When last we left the intrepid Test Tube Phoenix, he'd just be denied the unemployment that was going to be keeping him alive and insured, and he was looking to go down hard. Martyrdom wasn't outside the realm of possibility. But not too long after he wrote his last journal, he got the call from his Congressman's office:
Unemployment was granted. He had his stay of execution.
So how did he manage it? Switch from the third to the first person, and follow me below, for a tale which may help others facing the awful situation that I did.
So let's follow the steps one at a time:
0) Do research. Many calls to the Maryland unemployment office finally yielded a specific regulation that said jobs of his classification - postdoctoral fellows - were, in fact, eligible for unemployment. I took careful notes (reg #, person who told me that) along with date and time.
1) Lose job. All too easy to do these days, isn't it? For me, it was a simple case of funding running out. I was given a year's notice, but a year-long job hunt yielded nothing.
2) Apply for unemployment. As a postdoctoral fellow with the federal government (paid like a contractor, and yet not a contractor) he knew that this would be fraught with problems. But he had that supervisor's word.
3) Wait three weeks. Recontact the Department of Labor.
4) Get told that the NIH itself (!) was withholding salary documents, even though I'd sent the DLLR a full set.
5) Did the thing that ultimately won me the day...I contacted my congressman's office. Not the odious Dave Camp, my rep in MI-5 - he could care less if there was any unemployment at all. My much better Democratic rep from Maryland, Chris Van Hollen. Sent them a carefully worded letter more or less begging them to take my case as they had the right people in the right places, took constituent services seriously, and were ideologically inclined to help me. By some miracle they took my case, and assigned me one of their best staffers.
6) A series of back-and-forths between my fellowship admin, my boss, and the staffer. Paper flies back and forth. Some NIH flack tells me fellows are ineligible for unemployment but is overruled by my fellowship admin, a hero in her own right. The final paperwork is sent.
7) Unemployment is denied. The basis: my salary didn't count as actual employment, but as contract salary. That's what led to my terrified diary from before.
8) I put in a final request with the staffer, more or less pleading for my life, and restating my case (including the relevant regulation) one more time.
9) Staffer goes to the Congressional Liaison of the DLLR, who takes it straight to the Director of Benefits. It's at least gone to the top. She calls the case "complex", and starts poring over it...
10) Wait one week. Run out of money. Consider ways to get health care in right-wing Michigan with no money.
11) Get The Call. The Director of Benefits said that since regulations did not specifically forbid me receiving unemployment, the decision was reversed and the appeal granted.
12) Celebrate my stay of execution by writing thank-you letters to my ex-boss, the fellowship director, liaison, Director of Benefits, and not least to Congressman Van Hollen and his staffer.
The moral of the story? Constituent services work, and vote Democrat.
My next diary will be more about the small business I am trying to start up, but for now, hopefully this helps my readers!