Tag: Ineligible

  • What To Do When Denied Unemployment in Minnesota

    What To Do When Denied Unemployment in Minnesota

    Being denied unemployment benefits in Minnesota means being ineligible for benefits. Usually, a person will find out about a denial by viewing their account online or by mail.

    Before deciding to appeal a denial of benefits, know what and how to respond, such that your benefits are not further damaged.

    Unemployment Lawyer

    Help with Denied Unemployment

    Contact Now

    After Being Denied Unemployment

    Before responding to a letter stating that you were denied unemployment, identify the deadline to file an appeal. This is important because you need to know how much time is allotted to draft a proper response.

    Nearly every letter from the unemployment office in Minnesota will post the deadline to appeal a denial on the last page of the written notice. When seeing this in an online account, there should be a hyperlink or button stating “File Appeal”.

    Wording Your Response to a Denial for Benefits

    Of course, everybody wants to word their appeal in a manner that helps them get unemployment. But, this isn’t the intent of a filed response.

    Instead, the goal is to perfect the opportunity to meet with an Unemployment Law Judge.

    The button on the unemployment website asking you to file an appeal will introduce four questions:

    • The reason for the appeal;
    • Whether you intend to submit evidence or introduce a witness;
    • Whether you are going to have an unemployment lawyer; and
    • Do you need an interpreter.

    Employer Denied Unemployment

    In Minnesota, an employer does not decide whether or not an applicant is denied benefits. Instead, a notice of ineligibility is made by DEED or the Department of Employment and Economic Development.

    Certainly, feedback shared by an employer can lead to a denial of benefits. However, the employer is not the decision maker. Luckily, a denied claim is appealable.

  • Why Does the Unemployment Office Use Unclear Words?

    Why Does the Unemployment Office Use Unclear Words?

    The unemployment office uses words all day long. Some are described on their website. Other words are used in their letters, yellow envelopes, or by phone.

    Unfortunately, the words that get used are unclear because they encompass laws, rules, and statutes that most unemployed workers are not taking into consideration.

    Luckily, a prepared applicant seeking an appeal can help their own process by looking at other cases and examples. Generally, there isn’t going to be a perfect case just like the one being pursued.

    This shouldn’t be a surprise though. After all, everybody has a different story, a different boss, and usually a different employer cutting the check.

    What Does Unemployment Really Mean?

    When I am looking at words like employment misconduct or wages, I like the idea of turning to Minnesota’s Chapter 268.

    Minus experience, when I am trying to predict how a hearing might unfold, I start with Chapter 3310.

    Using decisions that have already been made can have a positive impact on a case. Luckily, there is a free search tool for this too. Have you heard of Google Scholar?

    Yes, every judge has a different style and every employer uses different strategies. Luckily, unemployed workers are resilient, tough, and ready for the road ahead.

  • Quitting Your Job and Getting Unemployment

    Quitting Your Job and Getting Unemployment

    Because Minnesota has rules that support unemployment benefits for workers who quit their job, gathering evidence or documenting events or conversations can be extremely helpful.  For example, e-mails, handbooks, personal improvement plans, corrective action plans, and notes.  

    That said, a lot of people are not able to gather or acquire documents prior to their job ending.  Luckily, there are ways for unemployed workers to acquire evidence.  In addition to subpoena power, an applicant in Minnesota can use Minnesota statute 181.961 to acquire a copy of a personnel file.

    Unemployment Tip # 016 – Because Minnesota allows unemployment benefits for workers who quit their job, I like the idea of gathering evidence prior to quitting.  For example, e-mails, handbooks, personal improvement plans, corrective action plans, and notes.  Also, I like the idea of acquiring contact information from co-workers who might be able to assist down the road”

    Exactly what is part of or excluded from a personnel file is really unknown until a copy is obtained.  Usually, the types of documents within a “file” include:

    • Tax verification forms,
    • Job applications
    • Action Plans
    • Reprimands
    • Promotion Information

    Even if a worker or employee believes they do not need a copy, asking for a copy is important.  In terms of an unemployment appeal, demanding reasons why a work event wasn’t documented or included within a personnel file can offer probative value to an applicant’s claim for benefits.

  • Denied Unemployment for 34 Jobs

    Denied Unemployment for 34 Jobs

    Getting denied unemployment benefits calls for an appeal.  Unfortunately, there are 34 jobs that always get denied because Minnesota views them as “noncovered employment“.

    When the issue presents its self, I believe workers, employees, and executives should always argue why their job is “covered employment”. Nonetheless, here are 34 jobs that typically get denied unemployment benefits until proven otherwise:

    List of Denied Jobs for Unemployment

    This list comes from a poorly drafted Minnesota law. Luckily, Minnesota has other laws that favor awarding benefits. Nonetheless, here are a few areas that cause problems:

    (1) Employment for the United States government or an instrumentality thereof, including military service;

    (2) Employment for a state, other than Minnesota, or a political subdivision or instrumentality thereof;

    (3) Employment for a foreign government;

    (4) Employment covered under the Federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act;

    (5) Employment for a church or convention or association of churches, or a nonprofit organization operated primarily for religious purposes that is operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches;

    (6) Employment for an elementary or secondary school with a curriculum that includes religious education that is operated by a church, a convention or association of churches, or a nonprofit organization that is operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches;

