Former nanny filing for unemployment

[Anonymous]

Our former nanny voluntarily left her position with us earlier in the year. We live in DC and she is now filing unemployment claims. We have submitted an affidavit saying that she voluntarily left the job (we would have been glad to keep her) but she is apparently receiving payouts from DC. Is she actually eligible for unemployment if she chose to quit, or has DC screwed up? I'm figuring this is going to come back and bite us financially at some point and I'm wondering if there is anything else to do to head off issues.

[Anonymous]

Depends on if she had a valid reason for quitting. If she worked 30 days for another employer after leaving you and was let gp from that employer, she can make a claim and receive unemployment. DC is employee oriented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on if she had a valid reason for quitting. If she worked 30 days for another employer after leaving you and was let gp from that employer, she can make a claim and receive unemployment. DC is employee oriented.

OP here - Thanks. I don't know if she had a job after she left us - but DC Employment Services said she was drawing unemployment from our account.

[Anonymous]

It barely affects you - your rate might go up a little, but you don't have to pay her benefits directly. We had a nanny leave us and then file for unemployment. We got a letter and explained what happened, then she appealed after she was denied and we had to have a mediation call, after which she was denied and appealed again. We never had to show up for court. I think eventually she got a new job.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like she may have had another job after yours that she was let go from. The way unemployment works is that they draw from your last 18 months of work history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like she may have had another job after yours that she was let go from. The way unemployment works is that they draw from your last 18 months of work history.

OP again - thanks for this very helpful feedback. Do you think it is possible that she falsely claimed she was fired from her job with us and that is her basis for unemployment? I guess it bothers me on a moral level if that is the case, since she voluntarily quit.

[Anonymous]

Unemployment is supposed to contact you and you deny, she then reapplies and it goes in meditation. After, they decide.

Could it be that unemployment office tried contacting you to no avail?

How about you contact them.

[Anonymous]

How long ago did she work for you? Unemployment always talks to your last employer to verify the job and reason for it ending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unemployment is supposed to contact you and you deny, she then reapplies and it goes in meditation. After, they decide.

Could it be that unemployment office tried contacting you to no avail?

How about you contact them.

OP said she was contacted by them and she wrote them an affidavit stating her side. Unemployment doesn't contact the employers until AFTER they start paying the former employee.

I once collected unemployment after being let go without cause (not a nanny position) and I started collecting it, THEN my former employers sent a letter trying to deny it. I responded and they found in my favor so I continued to receive it.

[Anonymous]

I am an employer in DC and I always get notices from the unemployment office when a former employee files for benefits. I get a notice telling me what the individual stated (re reason for leaving, wages, etc...) and I am asked to verify the information. I can indicate when/how/if someone lied about why they are no longer working here and that can affect their benefits.

You should definitely call DC Unemployment and ask them to explain what the individual claimed, is receiving, etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like she may have had another job after yours that she was let go from. The way unemployment works is that they draw from your last 18 months of work history.

OP again - thanks for this very helpful feedback. Do you think it is possible that she falsely claimed she was fired from her job with us and that is her basis for unemployment? I guess it bothers me on a moral level if that is the case, since she voluntarily quit.

It doesn't matter that she left voluntarily from your job, if she was let go from her subsequent job. They pull from your last 18 months. Her receiving unemployment from your account does not mean that she is claiming she was let go from your job. If she was claiming to have been let go from your job, you would have had to verify everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like she may have had another job after yours that she was let go from. The way unemployment works is that they draw from your last 18 months of work history.

OP again - thanks for this very helpful feedback. Do you think it is possible that she falsely claimed she was fired from her job with us and that is her basis for unemployment? I guess it bothers me on a moral level if that is the case, since she voluntarily quit.

If you were her most recent job on her history, you would have been sent a questionnaire asking the circumstances of the separation of employment. If you didn't get the questionnaire, it is a safe bet she worked elsewhere and was let go. All employers in the last 18 months are charged a proportional part of her benefits if she was deemed eligible.