“Still waiting on back pay for unemployment between August and December”

“Dear PoPville,

I was laid off and received a severance payment at the beginning of August. My understanding is that unemployment office needs to verify the credibility of severance before continuing with weekly UI payments but will issue back pay for the weeks it took to verify the severance payment. This is what I was reassured by a number of operators when I called the unemployment hotline throughout the summer and early fall.

I filled out the initial fact finding survey to verify my severance, but then in November I was told to fill out another fact finding survey and then again in December. Calling the hotline doesn’t get me anywhere really because the phone operators obviously don’t have the power to clear what’s holding up my case.

I’ve been informed that it is a “code 62″ and only the claims advisor can remove the code and release my funds. The operator is able to tell me the first and last name of my claims advisor and often instructs me to email [email protected] to have my case flagged but I’ve done this a hand full of times over the past few months and it’s gotten me nowhere. I’ve also tried emailing [email protected] as well as my case advisor directly but the email I found for her bounced back.

This has been an eight month saga. I am thankfully recently employed again but am anxious to receive my back pay to get back out of the hole.

Is there anything else I can do other than continuing to call and email DC DOES, are there any other forms of communication I can take? Even when I call exactly at 8:30am it can still be a long wait in the queue to speak to an operator who is often very kind but has no power in the situation. And also…what are the implications of not receiving my unemployment by the the time I have to do my taxes, because tick tock right? I imagine I’ll have to file for a tax extension if I haven’t received my 2020 UI benefits?”