    (7) Employment for Minnesota or a political subdivision, or a nonprofit organization, of a duly ordained or licensed minister of a church in the exercise of a ministry or by a member of a religious order in the exercise of duties required by the order;

    (8) Employment for Minnesota or a political subdivision, or a nonprofit organization, of an individual receiving rehabilitation of “sheltered” work in a facility conducted for the purpose of carrying out a program of rehabilitation for individuals whose earning capacity is impaired by age or physical or mental deficiency or injury or a program providing “sheltered” work for individuals who because of an impaired physical or mental capacity cannot be readily absorbed in the competitive labor market. This clause applies only to services performed in a facility certified by the Rehabilitation Services Branch of the department or in a day training or habilitation program licensed by the Department of Human Services;

    (9) Employment for Minnesota or a political subdivision, or a nonprofit organization, of an individual receiving work relief or work training as part of an unemployment work relief or work training program financed in whole or in part by any federal agency or an agency of a state or political subdivision thereof. This clause does not apply to programs that require unemployment benefit coverage for the participants;

    (10) Employment for Minnesota or a political subdivision, as an elected official, a member of a legislative body, or a member of the judiciary;

    (11) Employment as a member of the Minnesota National Guard or Air National Guard;

    (12) Employment for Minnesota or a political subdivision, or instrumentality thereof, of an individual serving on a temporary basis in case of fire, flood, tornado, or similar emergency;

    (13) Employment as an election official or election worker for Minnesota or a political subdivision, if the compensation for that employment was less than $1,000 in a calendar year;

    (14) Employment for Minnesota that is a major policy-making or advisory position in the unclassified service;

    (15) Employment for Minnesota in an unclassified position established under section 43A.08, subdivision 1a;

    (16) Employment for a political subdivision of Minnesota that is a nontenured major policymaking or advisory position;

    (17) Domestic employment in a private household, local college club, or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority, if the wages paid in any calendar quarter in either the current or prior calendar year to all individuals in domestic employment totaled less than $1,000.

    (18) Employment of an individual by a son, daughter, or spouse, and employment of a child under the age of 18 by the child’s father or mother;

    (19) Employment of an inmate of a custodial or penal institution;

    (20) Employment for a school, college, or university, by a student who is enrolled and whose primary relation to the school, college, or university is as a student. This does not include an individual whose primary relation to the school, college, or university is as an employee who also takes courses;

    (21) Employment of an individual who is enrolled as a student in a full-time program at a nonprofit or public educational institution that maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and has a regularly organized body of students in attendance at the place where its educational activities are carried on, taken for credit at the institution, that combines academic instruction with work experience, if the employment is an integral part of the program, and the institution has so certified to the employer, except that this clause does not apply to employment in a program established for or on behalf of an employer or group of employers;

    (22) Employment of university, college, or professional school students in an internship or other training programs with the city of St. Paul or the city of Minneapolis under Laws 1990, chapter 570, article 6, section 3;

    (23) Employment for a hospital by a patient of the hospital. “Hospital” means an institution that has been licensed by the Department of Health as a hospital;

    (24) Employment as a student nurse for a hospital or a nurses’ training school by an individual who is enrolled and is regularly attending classes in an accredited nurses’ training school;

    (25) Employment as an intern for a hospital by an individual who has completed a four-year course in an accredited medical school;

    (26) Employment as an insurance salesperson, by other than a corporate officer, if all the wages from the employment is solely by way of commission. The word “insurance” includes an annuity and an optional annuity;

    (27) Employment as an officer of a township mutual insurance company or farmer’s mutual insurance company under chapter 67A;

    (28) Employment of a corporate officer, if the officer directly or indirectly, including through a subsidiary or holding company, owns 25 percent or more of the employer corporation, and employment of a member of a limited liability company, if the member directly or indirectly, including through a subsidiary or holding company, owns 25 percent or more of the employer limited liability company;

    (29) Employment as a real estate salesperson, other than a corporate officer, if all the wages from the employment is solely by way of commission;

    (30) Employment as a direct seller as defined in United States Code, title 26, section 3508;

    (31) Employment of an individual under the age of 18 in the delivery or distribution of newspapers or shopping news, not including delivery or distribution to any point for subsequent delivery or distribution;

    (32) Casual employment performed for an individual, other than domestic employment under clause (17), that does not promote or advance that employer’s trade or business;

    (33) Employment in “agricultural employment” unless it is “covered agricultural employment” under subdivision 11; or

    (34) If employment during one-half or more of any pay period was covered employment, all the employment for the pay period is covered employment; but if during more than one-half of any pay period the employment was noncovered employment, then all of the employment for the pay period is noncovered employment. “Pay period” means a period of not more than a calendar month for which a payment or compensation is ordinarily made to the employee by the employer.

    Denied Unemployment for Noncovered Jobs

    If you were denied unemployment because of a non-covered job, please reaching out for support.

  • Unemployment Luck: Tip #007

    Unemployment Luck: Tip #007

    Recently, I have worked with a number of applicants trying their hand at being lucky.  In other words, leaving their appeal up to chance.  For this reason, I believe the unemployment tip referenced below is going to save people from making a bad choice.

    Unemployment Tip # 007 –  Being lucky versus good is a horrible strategy.  Instead, assume the unemployment law judge is not looking out for the Applicant’s best interest and know which rule proves one’s eligibility.”  

    In other words, hoping an ULJ will pick the right law to grant benefits is a loosing strategy.  Instead, focus on the strongest argument favoring benefits.