Haven’t received a decision from the Referee for my PA unemployment appeal

How long are people waiting in Pennsylvania to get their appeal decision for PA unemployment.

Hi,

Since I haven’t heard from anyone lately about PA being particularly slow with issuing referee hearing decisions, I found the following general answer on PA’s unemployment appeal info page, so you’ll know if it’s been too long and you need to do something more.

Upon closing the record, the Referee (in a lower authority appeal) or the Board (in a higher authority appeal) reviews the record and applies the appropriate laws and regulations to the specific facts of the case. Depending upon the type of case, the facts involved, and the research required, Referee decisions are usually issued within 30 – 45 days after the appeal was filed. Board decisions are usually issued within 45 – 75 days after the further appeal was filed. The Referees and the Board all strive to issue their decisions as soon as possible.

Chris – Unemployment-Tips.com

First let me clear something up about Pennsylvania unemployment representation. The state doesn’t require a claimant, or an employer to obtain lawyers for unemployment appeal cases anymore, as long as an appeal is still within the jurisdiction of the administrative UIlaw agency. At least this had been the case, since the PA legislature changed the language of it’s UI statutes to take care of the mess caused by the Harkness decision, which happened to make my job as a hearing coordinator a lot harder for a couple years in the early 2000’s.

So .. I googled your question to see if I could find some free unemployment help in Pennsylvania.

If you qualify monetarily .. and/or the time is right for a law student to help, it might be worth your time to look into the info I found at the PLA (Philadelphia Legal Assistance).

Does anyone know a free unemployment lawyer that can help me at the king of Prussia referees office I have to find one before Thursday

Yes thank you I just saw the notice I looked at the list it says I can bring up other issue, as far as the company I worked for they wrote a letter to unemployment saying it was a clinical error and that I was indeed laid off , I hope unemployment still doesn’t fight me on this issue

I am gonna start over , i was let go from my job cause i failed a drug test, i showed the mro my prescription i had , the employer wanted to see it also when i went home to get it they called me and told me the mro failed me , i dont know icf he gave the company a copy of the script i showed him but now unemployment isnt giving me my benefits , i appealed it and gave them a copy of my prescription to show i didnt do anything elegal
I sent that through email and the email came up the name i wanted to name my.bussiness i never got any clients it something i was tring to start but never worked if it did i would rsport wages to unemployment , they mailed me a questionnaire i sent it back , i got a call from the appeals office talkimg about this bussiness they think i had they even searched my facebook page there wasnt any activity just a picture i posted in 2017 that was from a company i worked for in 2014
Why didnt he question me about the company that let me go and just on this bussiness , does everyone concider this a hearing or well i get a hearing date in the mail.

Hi,

That email address raised questions about your ability and availability to look for and/or accept suitable work.

Could be the prescription, if it explains the legal use, of the drug that caused your employer to say you failed and fired you, explained well enough, to show why you weren’t guilty of misconduct, but that is a separate issue.

Been a while since I’ve received a PA hearing notice to look at, but it used to be the notice of hearing mentioned the number (3) of any issue that needed to be addressed at a hearing, but also stated any other issue not listed could be applicable.

Along with the notice of a referee hearing, was sent a list of .. I think it was 63 issues, so one could look up the issues listed by #, on the front of the hearing notices, just so one could inform themselves of what issues they should prepare for.

By any chance do you still have the hearing notice .. and or the list of issues?

Okay, I’m sort of clueless too, as to how the self employment thing became the only issue the referee wanted to address at your hearing.

Sure would be helpful if people would tell me the precise language used by a state on the determinations they appeal.

What I can tell you is this. PA tends to be a stickler about people collecting while conducting a side business. Of course when someone starts a business, the generally register the business through a state also ..

But, if what you were trying to tell me is PA was clueless you might be self employed until someone noticed you were emailing them from an email with your businesses name .. I’ve got to ask, why would you do that?

When someone is collecting or even trying to collect unemployment benefits and all on their own they provide the information that indicates they may be self employed, it raises another, but real conditional eligibility requirement to collect benefits.

That is that one must be able and available to not just look for “covered employment” (covered by unemployment insurance) while unemployed and but be available to accept a suitable job if offered.

It’s the whole idea that gives rise to the questions about the issue of A&A (able and available).

Questions are focused on learning if the claimant is actually looking for a job per the requirements of the state .. and if so, are they really willing to accept a suitable job, if one comes along and give up all the hard work that goes into starting your own business.

I don’t know about PA, but in other states, if one had a business, but they worked concurrently for an employer full time at the same time .. that’s an argument, because it can explain why the suspicion of the state, that the the claimant isn’t A&A (able and available).. is just that, a suspicion, after making the valid point you did both as an employee.

