was only at orientation for a job but did not accept, can they take away unemployment benefits?

My Fiance has been on unemployment and doing his job searches regularly and a few months ago had an opportunity for a job in the same occupational field of "truck driving" with less income than he was making but thought he would check into it anyway, the job add didn't even state the company name until he went in for orientation. That day they had him fill out paper work in order for them to give him exact job description details so he did that and during orientation they explained he would have to do a different job within the company and at a different rate of pay which was about half that amount, at that time he knew he didnt have to accept the position because it was going door to door advertising and wasnt even in the same field and rate of pay that he had been working with so he did not accept the position. He now just received authorization to go through the schooling program through unemployment after waiting on all that paper work for over a month now and now that company is coming back and showing that he was hired for that day of orientation & now unemployment is trying to say he might have to pay all the unemployment back and may not be eligible for the schooling benefits. Is there anything we should know or can they even take away the benefits if that happened?



Hi,

Well yes there is. Apparently that company reported him as a "new hire" through either the state or federal "new hire" reporting system.

If he has received a determination stopping benefits or they are now going to investigate the matter .. the issue is whether that work was "suitable work".

What you need to do now is find your state's unemployment statutes which address this issue .. most times you'll find the information which describes what "suitable work" is under "Disqualification of Benefits" or something else not quite so ominous.

Since I don't know what state you are located in .. there's not much more I can tell you except prior training, experience, and rate of pay may play an essential part in making work "unsuitable". A state may also have additional descriptive provisions which tell you that any work might become suitable after a certain period of unemployment.

Additionally, I would ask if he received any money for that day of orientation.