If she can spend it then it IS income. Whether she has to report the hours that she spends updating it or if the money that she earns affects her benefits that's another subject. It seems the DOL needs to update its policies to catch up with times.

Here's the thing that makes me upset.

She's been laid off for six months and she can't find a job in that time because she's looking for a paralegal job.

I have a problem with her receiving my dollars when she spends six months "looking for a job". Go flip burgers or something! Go earn SOME money while seeking out that specific job type you really want. But do SOMETHING, don't just sit on your fat ass holding out for a job that may never happen. If you have time to blog, and blog well enough to get enough ad impressions to earn $40/month blogging, you damn well have enough time to ring up my cup of coffee at a convenience store.

Income is defined as "the monetary payment received for goods or services, or from other sources, as rents or investments", so yes.

However, she should have gone to H&R Block, or read up more on tax laws before she blindly put down $100 as taxable income. There are minimum amounts before income from a single source is considered taxable. There should even be free tax consultation services for people who can't afford H&R Block.

She may not be a tax lawyer, but she never had to take a tax law course? Is she actually bar-certified, or is this why she can't find a job?

That is what ACORN is for. Tax dollars sent to them can tell you how to turn that $100 Google check into a down payment on your own brothel.

And I have to agree with Blarneypete. There should be some way to get these people some kind of work, and if they refuse because they're just too good to flip burgers, then they must be too good to receive unemployment benefits.

As an added bonus, I've heard plenty of stories about grocery store workers, fast food workers, etc, who will intentionally try to get fired. If they get fired, it's much easier to get unemployment benefits. So you take a couple of months of unemployment, then work at a grocery store for a few days until the guy fires you, and then you go back on the free stuff for another two months.

Just rip off the bandaid. It'll make us both feel better.

It's just a shame she got 'punished' for trying to be honest about what she's making. If she'd have kept quiet, the amount of money wouldn't have even shown up on the radar. I'd be more inclined to be upset if she was receiving full UE benefits AND making extra money on 'the side'. Investigate it sure, but don't cut off someone's ability to eat/live just because you're "not sure."

So let me get this straight, professionals shouldn't get Unemployment Benefits since they should just pick up any job they find, and non-professionals shouldn't get Unemployment Benefits because some people tend to abuse the system by purposely getting fired so they get the benefits... so who should get Unemployment Benefits?

You can't live with so little money, cut the girl some slack! But now that I think of it, she IS a lawyer.
I'm torn between my sympathy for the economic troubled people and my hatred of lawyers.

government institutions are generally Blind and Stupid. They will either blindly and stupidly ignore people they shouldn't or blindly and stupidly attack those they should not. That is their M O .

Would you feel sorry for someone who died of starvation because they only wanted steak and refused to eat the meatloaf sitting in front of them?


I'd compare it to car insurance. What if we didn't have car insurance, but instead had a small tax increase to cover everyone else's accidents, no matter what their skill was or what they were driving? I reckon people wouldn't care so much about running into each other or being a leech on the others around them. For the folks in the crappier vehicles, there is very little incentive to try your best. If you total your car, you get a new one provided by our taxes.

Now I ask you: Do you think this sounds like a good program for everyone, or should we go back to having people pay for their own insurance and having an incentive to do well?

It is income -- I mean it wouldn't be fair to treat her the same as people with truly no income.

At the same time though it isn't really fair to take away all benefits from her. I mean that would be kind of silly to say "we're taking away your $400 unless you give up your $100 job". You don't want to incentivize people to stop working...

@blarneypete: you're a moron. And you're obviously a low wage wannabe techie who hates on people who have higher earning power than you do. Maybe becuase you think you deserve to make more money...whatever. Quit whinning....I think maybe you should start pissing standing up; that way, maybe you would at least start LOOKING like a man.

When people pay their dues by putting long hours in university/professional work, they're NOT going to go back to high school work, especially if it takes them away from preparing for long and grueling interviews. Yes, professional interviews last in the HOURS, not minutes.

