I didn’t know I could file?????

I quit/fired from my job in March of 2017. Have struggled to find work. Its September 2017 and haven’t found a job. Someone told me I could file for unemployment benefits. I have and am waiting for the adjudicator to contact me. Initially they said “not know you couldn’t file” is not a proper excuse for not filing. But that is my reason!!! I’m 57yrs old, my husband of31 years just moved out and I need these benefits! What is a proper way of saying “I didn’t know”???

It’s not a good reason for backdating your claim

Not knowing .. is a reason people often use to explain what the do, or don’t do and concerning their unemployment insurance benefits, but those benefits are premised on rules concerning UI laws in individual states.

To get to the point of your question, I don’t know of one proper alternative way to explain “I didn’t know”, to get the result I suspect you’re hoping for from the unemployment department .. to either hurry this initial claim adjudication stuff up, or to ignore your mistake from March and backdate your claim now so you might receive back pay for all those weeks you didn’t have an active claim, or file each week to receive benefits.

Can’t fix that problem for you ..

However .. unless you were laid off for a lack of work, what I think you should be solely focused on is either the burden of good cause to quit a job, or the burden an employer must prove as fact if you were fired .. misconduct.

Sorry to hear about your marital circumstances, but it really has no bearing on the circumstances you’ve shared about why you didn’t file for unemployment when you first could have.

Chris – Unemployment-Tips.com