Blogger Loses Unemployment Check Because of Ads 554
Techdirt is reporting that one unfortunate, unemployed New York lawyer recently had her unemployment benefits greatly reduced because of the incredible $1/day she was earning via ads on her blog. "The whole thing sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare, with NY State asking her to get a form from her new 'employer' who didn't exist. Then NY Department of Labor started giving her all sorts of contradicting information, and eventually an 'investigation' into her 'business' — during which time her unemployment benefits were stopped entirely. She's now pulled the Google AdSense from her blog (total earned over the life of the blog $238.75)."
Re:The state is correct (Score:3, Interesting)
Unemployment benefits are meant to help people with no income.
...in the traditional sense of income: you either work or run a business. Microtransactions aren't really included in that model.
Re:The state is correct (Score:4, Interesting)
Business owners are exempt from unemployment pay. This lawyer's $1 a month income could be considered a poorly-run business but still a business. What I'm curious to know is who reported her. Sounds like a real dick.
pity... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Slow news day (Score:1, Interesting)
Somebody explain to me how this is different from someone selling Avon, or selling at the local farmers' market, or moonlighting as a musician at the local dive bar, or any other similar wellspring of unemployment stupidity?
Fortunately, there is longstanding tax precedent on what constitutes a business and what constitutes a hobby. There are a number of tests to make this determination.
Normally it's the other way around, in that the taxpayer is claiming that they are running a legitimate business, and wants to write off lots of business expenses, and the IRS claims that this isn't a real business, and disallows the deductions.
Just apply the existing rules. No story here, except that it looks like the existing rules were misapplied.
Re:The state is correct (Score:3, Interesting)
Right - She's self-employed. Just like that guy you walk-past every day who holds up a cardboard sign asking for help and eats dog food.
In fairness though, it sounds like his business model is better than hers.
Memo to self - If I'm ever unfortunate enough to need unemployment, do NOT let ANYONE pay me for ANYTHING.
Re:State beauracrats are usually idiots.. (Score:5, Interesting)
The whole tax system is a mess that few understand even professionals. Last year H&R Block prepared my taxes as they've done since circa 1990, and the woman kept insisting I don't owe Oklahoma any taxes because I live in Virgina. I said "Yes but I *worked* in Oklahoma and you pay where you worked, just like I did last year when I worked in California, or the prior year when I worked in Florida." She said I was wrong and those previous years need to be fixed. I said I was right. She said I was wrong and then got her manager to back her up, which made me think maybe I was wrong after all.
Long story made short - They fucked up. Oklahoma fined me, Virgina happily swallowed the ~$6,000 in extra taxmoney, then I filed amended forms (or actually H&R did) saying I owed OK not VA. I paid Oklahoma the taxes I owed, and Virgina refused to recognize the amended forms, and they did eventually return the money, minus a fine.
H&R Block cost me $600 in their mistakes.
I will eventually get my revenge.
Re:An unemployed LAWYER was perhaps.... (Score:3, Interesting)
"...I used to be disappointed that so many of the best minds in the country were being devoted to this enterprise...I mean lawyers, after all, don't produce anything...and I worry that we are devoting too many of out best minds to this enterprise...I don't have any complaint about the quality of the council, except maybe we're wasting some of our best minds"
-- Antonin Scalia, in a June interview with C-SPAN
Nevada is suing me for back unemployment (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been unemployed for about 2 years now. I live in backwater Reno, NV and had worked in the gaming industry. Two strikes against me, I know. I had been in Silicon Valley for many years, but wanted a cheaper/nicer place to live. Its nice here, but if you make more than $100,000/year, they think you're some overpaid wallstreet crook.
Anyways, during the course of my job hunt I formed an LLC so I could accept 1099 work rather than just FT W2. I add a line to my contact letter that says, "I am available for full-time W2 employment, as well as contract-based 1099 projects." That's it. That's the whole deal.
Once Nevada found out about this they claim I own and operate a company, and are SUING me for 1 year's back unemployment. Uh, I don't have $12,000 sitting around guys. That's because I'm UNEMPLOYED.
I'm guessing that the state is just broke, and looking for every excuse they can to deny any benefit they can.
I one instant I just went from "moderate democrat" to "conservative republican", too. Interesting.
Re:The state is correct (Score:4, Interesting)
Hmmmm.
I wonder if selling used games and videos on ebay constitutes income? I could probably argue "I paid $20 but only sold it for $10, so that's a loss not an income," but a lot of hassle. Maybe I won't be doing my annual Christmas clean-out/sale after all.
Re:Well, all are illegal... (Score:4, Interesting)
Not really. While those are all sources of income, very few people would consider them for a primary occupation, and most people earning income from such ventures are still searching for a new career. Unemployment benefits should not punish those who put the effort in to maintain their livelihood simply because the government is too lazy to make a distinction between supplementary income and an actual job.