Nut up or shut up. nuff said.

Apparently you have never been unemployed in a recession. As one of the currently unemployed (I'm now in my 10th month of unemployment), allow me to educate you on the problem here: 1) where I live, there are few open jobs of the "burger flipping" type available anyway, and those go immigrants, high school students, and people who have no skills. McDonald's doesn't want to hire me even if they had a job open - I'm *way* too overqualified. 2) Looking for work is a full time job in and of itself, you just don't get paid for it. I spend at least 8 hours a day scouring sources for work, and I consider myself lucky if I find even one single job opening I am qualified for. If I had a burger flipping job, I couldn't conduct my job search to anywhere near the same level of detail.

Listen, you fucking retard, as I am only going to say this once; when you have spent as much time, as this Karen has, in school, you do not "go flip hamburgers". If she wanted to reduce herself to such a thing, there are many fast food restaurants, along with many other "stupid people" jobs that will look past her resume.

You do not put someone with intelligence and good work ethic into a shit job that all the morons in this world can do. Yeah, I might sound like a prick or a snob, but I refuse to waste my intelligence and hard work on a shit job. I also see no problem with this woman getting unemployment. She paid her taxes, and probably paid more in a month than you do in a year.

If I have paid a shit ton in taxes, then I expect to be able to live on the government when I fall on hard times. When I find a job to replace the one I lost, then that expectation goes away.

Why should I have to pay for lazy assholes to sit on their ass all day, doing the same thing they have their entire life(nothing), then listen to idiots, like yourself, tell me that I cannot reap some of the money I put into the pot?

"Apparently you have never been unemployed in a recession. As one of the currently unemployed (I'm now in my 10th month of unemployment), allow me to educate you on the problem here"

I have been unemployed during this recession and I couldn't find a job in my local area. Did I take benefits for being out of work? nope I opened my options nationally found a job in 3 days.

Do i feel sympathy for people that can't do that or don't have skills? nope.

Judging by the comments on here, I can tell a lot of you have never been on unemployment.

As far as unemployment benefits "coming out" of working peoples pockets, um, no. It's unemployment insurance that the employer pays, at least that's the way it is in Florida, where I am in my 9th month of collecting benefits.

As far as the lady in the story turning in the check - STUPID. Noble and honest maybe, but stupid. Should of just cashed it and kept it to herself, and no one would of been none the wiser.I figured it out long ago, once you have your payments set up and are collecting, DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING. Don't change banks if you get direct deposit, don't change addresses, don't change submit dates, don't change ANYTHING.

Nice and/or honest guys(gals) finish last.

Nor could you waste time posting on Toms Hardware and other sites. I suppose you didn't get any good leads today either. It must just be a string of bad luck. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

PS: Please don't cry on the forums (not directed at anyone in particular). We are interested in hearing your side of the discussion, but we don't need pity-parties based on how long you've been unemployed or how hard it is to find a high-paying job. If your current strategies aren't working, then maybe it's time to adapt.

It's as much an income,as when I'd earn $50 for helping out a friend fix his toilet!

Our bank account got closed by Bank of America, not because we had debt, but because we did not have any income coming into the account for 1 month!!!
How's that for American 'justice'?

Go figure the government like insurance companies doesn't want to pay. They should pay her the difference. But good old Government sharks who want to take and take and take and never return anything found a loophole not to pay that's nothing new. I would close the blog and take their 405 or your 405 you already paid for this with your taxes.

Wow, a government bureaucracy that can't figure out how to implement/enforce its own policies? NO! And these people to run health care?! HELL NO!

I've never really understood why people aren't willing to take low income jobs untill something better comes along. I sold insurance and was making good money, market crashes, I go in the hole from people dropping their policies. I spend a year working at a hotel, then finally get a job in the field which I got my degree in.

$405 a week though, that's more per week than someone making minimum wage. I don't understand that, if she has kids, it's understandable, otherwise, she should have to scale her lifestyle down further.

