home pay. Then again nothing going to my 403b, FSA and medical benefits.
It's been mentioned on the news that people have no desire to return to work and even decline having their job back when they can work. It's nice that the government is being generous but really, that's not healthy to give people so much incentive to not work. jmho.
Our breast imaging dept is opened back up but we have to keep a very limited schedule to maintain social distance in waiting rooms, changing rooms, locker area, etc.

 

[SL6827]

For PA unemployment, on the weeks I don't work at all it comes to $1082 per week which is close to my take home pay. Then again nothing going to my 403b, FSA and medical benefits.
It's been mentioned on the news that people have no desire to return to work and even decline having their job back when they can work. It's nice that the government is being generous but really, that's not healthy to give people so much incentive to not work. jmho.
Our breast imaging dept is opened back up but we have to keep a very limited schedule to maintain social distance in waiting rooms, changing rooms, locker area, etc.

Right, I can see why. When I worked full time for GE appliances for 19 years I only got $330 for a week off. We would have a few weeks every year that we could get off and draw the unemployment. Now when the Great Recession hit I got like a week off every month. Still the most I could draw was $330. I only worked very part time hours subbing in the school system, maybe 16 hours a week? So for me to draw this over the top amount is just unreal.

 

[The WDW 3]

Lol what a system

 

[undertheradar]

This is why the system is broken. Not understanding why anyone would "brag" about receiving more for not working?

 

[tvguy]

This is why the system is broken. Not understanding why anyone would "brag" about receiving more for not working?

Not bragging, shocked.

 

[tvguy]

Nice to see the money in the hands of the people who can use it.

Same with the stimulus. Nice but not necessary. But we were going to retire in July and live off savings for 3 1/2 years until we reached full Social Security age so we were prepared. 41 years of retirement savings have paid off. But because of the un-affordable cost of Health Coverage through the Affordable Health Care, we are delaying our retirement until age 63 1/2, and will use COBRA coverage to take us to age 65 and Medicare.

 

[tvguy]

Then again nothing going to my 403b, FSA and medical benefits.

We are furloughed for a week. No money into 401k or FSA but medical not impacted, nor are vacation or sick time accrual. Probably because it is a furlough not a layoff. Lots of stern warnings about not logging into work e-mail, work computers, using company cell phones, or posting to your professional Social Media pages. Far different than 2009 furloughs when company laptops and cell phones had to be turned in for furloughs, and e-mail accounts locked.

 

[nycdisneygal]

Yeah I heard some people dont want to come to back work now that some places are stopping the furloughs... They are making good money to stay at home!

 

[Dsnydad2]

Congrats... There are many who do need the help!
My application has been accepted three weeks ago, but each week's claim has been denied.
I'm trying my hardest to maintain a strict budget.

 

[FreeTime]

This, with the proposed mortgage payment assistance program (similar to TARP for those in HHF states), will potentially cause worse economic challenges within our country for years to come than the benefit they provide in the short term. Kudos to states now allowing employers to report employees that are refusing to return to work now that their businesses are opening back up, thus so they can keep on unemployment. Those getting more on unemployment than the normal salary that will also be eligible for mortgage assistance programs (should it be passed), will cause an unnecessary burden on taxpayers. Whereas I do support the purpose of this unemployment and I don’t think the $600 extra was a bad thing, it never should have been structured to provide more than what one normally makes.

And I am on my soapbox because the OP says, they never thought “the system” would pay off like this. The system shouldn’t be expected to be a payoff.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are furloughed for a week. No money into 401k or FSA but medical not impacted, nor are vacation or sick time accrual. Probably because it is a furlough not a layoff. Lots of stern warnings about not logging into work e-mail, work computers, using company cell phones, or posting to your professional Social Media pages. Far different than 2009 furloughs when company laptops and cell phones had to be turned in for furloughs, and e-mail accounts locked.

I'm not laid off but there's not enough work for 12 techs per day. We were "picking names from a hat" in the beginning because no one wanted to be forced to be off. Is that the same as furlough? We had a choice to take it either no pay or use ETO (sick/vac in one bank). Our ETO bank keeps accruing. I had about 1.5 weeks in the bank remaining for a cruise in late March which of course was cancelled. Some coworkers had summer & fall trips they were still hopeful they could take so they didn't want to wipe out their banked time off. I was expecting to use up my time off for the cruise anyway so once I read an email that the hospital said it's ok to anyone with reduced hours to apply for unemployment, I figured I might as well stay out so those who really are desperate for hours can have them. Some coworkers had their husbands laid off completely. One coworker lost her husband to COVID. So sad. Comparatively, we're in good shape and still putting $ into savings.

My benefits package deduction from my pay (health/dental/disability, etc.) was ok up until this week because I worked a few hours here and there or was paid ETO in April. This week is the first biweekly pay that is truly $0 so they will deduct double from my next check. Oh well, still it could be much worse. At least we're all healthy.

 

[colormegreen]

Yeah I heard some people dont want to come to back work now that some places are stopping the furloughs... They are making good money to stay at home!

Do all states not have the same requirements? In California if your jobs ask you back you can’t say no or you risk the chance of getting your unemployment cut. You have to be ready to work if you have been furlough. I know that the governor didn’t make it to where you need to look for a job currently, but prior you had to be searching for a job.

 

[deide71]

My daughter is a junior in college and lost her coffee shop job due to the shut down. She initially qualified for $150/wk in benefits which was enough to pay her rent but not anything else. She applied to a local grocery that was hiring and now she is feeling bad because she would have made more with these extra unemployment benefits...i told her honest work is never a mistake

 

[mentos]

This is why the system is broken. Not understanding why anyone would "brag" about receiving more for not working?

quite literally broken though, the reason for the non-means-tested $600 is because state UI systems are so ancient (think COBOL), pegging the extra stimulus to actual income would have taken ages. Not to mention that self-employed income is more difficult to quantify.

there’s tons of articles in WSJ about how businesses are having trouble luring back their workers for less money than they would make sitting at home safe from exposure. Weird world.

ill call this a once-in-a-generation quirk. Once states upgrade their UI systems, flat payments like these won’t be necessary again.