Sidenote .. Don’t anyone ever forget to report self employment earnings while filing continuing claims. Forgetting to do that sort of thing, raises another issue of suspicion in all states, and it’s usually called “misrepresentation of material fact” .. or in unemployed layman terms a question of whether the claimant committed unemployment fraud, or if their forgetfulness, should only subject them to the consequences of a state’s recovery provisions .. for a non-fraud overpayment.

I dont understand how this appeal thing works I got denied for benefit cause i failed a urine test that I had a prescription I appealed it through email my claim say my claim is under an appeal I well get a call from the refs office 2 weeks ago i got a letter about a business I tried starting in my name i told them it was the name of my email i tried starting a business but never worked out I been working out of my union hall steady they past 5 years I got a call from the refs office yesterday but we talked about the business name not about the job I was let go from do I have a phone hireing or am I gonna get a hiring date

I had quit my job back in Feb 2017 due to health conditions. I originally received that I was approved for Unemployment then in the same week end of Feb I received a denial letter. The denial letter stated I was denied because my employer was unaware of my health conditions.

I am a service connected veteran and they have all my service connections. I emailed the appeal March 11th, 2017 and still haven’t heard anything. What should I do. I am still filing my bi-weekly claims . I don’t know what to do next because that money would help out me and my family.

Not sure what the time frame is for the referee to set up a hearing. Please help.

Hi Anonymous,
They typical time frame for a hearing to be docketed, from the date the appeal is received is about three to six weeks out.

If you appealed in March and still don’t have a hearing date, you need to contact someone, likely the claim department to see if your appeal was even received.

This is just one situation for why I recommend faxing an appeal whenever possible, because faxing produces a transmittal that shows the date and time an appeal was faxed timely as well as the correct # the appeal was faxed to.

You’d be surprised how many times I used a transmittal as the proof needed to address an issue of whether an appeal was made timely, when a state added the issue as bonus .. so to speak to the other issues listed on a notice of hearing.

In PA, you should get a list of issues with any NOH .. I think in all, there somewhere around 63 issues in total for the state to pick from when they add the issues of concern to the front of the hearing notice, like this … #11, #15, #17 etc.

Hello, I filed my uc claim and received 1.5 pays before I received notice that I needed to appeal the decision on the claim as I have a small sideline business which had not filed the taxes for at the time of the original claim. I made much more money at the position I was laid off from then my personal business so I do not think it will effect much of the amount of my claim. I went through the appeal process over two weeks ago and the judge sounded as though it would go in my favor (the people at career link also agreed it would more then likely go in my favor) Anyhow I haven’t heard anything as of yet and when I try to file my biweekly claim online it won’t allow me and just states it’s in appeal process. Does this mean I am totally screwed and have to have them contact my employer again for a new claim? I am so confused. Thanks!

Hi,

No, I do not think no decision yet, ever means one has to now have the state contact an employer again, or a new claim must be filed to fix the problem.

In fact, I doubt the state would let you do the latter.

Your issue doesn’t sound to of been a separation issue, but whether your self employment and/or or the money you receive from it affects conditional eligibility requirement, to include such things as reporting how much from SE when filing continuing claim to collect even, a partial benefit amount. Or, if the SE itself makes you conditionally ineligible because it effectively makes you not able and available to look for .. or the kicker, accept another suitable job .. if/when one is offered.

Pennsylvania UI law can be a touch tough on the self employed .. if anyone is asking me. However, it can depend on what the SE was. Freelance writers for instance have a tough go .. and regardless of the cause of a separation from a job.

But, on a positive note, many states, including the typically tough one to get benefits from that I live in, out west would allow benefits to someone who worked a full time job .. gets laid off for a lack of work, and can also prove they carried on SE concurrently, while holding that full time job down. I wouldn’t expect problems .. unless they failed to disclose the SE the time they are asked about any SE, or when they applied for benefits .. which can make it seem as if they were trying to hide the fact they also worked for themselves.

If it was me who had a hearing two weeks ago and I’d not yet received the PA referee decision, my first step would be to grab my hearing notice and call that referee’s office. I would inquire of whomever answers the phone, if they can know whether a hearing decision has been issued yet. If not, I’d ask if they know what the hold up might be .. and go from there.

My point .. the fate of your benefits now, and in the future are in limbo, at least until you receive the hearing decision.

You need a determination to appeal to a referee hearing and a hearing decision to know whether you can start collecting again, or to file an appeal a hearing decision .. in your case the next appeal would go to the Pennsylvania Unemployment Insurance Review Board if benefits are still denied.

Chris

Can anyone tell me what your claim status states when you qualify or are receiving benefits?