I've only had to depend on unemployment benefits once for approx. 2-3 months. Where I live, the amount you get is based on how much you've paid to social security in previous tax years, so you are only mooching off your own contributions. Also, you have to report at least four different job applications in your field of work per week, or you won't get any benefits for that week. In addition, they take income taxes out of your benefits. So, you are definitely motivated to find something quickly.

It's ridiculous to say that someone who is unemployed should go flip burgers. You aren't required to do that by the state because they understand that you need to find a job that is 1) in your field, and 2) something close to your qualified pay scale. Ultimately you will be contributing far more back to the gov't than what they are paying you for unemployment. As long as you are actively seeking employment, then you should be allowed to benefit from your past hard work.

As for this girl, she shouldn't have reported the money as others have said. Most likely she'll start receiving benefits again, but she'll have to suffer a bit while the bureaucrats sort things out.

This is how it works in Canada as well.

Many people also claim other Government assistance as well, which does come out of our tax monies.

I have to agree with a few people on here... this girl should get her ass into the local Mc Puke's and work for min wage. Shes holding out for a great job. SHES A DAMN LAWYER! no jobs out there?

This might just give us some insight on why there are so many frivolous lawsuits. Lawyers are feeling the pinch just like everyone else and will do anything to keep the funds rolling in.

Aww poor girl. Am I supposed to feel sorry for her?

She can't just take any job- you can count on the fact that she needs to work as a lawyer to pay off school loans. flipping burgers won't cut it. And while paying off said loans, she isn't living big. Even if she makes $!00k a year, her disposable income is going to probably be less than that burger flipper that lives with mom. And lets not forget that the job flipping burgers is probably getting a lot of applications. most fast food and retail managers will tell this lawyer she's overqualified.

[citation]SHES A DAMN LAWYER! no jobs out there?[/citation]
There are thousands of lawyers out of work, if not tens of thousands, most with more qualifications and job experience than this recent grad. And it's not easy to get a job as a lawyer by the way. I do feel sorry for her, as I do with any one out of work who's looking for it. There are always external factors that come in to play when one determines whether a job is suitable for a person or not. A lot of times, you just can't take anything or taking a job will end up costing a person more than just not working.

I'm not a lawyer, I'm a sysadmin. But I remember my interview for my current job. 8 hours straight with 7 people because people had schedules to keep and didn't care about mine- I needed to be available when they were. I got my personality assessed (which I sorta turned against them, given I have a degree in Psychology), given technical tests, designed sample solutions, and all kinds of other crap. That sucked. But I did get an offer by 8:30pm...

Who would hire a lawyer were she is over-qualified. I if being an employer would feel a bit worried about hiring someone with knowledge of the law...

lawsuit anyone?

Good for you, but some people can't search nationally or even outside their immediate region- they are tied to an area due to family ties, or don't want to uproot their kids from good schools where they're flourishing. Or they can't sell their house (or don't want to). Not everyone can be as flexible as you are.

You don't get the maximum benefit automatically. You need to earn a certain amount for a certain amount of time to get the maximum benefit. In any case, it's quite a shock to be making even $50,000 a year (not uncommon in NYC or SF) and then have to all of a sudden scale back to the equivalent of half that. Imagine how tough it would be to work your way up to being a $100k earner who had to scale back to 25% of their salary even if you weren't extravagant, living well within your means, saving for retirement- your financial plans are going to get decimated as you look for a new job. Generally, when you gain employment you generally believe it will last a while- it's the only way to make big purchases like a home or even a car. So for those that lose a job they need, I do feel a great deal of sympathy, regardless of how much they made.

you know what, fuck you, ive been unemployed for a year, and i cant even find a job here in florida flipping burgers. its nasty fucks like you with your selfish thinking as to why we have this situation. and as to your dollars paying unemployment, you truly are a fucking idiot. just by having a job you are paying into your own unemployment, that and your last employer pay it. thats why some poeple get more than others, it depend on what you put in.

i only hope you have to walk a mile in our shoes, and this situation is terrible to wish on anyone.