Hi, I have a friend that called me last night with a question that I didn't have an answer to so I told her I would reach out to this great community. She had a baby just last week. She's currently collection unemployment. From the hospital she had to call the unemployment office for her 2 week call and while doing so she changed her Dependents to 1 because of her new addition. Then she received a letter saying that she needs to have a phone call with an unemployment representative tomorrow. The note stated that she's not able to work due to her son's birth. She's very stressed out that they're not going to pay her now until she's able to work again, and possibly have to receive a note from her Dr. stating whenever that might be. She had a c-section and it could be some time and she's anxiety ridden because of possibly having to go that time without any unemployment income. She was only working part time when she was laid off and would not have received maternity leave by her company. I wanted to give her answers that would aleviate her stress but have no clue. Do any of you moms have any insight?? THANKS!
I do believe that to be eligible for unemployment benefits one MUST be able to work, right then if offered a job. To be honest she needs to call the state labor board to "get it from the horses mouth".
If she is low income she can apply for temporary aid from the state along with food stamps and medical cards for herself and the kiddo.
Yep all of the responses hit it pretty good. She cannot actively be looking for work and be aviable to start work anytime after just having a baby so she cannot collect.
Unemployment varies state by state. I know in Delaware & New Jersey the law is written so that you answer questions regarding whether or not you've actually been seeking work while collecting unemployment benefits. If she's in the hospital giving birth she's clearly not seeking employment, right? Unless she has some form of disability insurance to cover her maternity leave, she's most likely not going to be covered.
Her concerns are correct. In order to receive unemployment you have to be employable and, at present, she cannot work so she cannot receive unemployment.
I worked in an call center for an unemployment agency in TN. There are requirements to receive unemployment. One of them is that you have to be able and actively seeking employment. I know she can't do that with her newborn baby. Unfortunately she will not be able to receive unemployment until she is actively seeking work.
Typically drs release you to go "back to work" after a c-section at your 8 week checkup. Vaginal is 6 weeks. So, she will probably not be able to collect for that at least that 8 weeks of time.
They also may ask her to verify that she has acceptable childcare so that she is considered "employable". As other mamas said below unemployment insurance is to be collected while you are actively seeking employment and looking to start back to work, not to stay home and raise a child. If she is collecting without looking and/or being prepared to work she is committing fraud and could face re-payment of all benefits as well as fines. If she is audited she will have to PROVE that she was applying to jobs (usually between 2-5 PER WEEK, depending on the state).
It sounds harsh, but it seems like she is taking advantage of unemployment. What was her plan for income when she was employed part-time with no paid maternity? That should be her same plan.
She may qualify for WIC or foodstamps since she will have no income. It depends on the household income so if she's married or living with someone that will factor in.
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ETA: I just saw you're Chicago. IL doesn't have state disability for maternity. She can apply for the link card and maybe emergency child care. Also they have "kidcare" and familycare insurance that in some cases can be retroactive 3 months.
In order to receive unemployment benefits, you have to NOT be too sick or injured to work and ACTIVELY APPLYING and seeking work.
She just gave birth. She is not entitled to unemployment benefits. What her doctor needs to do is fill out the paperwork for her to receive state disability benefits until she has recovered from the birth. The amount she receives will be based on previous income. Once she is cleared by her doctor to return to work, then she can apply for unemployment benefits. However, she has to actively be seeking work and sign forms, under penalty of perjury, that she is really doing so.
That's how it works in California anyway....
Her doctor should have the forms in his office to file for disability for her.
Best wishes to her and congratulations on her baby.
I think that most likely what is happening is that they are putting her through the procedure and will verify that she has given birth on date xyz and she will not receive an interruption of her benefits.
They probably have to make everyone (male or female) go through the same procedure to verify why they are hospitalized. (After all she could be a 250 lb. man who got injured building a 20 ft. wall making $4000 under the table, right?)
I went through the EXACT same situation. I was told I can not receive benefits until I got a note from the doctor that I coyld return to work.
Unfortunately she may not be able to collect. Part of the condition of unemployment is that you need to be actively seeking employment, and if you are not then you do not collect.
She may be able to collect other benefits such as disability or something, but her unemployment may stop if she cannot actively seek employment.
One of the requirements for collecting unemployment is actively looking for a job and being employable. Normally you need to fax them a certain number of places you've applied for the week. So, if she's still recovering and not applying then she's not able to collect. I was in a similar situation except I was laid off when I was around four months pregnant, collected unemployment for maybe a week then found a temp job that lasted until I gave birth. I didn't re-apply for unemployment until a couple months after that when I started another job search.
She can collect disability. She needs to get in touch with the disability office and file asap. She should have done this a month ago in anticipation of the birth but it is not too late. I was laid off a month before I was going to have my son. I got 4 weeks disaibility before his birth, 8 weeks after, and then 99 weeks of unemployment.
I'm sorry that this is rough. But it's not the tax payers responsibility to give her a paid maternity leave. I hope she can figure it out. What was she planning to do before she was laid off?
She's probably going to have to apply for disability for her maternity leave. When you collect unemployment you have to be available to accept work and you are supposed to look for work. HOpefully she has someone she can borrow some money from until the disability kicks in. Congrats on her new arrival!
Much like if she were working and went on maternity leave, the company wouldn't have paid her for the 6-8 weeks that she would be technically, medically "unable" to work. Same goes for unemployment. In Illinois, natural childbirth is 6 weeks of unpaid leave and 8 weeks for C-section.
Her doctor will have to fill out the medical FMLA-type paperwork that stipulates how many weeks she'll be considered "unable." After that time, if she is still unable to find a new job so that she can get away from unemployment, she'll start receiving benefits again.
Hopefully, she'll be able to take some of her time off from unemployment to find a new source of income and then she won't have to worry about the unemployment office!
How was she able to collect unemployment before the birth of her child?
In our state, as well as most, you can not collect unemployment if you're not working due to medical reasons. You can only collect unemployment if you are available for work.
Based on the information you've provided, she will NOT be able to collect any more unemployment benefits and in addition she may have to pay back any amounts that she has already received in she collected them fraudently.
