As an employer in PA – I used to try and fight bad unemployment claims.

I caught a truck driver stealing from me and fired him for cause. He filed for unemployment. Of course I didn’t win that.

I had an employee quit on an a Friday. No advanced notice – nothing. In a season when I really needed him. He found a “better job”. He slept in and was late for the first 2 days of the job and was fired. Filed for unemployment against me. Of course I didn’t win that.

Now PA has a law that you need an attorney to fight any unemployment claims. You can’t do it yourself (even though you never won it atleast made them get off their dead a** and show up for the hearing). Its not not worth the hassle and expense. Just another tax.

What I have found is that the more “benefits” the governemt gives out the stronger their constituencey. They don’t give a fig about 10 small business men when they can give out free money to 1,000 potential voters.

What a joke

But I do feel terribly, horribly sorry for the ag sector in California. Since when does a little bait fish take precedence over feeding humans? I’m reading my daughter a series of books about Rose Wilder, the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which are set in 1894. How much the world, and attitudes toward the world and man’s role in it, have changed just since my grandmother was born (my grandmother was born in 1897 and died in 1993. She was such an interesting link to the way the world should be).

Well, that is one reason why pension plans shouldn’t be made by a third party, but by you. However, even if you were fired for the reason you stated, this is not a healthy policy for any company. The signaling for other employees is too harsh.

Though I can think that such stupid companies still exist and more so in today’s business climate. On the other side, I wonder why they could fire you like that after such a long time? Didn’t you have some kind of provisions against it in your contract (like 3 month notice or some such)? And where there no signals in your company that showed up that maybe this company has a bad attitude on labour policies?

Unemployment is now just a 6 month perk of getting canned. I remember in Ohio about 17 years ago, when you got let go, you went down to the unemployment office, took a 4 hour class, met with a counselor and got an employment workbook. You then met monthly with the counselor who would copy your employment workbook to verify your employment activity.

Now everything is done online with a few yes or no questions. Nothing is verified.

The whole system sucks, but government gets to make the rules.

I understand your frustration. However, your grasp of economics is to good to think that the cost of unemployment insurance is borne by any party other than labour. Unemployment insurance is factored into every one of your hiring and firing decisions and how much you are willing to pay your employees.

There is no free lunch and it’s pretty damn hard to make others pay for your lunch. Labour enjoys the benefits of unemployment and pays for them dearly. The only problem is that the benefits and costs are improperly distributed.