I am being asked to repay to the Unemployment Agency what they pay me for 6 months

I was fired in Feb of 2008 by my employer. I applied for unemployment in florida and it was approved. After 6 months of receiving the benefits the employeer appealed we had a phone hearing and of course the employeer (Who obviously had HR people and wo knew how to deal exactly with laws) won the case.

So after 6 months of receiving the benefits they asked me to pay it back. They gave me 20 days to appeal but it was impossible to do so on their web, phone or address because they never provided me with any contact information (Their ph lines were always busy)

When I finally made the appeal it was past the 20 days, and they told me the decision was the final one. So I have not been able to appeal, or contact a lawyer for advisement. My "debt" is now owned by a collection agency and this has affected my credit record.

Do I have a chance of appealing this with anyone? Could a lawyer still help me? I was with no job for over 8 months. How could I repay this money? It will be impossible!

Thank you.


Hi,
The number one, most important piece of advice I have about ow to appeal a denial of unemployment benefits, is MAKE SURE IT'S A TIMELY APPEAL AND ABSOLUTELY, BE CERTAIN THAT YOU CAN PROVE THE TIMELINESS OF ANY APPEAL.

You can still appeal and yes, I would say that a lawyer would be a wise idea because the issue you must first overcome now is whether there was good cause for the untimeliness .. before they will listen to you. I also suspect there was an employer appeal at some point and if you did not attend that hearing .. you would also have a "non-appearance" issue to overcome.

But, as far as the timeliness of appeal goes, if I knew what state you lived in .. I think I could find the information of how to appeal any determination timely, regardless of the excuses you are providing which, as "good cause" excuses frankly, suck.

So, that might be a problem.

Anyone else reading this .. DO NOT allow an appeal to be found untimely without "good cause".

If you do, you're cooked. If you really can't find where to send an appeal or don't know how to appeal and on time, I can help you.

But I would feel like I'm taking candy from a baby.