There Outta Be a Law: The $2 Unemployment Check
Because a young woman was a poll worker on election day and made what? $20? She received a $2 unemployment check because she had worked since being laid off.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-158591
Moral of the story is pretty sad considering she was doing a public service.
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 12/08/2008 08:34:00 PM
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6 Comments:
Poll workers are not public service. If she was doing public service as you claim, she would not be paid at all. She took a job and got paid.
There are help wanted signs all over this town. Why is she drawing unemployment when there are jobs available. Why do you want us to feel sad for her? What is your point.
Help Wanted -- following the link, she wasn't from Santa Barbara and I could have made that more clear.
I agree to the extent in that taking the highly strict position of "she took a job and got paid" fits really well with economic theory. People who get jobs while on unemployment should no longer get unemployment. But for a day? In practice -- do we want our government writing a $2 check that takes about the same to write because someone did something of service to the community for such a small amount for just one day?
If she was a poll worker for the County then she got paid between $120 and $190, depending on what she did and for how long (assuming by "poll worker" you mean one of the many people hired by the County to be at the polls, handing out ballots.) A full day there is 15 hours plus a couple of boring hours before listening to a training.
Parenthetically: it rubs me the wrong way if she is not from Santa Barbara and was hired by the SB Elections office.
If, however, she was a "poll worker" for one of the candidates and made $20, then it does seem wrong to have her unemployment cut for that less than minimum wage work.
Why did you decide to ignore the fact that she took another job during the time in question?
I agree, it's a sad lesson to learn that people in that situation are better off sitting on their ass. But we don't need your spin on the news.
PS: Following the link, I see this woman is from Spring Valley, a small unincorporated community east of San Diego. What I just wrote about Santa Barbara election payments is irrelevant. But so is the story for Santa Barbara's first and foremost bloga? Curious: Why did you republish it in blogaBARBARA ?
As I said above -- I should have made her city of origin more clear. As to why? I thought it was interesting but didn't know that the pay at least in SB was so much -- I am probably behind the times on that one.
I do tend to just concentrate on local stories but thought this was an interesting question as one is helping out a government agency for just one day and not sitting on the couch....and it still counts as work. Perhaps there should be a concept of bridge work until one has a full time job...
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