I am currently on Unemployment but....

by D
(Houston)

I have been on unemployment for about a month now and I am required to perform three work searches per week, which I have. It took almost a month for unemployment to kick in and when it did I decided that I wanted to enroll in school so I could make a better future for myself. Once I did I contemplated whether or not I needed to let Unemployment know, because A) I was thinking that I did read in the UI benefits booklet that you can enroll in approved training and they will exempt you from actively searching for work or B) what if I tell them and they take away my benefits. I called and called the worksource and left several messages for the financial aid reps but never got a returned phone call. So me being the honest person that I am, told them I enrolled when requesting payment, they then put my wages on hold! So now it has been three weeks and still nothing. My online account with UI is still open but I can never reach anyone. Everytime I call the 800 number it says the lines are too busy and try again later. It is really a frustrating situation since a case worker has not contacted me yet so I can explain.



Hi,

Here's a piece of advice I was told by someone in California who was having trouble getting through to the unemployment department.

If there is a foreign language option .. opt for it. She was told by the person she spoke to that they aren't nearly as busy as the service representatives who are not bi-lingual.

She said she tried this out of desperation after she kept getting disconnected due to busy lines.