Also work with disability pay (Score:5, Interesting)
She fought this decision and (eventually) won by pointing out that, even though her ads were 'making' money, she had never been paid since her ads never equaled $100 or more (as required by Google). If she had ever reached the $100 mark (even if it had taken years) she probably would have been out of luck.
But in her case, it all worked out well in the end. Her injury was due to and incident of workplace violence where her employer had been warned of the danger multiple times in the past (but did nothing to protect their people). She settled just a few days ago for $500K.
Re:Someone check hell (Score:5, Interesting)
Agreed.. she should apply to work for the EFF or something...
Re:Is it really? (Score:3, Interesting)
Also consider the possibility that this is an effect of austerity programs. The department may be under a lot of pressure to cut expenditures. A particular reason might be draconian federal audits. I do not keep up on this sort of thing anymore, but I have heard stories that the federal auditors can be real ass-holes. General government stupidity is always a good explanation, but during a Depression, austerity-driven stupidity is also pretty good.
Re:The state is correct (Score:3, Interesting)
Not sure what unemployment is like in the peoples republic but here in Ohio the max payout is $502 per week and that's for a family of 4 that previously made at least $52k/year. From that $502/week you get to pay federal and state taxes so your takehome is probably about $400/week, not exactly something that is going to make you rich. If the production company routinely lays off people then they are definitely paying for (at least some large percentage of) those wages in the form of unemployment insurance so just consider it part of their compensation package.
Re:Well, all are illegal... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:An Unemployed... Lawyer? (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually yes lawyers can be unemployed. I worked as a programmer in a law firm, and a lawyer was hired as a programmer because he claimed he couldn't find work as a lawyer. I trained him on Visual BASIC, Crystal Reports, and ASP 2.0 VBScript programming. After six months working as a programmer, he claimed he couldn't handle it, and that the job was too stressful and he quit and got hired as a lawyer by a rival law firm. I don't know why a lawyer would want to work as a programmer without any programming experience, but as I taught/tutored him in programming he taught me a bit about lawyers and the law. Unless a lawyer is well known, or working for a major law firm, they can suffer from periods of unemployment. Since he got a job working as a programmer for the big law firm we both worked in, it helped a rival big law firm hire him on. He couldn't get a job at my employer as a lawyer so he applied for a programmer position, as he had entry level knowledge and I was always given the task to train new programmers to get them up to speed because I have a lot of experience and worked in a college computer lab training students and debugging programs, and other jobs where I trained programmers like when I was a federal contractor for the US Army before that.
Re:Umm... duh? (Score:3, Interesting)
Unfortunately, that's not what the unemployment rules say. Your benefits aren't reduced if you're earning income, they end when you take a job or become self-employed. If you become unemployed again within a certain length of time, you can resume your previous claim instead of having to file a new one.
This is one reason I'd personally like to take welfare and unemployment, fold them all into one system and re-write the rules:
If you're disabled, elderly or a minor, you qualify automatically.
If you're healthy and able to work, you qualify if:
In all cases, your benefits are calculated by taking the maximum benefit amount you qualify for that week and subtracting 1/2 of your income for that week. The maximum benefit amount is just the larger of a) the current welfare benefit you'd qualify for and b) the amount of unemployment benefit you'd get by virtue of what you've paid in while working. No disruptions, no bouncing back and forth, the only real distinction is at the point where you exhaust your unemployment account and drop back to the welfare benefit amount.
Re:An unemployed LAWYER was perhaps.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Generally that's what happens. I think if everyone would actually look at their state statutes they'd find the laws really aren't as complicated as some people tend to think.
Re:Someone check hell (Score:5, Interesting)
So saying "I find honest and forthright women quite appealing" is now sexist? Stop valuing a woman for her mind and character you say? I'm sorry, I just can't keep up with the changing rules.
Re:An unemployed LAWYER was perhaps.... (Score:4, Interesting)
I worked at a Wall St. law firm for nearly 20 years (administration, not legal), and most of our lawyers lacked any identifiable skill, and definitely even a trace of analytical or verbal skills. They were drudges in the worst sense of the word -- hacks who had to go through six drafts of a client memo because they were to stupid to write legibly or have someone check their grammar. Of course, they were never allowed to go to court -- we had show-pony partners for that.
Re:Nevada is suing me for back unemployment (Score:1, Interesting)
Let me get this straight. You created a company, presumable, with yourself as the sole owner/employee. Thus making you employed REGARDLESS OF THE SUCCESS OF THE COMPANY. You then claimed you were unemployed (e.g. you lied). And now you're pissed that they caught you? /\. needs a FACEPALM moderation