by Jim
(Florida)
I took a medical leave of absence from my school bus job to care for a mentally retarded family member who was denied SSI and needs nursing home care . (I have not worked in 4 weeks, and because I was only earning part time wages driving bus, I was granted a continuation of unemployment benefits from an old claim filed last year before I found the bus job). This week, the school paid me $750 in back wages which had accumulated in an old Flex-Spending account. Q: Do I need to claim this money as “wage” when I fill out this weeks claim form… as these wages were earned before I was on unemployment? I’m receiving them 6 months late. I dont want to trigger a hearing/appeal as this would take months to settle during which time I would have no income. Plus, the Florida web site says it is a Felony not report wages. I really dont want to go to jail…but I need to buy heart medications and food. The amount of $375 refunded is more than my weekly benefits of $300. Will this disqualify me for this 2 week reporting period or will this mess up my entire claim? In desperate shape here.
Oh Jim, that is a great question .. and I’m not sure I know the answer .. let me rephrase that .. I don’t know the answer for sure:)
Flex spending accounts aren’t included in my “favorite resource”.
My instinct is to say yes, you need to report it. As to how you report it, that’s another question. When you receive two weeks vacation pay in a lump sum you’re suppose to report as two separate weeks, so how do you report a payroll deduction that comes back to you as a lump sum? It took longer than two weeks to fill the account with that much money .. I hope you understand my quandary.
I would be ever so appreciative if you let us know when you find the answer.
Is everyone in Florida using this handy dandy “ask a question” page?
MyFlorida.com “Get Answers page. I checked. There’s five question under “workforce innovations”. I want to know if it really works.