SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Whitney Jones of Suffolk is one of the fortunate ones battling the Virginia Employment Commission right now for unemployment benefits — and one of the unfortunate ones. She is fortunate because she was able to get her job back. Unfortunate, because she badly needs the nearly $4,000 she should have coming to her.
It was March 13 when Jones found out she was getting furloughed from her job as a patient coordinator at a dental office.
“The first time, we got told it would just be two weeks, and then the virus started to get worse to where we couldn’t come back,” she said.
Then, Jones learned she could return to work by late April, but the VEC was behind on her weekly benefits.
“I only received two weeks of pay when I should have received seven weeks of pay,” she said.
With the $600 federal unemployment supplement, Jones figures she was chasing about $3,700 after taxes.
She started contacting the VEC in May and says she emailed them about ten times through late July.
But it didn’t stop there.
“I started emailing every day,” but with no response, she said. “Nobody has emailed me, called me, left me a voicemail, sent me a letter in the mail. Nothing.”
And, oh by the way: Jones found out about a life-changing experience in the middle of this whole saga.
“I was eight weeks pregnant when I returned back to work, so now I had a child on the way, so the medical bills are getting highly expensive,” Jones said. “I’m behind now on all my bills so it’s hard to get that caught up.”
Jones is especially frustrated because she says a coworker in the same office — furloughed for the same seven weeks — was able to get her benefits completely paid.
If you’re having troubles with unemployment benefits, contact us at reportit@wavy.com.
