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Tennessee Unemployment Benefits Extension – 20 More Weeks?

Update – Feb 7, 2011 – Legislation to add extra weeks for 99ers

Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee (Calif.) and Bobby Scott (Va.) are reintroducing legislation this week to provide additional weeks of unemployment insurance benefits for “99ers,”

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Part of Obama’s 2009 stimulus package was extra funding for states to extend the length of unemployment benefits if necessary.  Most states have a fixed number of weeks available for benefits but can increase the number of weeks if the economic climate is bad enough.  This is usually measured by the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate in Tennesse was 9.9% for April 2009 which is up from 6.0% in April of last year.  This is the highest unemployment rate in 25 years.  Tennesse has qualified for $141 million to pay for extended benefits as well as upgrades to the benefit infrastructure.

What unemployment benefits are available now?

Currently Tennessee will pay benefits for 26 weeks which is the normal payout period.  There is another 33 weeks which is available because of the 2009 stimulus package for a total of 59 weeks.


Unemployed workers can get up to $275 per week in benefits plus a bonus $25 a week from the federal government for a total of $300 per week.

Will the unemployment benefits be extended by another 20 weeks?

[edit – please note that this bill has been passed]

Currently there is a bill called HB 2324 which if passed will increase benefits by up to 20 weeks.  If the claimant has any children the bill will also add on $15 per week per child up to 3 kids.  This bill has not been made law yet but you can check on the status of the bill here.  At the moment (May 22) it says that it is scheduled for the Finance, Means and Ways committe for May 27.  This bill was first introduced on Feb 26 so it is taking a long time.

Once the bill is passed by the FMW committee then it will go to the house and senate and lastly the governor.

There is a very good chance that unemployment benefits will be extended by 20 weeks however the slow machine of politics means that it might take a while.

693 replies on “Tennessee Unemployment Benefits Extension – 20 More Weeks?”

I agree with Apresto….. the system is always down on Saturday and opens back up on Sunday….. or it has in the past.

I did my back log a few days ago, I checked back and I got the accepted message. Sunday is my day to certify. I just went to their website to do my weekly certification, and after I put my log in information, I got this message:

Your certification for this week cannot be processed as timely.

What now!? Was anyone able to certify today?

Cyn
Did you try calling in to certify? It has been so long that I have certified I forgot my pin number so it did not let me in. Will have to call tomorrow I guess.

Cyn, I received the same the message when I tried to certify. I tried calling and using the website. I received the message at both times.

I have a stupid question……..I got this message today when I did my weekly check in…….You have two weeks or less of benefits remaining in your account. Your benefit year ends on 11/26/2011. Do I change over to the next tier or do I have to do anything special ? I am getting my 24 th week this week……

Gary, you will get that when you are are nearing the end of every tier, but will be automatically transferred into the new tier.

has anyones benefit balance changed. usually after they take money ou of it you have your money the next day. gary you will tranfer without doing anything.

My balance is the same, but I ended tier 4 the end of April and never started EB. The other day after saying $0.00 I saw 20 weeks and $5,500.00. It wouldn’t let me certify today, but I was able to check my balance and it is still the same. No check amount has been posted. I am going to call them tomorrow.

Hey, was anyone asked to set up a new pin when they called Tips? This is becoming more and more confusing. Are you getting…… Your payment will be processed during the next check run?

@Cyn@Styhan- I got the same message. Another sys-glitch, apparently. I guess it’s not realistic, but as taxpayers we should expect better service from our reps. We still do have rights despite our unfortunate circumstances. It is both incomprehensible & unacceptable that a system in place since ’80’s is still in use in a Gov’t establishment in 2011. I learned Fortran & COBOL programming as a college freshman in the 1970’s. Too much of our tax money is used to enrich cronies instead of doing what “we the people” want it to be used for. Quite frankly, it’s insulting. But we can thank the GOP for creating this entire scenario; and if we don’t get them out of our country’s business once & for ALL, WE AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET. 2012 can’t come FAST enough. Wake up, peeps.

