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Unemployment Benefits...

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Peanut Chaser

Active member
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Posts
27
When furloughed...are you eligible for unemployment bennies, and if so, as a commuter what state do you collect from (companies SOC state, or the state in which you reside)?
 
You are eligible after being furloughed. The state will require that you have earned a certain amount, and have been employed for 18 mos (I think) before the furlough.


You will collect benefits where you live. Which I assume is where you have been paying taxes.

Of course the amount varies from state to state, and the above criteria only affects the amount you get.
 
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unemployment beni's

Another thing to check into with unemployment is job training. The EDD in your state should provide training to help you find other jobs. Here in California, they will put money towards another type rating, 737, CE-550 etc if you follow certain steps. I think here in California they put up 5k like a grant to help get you retrained. The program is funded at all 3 levels : Fed, state and local. It's called intesive services if I remember correctly. PM me if you have more questions. I went through this stuff about a year ago. Hope that helps!
 
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Remember the unemployment benefits do not come from the government. It is unemployment insurance paid by the company that furloughed you. I know people who think it is "unethical" to live on unemployment but I would encourage milking it. They were the best times of my life =)
 
Bullshit about being "unethical". You do what you need to do when you are either laid off or furloughed. No one else is going to blow your trumpet so it might as well be you. Did you not pay your taxes, insurance and SS? If the answer is yes, then you definitely milk it, my friend!!
 
My Story,

I was furloughed exactly one year ago. I live in So Cal. My last 7 months before the furlough I had to take a base in St. Louis Mo. The EDD uses some type of quarter system, and so they can look up, based on your social security number, to which state your benefits apply. In my case, even though I have always lived in California, and Cal. has a relatively higher payout/week. I only received 3quarters worth out of california. Which , i just recently exhausted. Now, I can file in Missouri for the remainder,which I did, but MO. has a very low ( almost half) EDD payout.
I'm also looking at paying for a type rating to help me look for corporate jobs, however ( Please correct me if I am wrong). Everyone tells me that there are no longer any programs that pay for retraining for airline folks.
Seems it only lasted for 2 years after 9/11, and all retraining funds/sources have been exhausted.

To be honest , I can't believe I'm still looking, therefore I never thought I'd be on EDD for so long.

Cheers,

s.a.
 
JetDriver2000

Sorry to hear about yr furlough - sad fact of life in this business I'm afraid. I've been there many times and finally figured out the only "stable" airlines are not in the U.S., unfortunately.
I was laid off almost 3 years ago when my Part 121 went tits up after 2 years of Chap 11. I had my unemployment extended TWICE by the federal government and like you, thought, it would not take me long to get back into the saddle. After all I was current, had 3 years continuous employment under my belt (believe me that's a lot in this industry) and had a good network of friends/co-workers. If that wern't enough, I was fortunate in getting $14,000 out of the federal govt's WIA program to get another type rating to make me more marketable. I was successful in achieving this and being current on 2 aircraft with time on both. However, it did me NO good whatsoever as I remained unemployed with no interviews for almost 16 months. So much for that scheme. And I was not the only one.
Not sure whta the exact figures were, but the govt did and audit and found out that the training organizations were milking the system, large sums were handed over, people completed their training and applied to companies that were supposedly hiring (I could write a book on what I experienced) but did not get jobs, not even interviews. So.....when the money ran out, so did the opportunities! About a year after this, another agency approached me offering help. I was brutally honest with them, told them I had already received funding but if people wanted to play games, I would collect type ratings if that was all I could do, kind of like a permanent student. What they did then was to tell me all the rules had changed. Now you had to get a letter from a potential employer saying categorically that they would hire you but only if you obtained a specific type rating. In my case, I already had several and was ready to work but how would I get a letter like that when the very same companies were ignoring your resumes and cover letters. Again, I was not the only person in this position.
After my unemployment ran out, I was snapped up by an overseas carrier and was back in the saddle almost immediately. Thet even paid for a B747 type rating a year later.
Not the news you want to hear but it's important for you to know ALL the facts even the not so pretty ones. I have no idea what schemes are around in the US right now - probably none based on what went on a few years ago. I would look at all your options incl. working overseas if applicable, back to the ANG, instruction whatever if you still want to fly. Or.....get out of flying and do something more stable. This probably will not be the first time you get furloughed/laid off. The average is 3 times in a career!
Good luck in whatever you decide.
747driver
 
B757driver

I was laid off from a 121 Boeing 757 operator almost three years ago. The government bought me a type. It got me into a job flying a king air and they bought me another type but they went out of business before I ever saw the plane. Now I am trying to get another type out of the government and they are running out of excuses on why not. In the mean time I have been building houses and doing well at it. In the end success in another field is the biggest career killer. My insurance agent was a United pilot who was laid off in the late 70's. He started a successful insurance agency during his furlough and had to turn them down when the company called him back. He is happy that he never went back but still sad that his dream died.


Skyline
 
Like I said many times before, you have to make the decision that is best for you and your family. The choices are tough. There is no such thing as loyalty in the airline business and hasn't been for quite a while. Therefore, you do what you need to do to pay the bills, stay sane and keep going.
One thing that I know for sure and that is if I had known what I now know when I first started in this business, I NEVER would have chosen it as a "career", no way, no how. But now, I know no other and I've been fortunate in being able to continue flying overseas, be it at a price (away from home for long periods).
Interestingly, I have NEVER had a problem getting contract work overseas - only in America where I am not considered "competitive" enough even to fly a 737. It's all bullshit! I'm flying a B747 all around the world and I had NO PREVIOUS 747 EXPERIENCE!! How could that possibly be, you may ask? Simple. In the U.S. there are far too many artificial barriers to employment (despite the we are an equal opportunity employer and we do not discriminate according to.....(you fill the blanks)). The U.S. airline industry is the most discriminatory employer known in the country! All in the name of so-called competition. My only crime? I never hardly knew any pilot that could give me an internal recommendation so I was automatically discarded regardless of time and experience. I could have been a 20,000 hr guy with 30 type ratings, a few lunar landings etc but none of that would have made the slightest bit of difference.
Sour grapes? Not really. I gave up playing these silly games a long time ago. All you do is spin your wheels. I believe that a person should be interviewed and subsequently hired based on ability and their own merit, not because they knew the squadron commander or slept with the Chief Pilot's daughter!
I think most pilots are beginning to wake up to this fact. Sorry if it offends some people who have had "perfect" careers and have not experienced furloughs and layoffs but the truth sometimes hurts and I'm not afraid to reveal some home truths. I wonder what Uncle Kit would make of it??!!
 
There you go

Right on man !!! I hate it when these polly anna perfect career types get on to post "how great the career is" and how "if you try hard enough". The whole thing is rigged.

Skyline
 

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