Moving From Tier I to Tier II

I am looking for any information about other people’s experiences with moving from Tier I to Tier II. The DUA’s website has the tier chart with a timetable of all the corresponding “cut off” dates and based on that info I’m eligible, however I exhausted Tier I on March 27 and my balance on WebCT is still at zero.

There is a message at the bottom of my WebCT page that states: “The following message was provided to you on April 3, 2011. This information may no longer be applicable. Your claim is being processed. If additional information is required to determine your eligibility for benefits, you will be contacted.” Now that message has been there since March 27 (date of the message is updated daily but not the message!)

There is this ambiguous sentence on the tier chart page that says, “not everyone is eligible for the max amount of benefits” and to call if you’re wondering whether your eligible for an additional tier. Now, I have been trying to call to no avail but that’s a different story all together (please see my recent previous post about MA unemployment office phone issues). To add further confusion DUA info states, “We will notify you when you are eligible for the next tier of benefits and when you exhaust your benefits.”

When my “26 weeks” wrapped up no one notified me about my benefits being exhausted and when I’d be moving to additional tier. I was just moved to Tier I automatically with no problems.

So, who’s contacting who? Are they notifying me about my tier eligibility or am I to call them to find out whether I am eligible. I have no problem calling but nobody is picking up the line even just to tell me their gonna put me on hold for 1 hr.

Has anyone else received a WebCT message when they exhausted their regular benefits or additional tiers? And does anyone know of a reason why one would NOT be automatically moved to an additional tier (other than for obvious reasons)?

Thanks so much! and sorry for the long-winded post….

For reference, I have not been unemployed for a year yet (“anniversary” will be mid/end of May) and have not earned any money, so no part time or short term job that maybe would slow the process with say re-determining any new base pay for my benefit claim, etc.

Moving from Tier 1 to Tiers 2 and 3 should not be a problem and should be automatic. The message you are getting is referring to Tier 4 for MA residents. Because of the state's "low" unemployment rate, MA is no longer eligible for Tier 4.

Please help us today by joining the "Call to Action" to support HR 589, which would add 14 additional weeks to Tier 1. All the unemployed, not just the "99ers" will benefit from this legislation.