Anyone know what I have to do to move into T4? Nearly there in a couple weeks with employers backing up when they found I was a little old.

@Gloria, please don’t let this degrade into a Dem vs Rep discussion. I am a conservative Republican, and I am in the same boat as you. The democrats have had this State longer than the republicans, and they too have made no effort to upgrade the systems you have talked about. Just go back to your statement about college freshman in the 70’s, look at the State’s Blue Book and you’ll see what I mean. I had a job lined up, talked to an old boss and he said to go back and get a certification renewed and we would talk. Well I went back and got that certification, sat down with the old boss only to be told that he rethought his position, but because of the uncertainty of taxes being raised on small business(be realistic, $250,000 cap for today’s business is unrealistic, leaves no room for growth), and the fact that in the next two years, if Obamacare is allowed to go through and he is forced to get insurance for his small company(have you checked insurance cost lately?), he will be forced to sell his business. That is reality, not talking points that you hear on tv. Business’s are NOT HIRING, BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE FUTURE TAX CODES AND HEALTH CARE. This is why so many of the smaller business have left this country for others, not only because of cheap labor. They don’t have to provide as many benefits and the tax codes, while they may be high for that country are nothing compared to the US. Just look at this link: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/background/numbers/international.cfm . The European countries that have higher taxes, how are their economies fairing?? If you see, the underdeveloped countries have lower taxes and that’s where the companies are going. Something I found interesting, India and Pakistan are not on that list.

So, see, we can go back and forth all day, but what it boils down to, neither party is listening to what we are saying. But if we don’t do something, today’s third world, low tax countries, in another 50 years, will be booming, like we did during the 50’s-70’s till the OPEC nations started controlling so much of our finances.

Just my .02

Dwayne

@Dwayne-thanks for proving my point; and- you are correct- we are ALL in the same boat. History validates my position- not talking points. Fact is, we have ALWAYS fared better when Dems are in the majority. All anyone needs to do is just take a look at what segment of the USA citizenry is always under attack/assault by GOP- Disadvantaged/poor, women, Veterans, Disabled, Minorities. And while both parties have contributed to the state of our union- the GOP makes it unabashedly clear that they will go to any lengths to destroy anything standing in the way of making the wealthiest 2% even moreso. I’m on YOUR side, Dwayne. Peace be unto you, my brother.

And something else. If you go to the #1 taxed country via that link, you will see Denmark which is almost 50% of GDP. If you look at Denmark’s economy and unemployment, you’ll see that their unemployment rate is 4.2%. Most people would say great, till you look and see that the unemployment rate was 1.9% in 2009: http://www.indexmundi.com/denmark/unemployment_rate.html . If you look at this link, you will see that(even through a liberal spin), that Denmark had a 4 yr unemployment benefit, but, have had to drop back to a 2 yr benefit plan: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/08/denmarks-unemployment-benefits-system-and-ours/61615/ . Also, this high benefit plan caused a 30% nationwide turnover in jobs, because, the Danes knew that they could move around, and the State would take care of them(entitlement society). You may think all of that is great, till you look at one thing, their population is only 5.5 million, compared to our 300 million. We have 13.9 million unemployed, nearly 3 times their total population.

So, you see, even a Country that has the high tax rate that they have, are having to tighten their belts and cut the unemployed benefits. Just shows that higher taxes are not the answer, providing an environment that companies can grow and allow them to pass on the money to their employees or making their companies more stable by growth. I’m anxious to see where Denmark’s economy will be in a year or two.

Another thing. This link: http://www.neatorama.com/2008/01/01/energy-independence-how-denmark-kicked-the-foreign-oil-habit/ . Denmark was 99% reliant on foreign oil. Take note of three things in this article. Denmark is about the size of Maine and is not as vast as the US, taxes on a new car are 105% the price of a car(do you really think that would work here??), and they have started drilling their own oil in the North Sea, which has come under fire of the environmentalist(sound familiar).

