Somewhere along the line a politician got the idea that we should have insurance for the unemployed. This does not come directly out of the employee’s paycheck. It’s another one of those taxes that costs an employer a percentage of what he pays everyone. That is money he doesn’t have available to pay the employee who works hard every day.
I’ve had a bad experience with unemployment problems. Being the owner of a small business, I have had to fire some employees and lay off others to keep the business afloat. One employee that I fired, cussed out a customer. I fired him on the spot. He applied for unemployment benefits and after an hour of “phone court” and many hours of paperwork, was denied.
The second guy I fired for not wanting to work. The judge decided I didn’t give him enough training to improve his work ethic. I didn’t realize an employer was responsible for work ethic. He was given unemployment benefits for several months.
I laid of a secretary who was making less than 10.00 per hour. She went on unemployment for almost a year as I heard about her spending that time living at home sewing wedding dresses and working for cash under the counter while making almost 70% of her previous wage (from unemployment benefits) while not working. She called me two weeks before her unemployment ran out to see if she could list me as a referral on her resume. I found it interesting that she didn’t look for work that entire time, even though that is a requirement to receive benefits. Interestingly enough she found work right after the unemployment ran out. That is where the system fails.
So many people would rather not be working. I’ve also had to fight about unemployment with an employee who quit and left the state. He lost the job where he moved and then Unemployment Insurance tried to come back on my company. Another employee had his drivers license revoked. He tried to get unemployment also.
Gotta love taxes. Just got a note from the “Department of workforce services.” They were just writing to let me know about the changes in Unemployment Insurance for 2011. The minimum tax rate doubles for next year. One more expense to keep companies from being able to hire more people.
So what is your take on unemployment? Does it help society or just discourage people from doing their best and working hard? Leave your comments below.
Wow, Blake, it's always good to hear the other side. Certainly from your perspective it isn't a very good thing! That would be very frustrating! That's certainly understanding with most of them being like the ones you described. I'm sure if you had to lay off a good employee because of the economy or other good reason, that wouldn't be as bad.
ReplyDeleteThe system does seem to find many that just want to 'take advantage' of it, that's for sure.
Having never had to collect unemployment, (knock on wood), I think it all depends on the reason the person isn't able to work anymore, which, unfortunately, requires someone to be the judge. In my experience, judges usually aren't very good at that! Wouldn't it be nice if employers and employees would just do what was right under each circumstance? No judges involved. Sigh, just dreaming...
But, hey, look at the bright side! When your kids get old enough, you can just have them work for you and you won't have to worry about it anymore! I'm sure the way you are raising them, they will all have a great work ethic, just like their Dad! :D
BTW, I sure enjoy reading your blog stories!
Coni