I filed an appeal and it stated that my claim is under appeal. Now it states, my initial claim has been processed, please continue to file your biweekly claims. What does that mean? I still haven’t received my hearing outcome. Thanks

Hi,

Although I am not sure why you would need to know what your claim status states .. when you would know better than me .. since it is your claim .. I’ll take a guess about what you want to know.

If you’re asking why it’s telling you to continue filing bi-weekly after your claim was initially denied, and I would assume it was denied because you said you filed the appeal, you must continue to claim you’re entitled to collect benefits bi-weekly, even while you wait for the referee hearing date, to get any potential backpay for those weeks you’re wait for a hearing to be docketed and the notice of hearing sent with the date, time and place .. and up to the point a hearing decision is finally issued on .. whatever the issue was that was responsible for you appealing in the first place.

Chris – Unemployment-Tips.com

Hello! Your site is great! **link to Halloween site deleted** blog and want to publish one of your article on it if it’s possible?

I will link at you after publishing! Thanks for answering!

What’s wrong with you spam posters?

Why would I even want a Halloween website, a niche totally irrelevant to collecting unemployment benefits, to link to Unemployment-Tips.com .. especially in 2015 .. aka, a post google penguin-panda world?

Hello, I received a letter in the mail saying that I won my appeal. I am in PA. I was let go on 12-10-13 and am just receiving this on 6-5-14. I didn’t realize that you had to keep filing bi-weekly claims. Will I get back pay or will UC start over again? Thanks

Backpay for all those months you didn’t follow the instructions in the PA claimant handbook is unlikely, at best because there is no good cause .. other than you didn’t know, but the instructions (usually sent to someone right after they file the claim) made you aware of the requirement to file each week, regardless of determined eligible, or not.

But, if you’re still unemployed and have not subsequently been disqualified from a new job in the last six months, you should be able to reopen the claim for the regular 26 weeks of benefits paid in any given benefit year.

Sorry, I don’t see the leap to railroaded, and if you’re still waiting for the referee’s decision .. you don’t know this to be true yet either.

Although I understand you may of had to do all that abbreviating to squeeze in the details into a 3,000 word or less question, incomprehensible details frequently prevented making helpful points and instead, resulted in brushes with one of my faults ..

The timeliness issue and the question about why the service rep didn’t let you know it didn’t all come through, is what stuck out and sort of rubbed me the wrong way.

Really? it should be a claim reps’s job to look out for our best interests and protect us from something we filed to ensure for ourselves?

Did you at least provide the fax transmittal, which verifies how many pages went through as your evidence of a timely appeal for the hearing?

Sounds like the issue of timeliness must of been listed on the hearing notice.

It’s also important to check the issues over, as this is the first order of business to prepare to win a hearing.

Proving timely appeals is easy stuff when you are timely and take the time to ready yourself by presuming you will have to prove timeliness.

It is a common issue found on lower level appeal notice for not only claimants, but more often employers .. who appeal benefits quite frequently.

Hello, I also have been denied unemp in Pa. The reason I was denied was because they say I did not file the appeal in time. However I did but they claim to have not received it. I am out of work for medical reasons and am eligible for unemp. I am not currently getting any disability benefits because they have been exhausted. I rcvd my denial letter on feb 25th. Appeal deadline was 03/12. When i called on 02/26 i was told to draw up my own letter stating the reason for appeal and send any proof that i had to fight my case. So on 03/05 i faxed the drawn up letter and medical pprwrk. Now the reason I sent the med pprwrk us because whn i spk to a uc srvc cntr rep on 2/26 he told me the reason for denial was that i chkd off that i was totally disabled and not available for work. My pprwrk from my Doc states that i can work but very limited. They bypassed that and denied me all together cuz they said they only got the med records and nothing else by the deadline?? Why didnt my Rep at the uc srvc center call me to let my know she only got med records and not the most important form?I called on 3/10 and they told me everything was received. I would have gladly resent it ! I just feel that im really being railroaded. I did everything whn and how i was told to do it but keep meeting road blocks. They are quick to deny but slow to help and whn u call the service center some of the reps are so nasty for no reason. I went to appeal hearing last week and the referee was not too friendly herself and she spent the whole 20 mibs trying to find holes in my story. I felt confident but this waiting is killing me. Does it seem like i have a good case? All my ducks were in a row. Thank you for your input.

I filed for unemployment on Nov 13.

PA mailed my letter to Ga because I lost my job in Pa and had to move back to Ga.

By the time the appeal letter made it to me it was to late to appeal.

I called them, they said something about a referee will be contacting me.

Well I haven’t heard anything from anyone in PA since First of Jan. anyone have any ideas on what’s goin on????

Yes, I do, but I’m not sure if my idea is on track for what really happened .. because you didn’t explain very well.