How has the train from Lebanon to Nashville working out? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_City_Star . 2006 startup cost were 3.3 million, 2007 Govt had to provide a 1.7 million dollar bailout, 2008 1 million dollar bailout, 2009, 4.4 million dollar bailout through 2011. Ridership was projected at 1500 per day Since 2006, there has been one day that had 1300 riders at the highest, but the average is 900 per day. That is a 600 rider per day deficit. Compared with the European countries, where public transportation actually works. Bottom line is, Americans aren’t going to give up their cars and the US is as vast as how many European countries put together? That is one reason we will never be like the European countries. It is more realistic to compare us to Countries such as Russia and China. How are they working out??

Dwayne

@Gloria, veterans????????? Is that why myself and 220,000 other Military personnel were kicked out in ’92 at the hands of a Democrat controlled House and Senate??? 220,000 of us booted, just so Clinton(Democrat) could balance his budget and show a surplus??? Think of how much he saved by not having to pay our salaries, benefits, retirement???? But I prove your point??? You don’t know what your talking about. I had already planned a career and served 10 years of it when the Democrat House and Senate voted to kick us to the curb. Don’t talk to me about how the Democrats just love the military and provide for us??? Talking points!!!!!!!!! By the way, the total affected in ’92 was just a little over 300,000 when you count all of the DOD contractors and employees. But when we had to go into Afghanistan, the Democrats were the first ones to step up and accuse President Bush of not having a strong enough Military to do the job, even though it was the Democrats in ’92 that cut our throats. Please make sure your information is accurate before you spew!!!

Sorry, but that is a VERY hot button issue for me, as I would already be retired and drawing a salary for my service, not just to be kicked to the curb after 10 yrs of SERVING MY COUNTRY(CAN YOU SAY THAT!!).

Dwayne

I agreed that something should be done about the outdated computer system not about anything political being argued or to blame. I think we are all a little upset and it’s understandable but we really shouldn’t be fighting about political parties. We are all here for the same reason. Have a good day!

I can say that AND a LOT more- but this is not the forum. Good day to you. Hope we get our needed UI relief soon.

@Dwayne-Also, you have NO IDEA the facts that I have…and I am not the one “spewing”….Have a nice day.

By the way….Dems were the ones pushing the bill for unemployment benefits extension. Thank you.

I will post this link, then I will leave as I was afraid this was going to turn into a Republican bashing thread, but, I am not going to stand by, especially when I have paid with service to my Country, only to hear how the very ones who trashed my career in the “drawdown” of forces, gets praised for their care of the Veterans. I will not stand for Republicans who whenever they do “cross the aisle” only wind up costing us more money, yet the Dems can make statements about the repubs “driving into the ditch” or “ride on the back of the bus.”

I wish you all the best!

http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html

Dwayne

@Gloria, yea your right, they did drive the extension, that a republican Senate speaker signed even though he said he wouldn’t and a Republican Gov signed(by the way, did you go on his FB page and thank him??) Could it be because under the administration of the Democrats, our debt continues to rise, and our unemployment figures still increase, even though the leader of the Democrat party told us we would be turned around last year?? Have you forgotten that?

You have a nice day

Dwayne

Tried to certify today, however, it said I was unable. So I then checked the website and it said I needed to contact telephone claims…..anyone else get this message?

checked tn.gov site this morning it says check has been mailed with retro. Should be on card tom. Been long process but hopefully it is over. Hope everyone can find a job soon. We as a great nations have 17 million people unemployed. I hope we can all come together and demand the goverment give us a person who can make a differents. 17 million people has a very strong voice if we stand together. Bring out the VOTE in 2012!!!! First we have to get a good Dem. or Rep. We are in big trouble with what we have now. Speak-up americans!!!!!!!!!!!!

WB WHERE DID YOU GET THAT INFORMATION FROM PAGE WHERE YOU CERTIFY OR TN.GOV MAIN. I STILL GET UNABLE TO PROCEED WITH NUMBERS TO CALL IN ,SHOULD I.

