Anonymous wrote:Points for OP. You file where you work. Yes, VA unemployment is terrible to deal with.

VA residents are encouraged to contact their state reps for help. OP, maybe your MD state rep can reach out across state lines for you.

Anonymous wrote:When I lived in DC and lost my MD job, I filed in MD.

I live in VA, work in DC, and filed in DC.

Points for OP. You file where you work. Yes, VA unemployment is terrible to deal with.

When I lived in DC and lost my MD job, I filed in MD.

You file in Maryland. OMG

You file your claim in the state where your employer reported your wages.

And you don’t “pay into” unemployment, unless you work in Alaska, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania. In those states, unemployment tax is deducted from your paycheck AND your employer pays unemployment tax. In all other states, only the employer pays unemployment tax and that is where the benefits come from.

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I knew never to bother until 2020 and even then in DC.

You file where you live. NOT where you work. When I worked in DC and was laid off, I filed in Virginia because I am a Virginia resident.

You can’t even figure out the right place to file?

My apologies. I just need to vent about the absurdly byzantine unemployment system that was obviously constructed in such a way as to frustrate and confuse people in order to not file for the unemployment insurance that they have paid into for years.

Recently laid off trump casualty here who lives in MD but works in VA. It's been well over 20 years that I have had to file for unemployment, but whomever created this sadistic system in the Commonwealth deserves to be put on a plane to El Salvador.

You go onto the website to log in your information.
It freezes up when you enter your state information and tells you to call VEC.
You call, get a recording then have to wait for hours until someone calls you back.
You speak to someone, then you wait for days until you get 5 different letters in the mail.
You have to fill out the forms and mail them (recommended via certified) to Richmond and wait.
Maybe 2 weeks later you will receive a payment.

Lord help you if you actually go in person to a branch office where the only thing the employees do there is tell you to sit at a computer and log your information into it, all the while being as rude and as condescending as humanly possible.

When did the Commonwealth switch to this system?
It sure wasn't this way 20 years ago.