my appeal letter
if anybody's been reading my journals, you know that i am appealing my crappy unemployment fraud case. how's this sound? not that i can change it...it's in the mail as of friday morning.
To Whom It May Concern,
I hope to, in this summary statement, make my argument more concise by going beyond the 'yes or no' questions posed to me by Ted Hall, the appeal referee I spoke with on December 15, 2004.
When I first received a letter stating that an error had been made, I immediately called (606) 573-3160 and spoke with a man whose name I believe was Greg. Greg spoke in a very condescending tone while he was saying I committed fraud and was asking me questions. He asked if I had followed the questions inquired by the computer program under which I filed my claims. He specifically asked if I read the question dealing with inputting my wages earned. I told him that I was under the impression that wages earned meant hours worked times hourly pay. He corrected me sternly saying that they are, in fact, not the same thing. He asked if I received tips and when I told him that I did, he asked why I hadn't added them into my wages earned. I told him that I thought someone on the other side of the computer claim would notice that $2.25 does not equal $5.15 and would know that tips were being made (since I answered the question about type of wage with 'wage and tips') and would calculate in enough tips before the check was printed.
When I spoke with Mr. Hall, one of his questions also dealt with wages earned. He asked if I had been instructed at the original unemployment office in Hardin County about how to fill out the computer claim. He asked if I had been told to enter my wages earned into the proper box. The worker told me that I would have to enter my wages earned and then she reiterated that I shoud multiply my hours worked by how much I made per hour and put that figure into the proper box. I was never told to add in tips to the final amount.
Greg also asked if I received a pay stub and why I hadn't waited until I had received it to claim my check, so that I would have the exact amount to reference while claiming. During my conversation with Mr. Hall, I repeated this to him. Then, I related that pay periods at Shubie-Doo's run from Tuesday to the second Monday and they were one week behind. For instance, the week of March 14-20 was on two different paychecks dated March 23 (for Sunday & Monday) and April 6 (for Tuesday thru Saturday). Waiting for the pay stub meant that I couldn't have claimed until April 11th, the 4th week after the week to be claimed. Claims are forefeited if not claimed within three weeks. Moreover, even if I had known to wait for the pay stub, it would have been a hindrance to me.
Fraud is defined as a deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain; trickery. I have never denied that I made an error. I do, however, refute the implication that I knew that I was erring and was doing so to collect something not due me. My mistake was not premeditated or intentional. I completed the computer claim form the same way every time. Since I was never corrected during the process, I presumed that my actions were correct and continued to claim in the same fashion. In fact, until five months after I stopped filing claims, I considered them true to best of my knowledge. Ignorance is not fraud.
Cordially,
Carin Allen
To Whom It May Concern,
I hope to, in this summary statement, make my argument more concise by going beyond the 'yes or no' questions posed to me by Ted Hall, the appeal referee I spoke with on December 15, 2004.
When I first received a letter stating that an error had been made, I immediately called (606) 573-3160 and spoke with a man whose name I believe was Greg. Greg spoke in a very condescending tone while he was saying I committed fraud and was asking me questions. He asked if I had followed the questions inquired by the computer program under which I filed my claims. He specifically asked if I read the question dealing with inputting my wages earned. I told him that I was under the impression that wages earned meant hours worked times hourly pay. He corrected me sternly saying that they are, in fact, not the same thing. He asked if I received tips and when I told him that I did, he asked why I hadn't added them into my wages earned. I told him that I thought someone on the other side of the computer claim would notice that $2.25 does not equal $5.15 and would know that tips were being made (since I answered the question about type of wage with 'wage and tips') and would calculate in enough tips before the check was printed.
When I spoke with Mr. Hall, one of his questions also dealt with wages earned. He asked if I had been instructed at the original unemployment office in Hardin County about how to fill out the computer claim. He asked if I had been told to enter my wages earned into the proper box. The worker told me that I would have to enter my wages earned and then she reiterated that I shoud multiply my hours worked by how much I made per hour and put that figure into the proper box. I was never told to add in tips to the final amount.
Greg also asked if I received a pay stub and why I hadn't waited until I had received it to claim my check, so that I would have the exact amount to reference while claiming. During my conversation with Mr. Hall, I repeated this to him. Then, I related that pay periods at Shubie-Doo's run from Tuesday to the second Monday and they were one week behind. For instance, the week of March 14-20 was on two different paychecks dated March 23 (for Sunday & Monday) and April 6 (for Tuesday thru Saturday). Waiting for the pay stub meant that I couldn't have claimed until April 11th, the 4th week after the week to be claimed. Claims are forefeited if not claimed within three weeks. Moreover, even if I had known to wait for the pay stub, it would have been a hindrance to me.
Fraud is defined as a deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain; trickery. I have never denied that I made an error. I do, however, refute the implication that I knew that I was erring and was doing so to collect something not due me. My mistake was not premeditated or intentional. I completed the computer claim form the same way every time. Since I was never corrected during the process, I presumed that my actions were correct and continued to claim in the same fashion. In fact, until five months after I stopped filing claims, I considered them true to best of my knowledge. Ignorance is not fraud.
Cordially,
Carin Allen