Can someone please tell me if I need to do anything as i am about to transition to EB? This is my last week of T4. I have read some comments about filling out my job searches??? How do i go about this and etc. ? Will i automatically transition to EB next week?
Thanks for your help~

we I cant find that information i have check both places still just says i have been accepted

@knoxtn.. you will automatically transition to EB since your unemployment benefits have not stopped. It’s just like the other tiers when you run out and they transition over to the next one. I’m not sure about the job searches I think they will notify you about that.

Just got off phone with nashville back eb benefits are now being released. If you can’t view benefits on web page you may need to call tips line and create new pin number and then you can start certifications as usual. Hope this information is helpful. Good luck everyone as we all need a job.

well mine is back on track…..thanks to all, and everyone good luck though your journey in life….

My retro payment shoed 7 weeks when I applied to the extended benefits on the TN Dept of Labor Site. I checked back and it said your claim has been accepted. I tried to do my weekly certification yesterday but all I got was this message: Our records indicate that you are not eligible to use the system. If you filed your claim in person, please telephone or report to that office. Otherwise, please call the Claims Center at either 615-253-0800 or toll free at 1-877-813-0950.
I know I can’t try today because my ss# ends in 8. The computer and the tips line both give this message. Is anyone else receiving this message? Should I just wait until tomorrow and try again or should I go ahead and call? Thanks in advance.

@tif and @ Lynn H. I got the same message and I called the help center and she said that the claims dept is working on getting everyone back in the system. I am suppose the certify today but she said that the system with automatically certify for you if goes past the day you certify on. She said that she doesn’t know in what order they are going in to restore the benefits..it could be by city or social security number, or by last name. We just need to keep checking the website to see if it has posted yet. I hope this helps you guys.

Icalled unemployment off today said my check retro check had been mailed it wont let me in the system but my day is wed so she said to wait till then

I just love the fine job the Department of Labor has done to keep everyone updated (sarcasm). What about the people who don’t have internet access? Has anyone received the letter that was promised? sheesh. The only update was a link on the website which most people probably overlooked. If it wasn’t for the people on this site, many of us wouldn’t be receiving our eb right now. Our government is sorry and I have the right to say that!

Apresto, I agree 200%. I think it is really a tragedy that we are all in the situation that we are in. If I didnt know any better I would think I caused all this foolishness and this is my recourse. There is obviously no “letter” since noone has received it and I’m pretty sure if we do, it will be weeks later, that’s kinda their pattern. I think the dept is unaware, unconcerned and incapable of providing the services were are due and it is ridiculous. They are overwhelmed and clueless!!! I’m single with no children with a masters degree and I was laid off last year and I can’t find a job. My situation is bad but I feel so sorry for the others that have really been struggling to support their families. I think we are all due and apology.

I was able to certify today! Woo-hoo!! When I certified, I noticed there was a new question regarding a work search log and I have to send it in every 4 weeks. Where am I suppose to send this work search log?

I never recived a letter from the dept of labor telling me my benefits was extended either, but since I was able to certify and had a balance, I figured I it was game on for me.

Jane, you can find the info on the work search log and a copy of it on the website and they will send you a letter if you are just now starting your eb.

@ tif and Lynn H. i called the unemployment number and hit option 3 to check on my benefits and it said that I need to establish a new pin when i did that it told me that they had made a payment to me and i was able to certify today after that. If you guys can do that you will be back on track. I hope this helps you again!

@ knoxtn I am in the same boat and will go into EB in two weeks. Don’t know about the job search or if I need to call the Employment office

Does anyone know how the retro payments are being made…. By paper check or direct dep/debit card that we set up?

@apresto=did you receive your pament? i had secected direct deposite. it shows that a check was made but nothing in the bank

no I haven’t received it. When I looked my info up online it said check number 0 which is what it always says when it is thru the debit card. It always takes a day or 2 after the payment shows up online for it to hit the card which is why I didn’t figure I would have the payment today. The info just showed up online yesterday.

@Terry & Lynn H. …I was able to change my pin today and now everything is working and back on track. It said retro check was done on June 12. Thanks for everyone’s help!

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