First, referees don’t send appeal letters, they hear appeals on a certain day an time after all parties are properly notified with a notice of hearing. (NOH).

Then after the hearing they issue a hearing decision. If someone doesn’t agree with their conclusion of facts, or because they weren’t able to appear and therefore, not offer testimony and/or evidence, the non-appearing party may appeal to a board of review citing good cause for the non-appearance and request the matter be remanded back now to the tribunal level for a de novo hearing, or maybe an additional referee hearing to submit evidence and offer testimony.

In your case, it sounds like you’re telling me you received the hearing notice in GA, but too late, to appear for the hearing by phone.

And that you called someone in PA who said something that made you think a hearing referee would be calling you about this.

No Way a referee will call you, unless they are calling you to participate in a hearing.

PA referees are not allowed to talk to any of the parties to an appeal outside the hearing due to the fact PA prohibits them from ex parte communications.

So, any question I might ask for a free evaluation, would pertain to whether when you did receive the hearing decision from the hearing you missed .. was responded to with an appeal to the board of review to request a remand due to your non-appearance being due to the late arrival of the first notice of hearing sent by the state of PA.

Chris

Uncross your fingers because i got the long awaited decision today and i won my appeal. Thanks for all the help and advice. My case was very tough and i see why it took so long. But one thing i can say is that PA is a uc friendly state they looked at the case and found what was needed to award me a decisionFor all of you guys that feel and know you were wrongly terminated a word of advice is dont give up and fight it all the way. This is the same advice i recieved from people on this site and it worked i won and am so happy.

Congratulations!!

However, my fingers are permanently crossed. Good thing I don’t promise I’ll hold my breath:)

Well i took your advice and contacted the generals office.Today i got a call from the uc office and was told the letters we typed up and will be sent out today and i will get my decision no later then weds.Wow isnt that something. Now comes the hard part of keeping my fingers crossed till then and hope for the decision i need and the check i need.

Good .. and because it can’t hurt .. I’ll keep mine crossed for you too:))

Yes i agree and weds evening i called uc again and got the same answer. i contacted the attorney general thru email and am going to the office friday in person because im not gonna sit around and wait for them to respond i know they are busy so i will go in person.I just dont understand why its taking so long.I really need my money

5 weeks since appeal hearing

I think it’s time to step up the pressure and contact your state attorney general’s office.

It’s been too long.

well called the office again and still no word.

Really .. how long has it been since the hearing?

very well said i will keep everyone updated on my outcome.Thanks for your kind opinions and knowledge.

Thanks alot i will give them this last week to see what happens and after that i will call. Whats your opinion on the matter? Do you think i will win?

From the little you’ve told me, I can only say if you don’t win .. I think you should look into a board appeal.

What we keep under our own control when it comes to getting unemployment is basically our own attitudes about going all out to make compelling arguments for benefits supported by evidence.

But there can be a lot out of our immediate control, not the least of which is that those that are supposed to be the impartial judge of facts sometimes manipulate those ignorant of the hearing procedure or simply don’t allow for a full development of the facts of a case. And not all can be counted on to remain impartial when it comes down to the decision ..

But you thought it went well .. so let’s go with that:)

All I know, is the more you know about how to be an effective pro se participant at a hearing the more power you have to compel the findings of that individual making the decision .. because they know you know .. what’s up.

I called every week and sometimes twice a week to hear them say they are backed up and to just wait. Im backed up as well. Does anyone have a thought on my situation?

Yes, when the unemployment department tells people to wait beyond what is reasonable and what is beyond the federal guideline for resolving appeals (about 30 days) I tell them to call the office of your state attorney general .. that’s who oversees and is ultimately responsible that state agencies remain in compliance.

It’s worked those in FL that have to deal with this kind of stuff all the time .. so it ought to work for you in PA which is actually a far more claimant friendly state.

Pennsylvania Attorney General

I had my appeal hearing three weeks ago.before the ref left he said i would get my decision in two weeks now its going on a month. I was fired for a no call no show. i called both days and had phone records to proove it. so i feel i have a good case. My daughter was sick and i had to stay home two days to watch her i called in friday and mon, the boss said i never called. Thats when i pulled out the records. His deffense was i didnt talk to the right supervisor which was him. not my immediate boss which is the floor supervisor that hands out all the assignments makes the schedules and calls me when im at home to ask me to come in early or stay late. it just so happens that that thursday he wrote me up for a bogus incident and i refused to sign it and that friday i was out and monday im fired by him for no call no show.

Better call the referee office listed on your hearing notice to find out if the decision has been sent because these things to get lost in the mail or overlooked.

I am in the same position, its incredibly ironic how they (referee’s office) set dates and timelines but cant provide you a date when you will receive their letter. Did you eventually receive your letter.