Illinois Department of Employment Security

Illinois is a broken State, and taking it out on the unemployed. It is unfair and should be illegal!!!
I was laid off of a major company doing cutbacks, making good money at the time.
While on unemployment, I had a chance to make money with a part time job, occasionally making more than I.D.E.S. was paying me on unemployment. I was working around 4:30 to 8:30 pm, so I was still able to look for full time work. I kept a log of my applications. I reported everything I earned. Sometimes I made more than the $ 418 (by 20 or 30 bucks) even though this is BEFORE taxes, which caused all kinds of havoc reporting earnings. If I made $ 434 one week, but $ 225 the next week, BOTH weeks of benefits were wiped out. Also, they finally hit me up that they «overpaid» almost $ 1000 to me, (I admit I did have 1 week of not applying, but didn’t find any legit jobs that week) as they called it «not looking for jobs in earnest.» BS!
I was on joblink every day and supposedly they can track it. I challenged them to find me a job over minimum wage. F*ck them. I’d rather work 2 part time jobs than waste all my time looking for jobs to qualify for some arbitrary number of applications that the I.D.E.S.and Lisa Madigan can nix with the wave of a finger.
Warning to newly laid off clueless unemployed folks. ***
Get at LEAST 3 job applications documented weekly.
Avoid making more than $ 417 dollars in a week if you intend to collect unemployment. (before taxes).

The only reason IDES isn’t getting a higher review is because their system is totally out of wack. About a year ago, I found myself laid off from my job at Cook County Hospital as a counselor for those suffering from substance abuse and alcohol addiction.
To begin with, the office has moved over to Lawrence near Kedzie. There was no info to advise anyone of this info, other than a small 8×10 on the door. I literally waited 4 hours in line to file my claim. To compound mattes, IDES said it would be at leas 6 weeks before I received my first check. Trying to call the number for the Lawrence office can be nearly IMPOSSIBLE. The workers don’t care, and don’t pick up. The office really needs to be streamlined a lot better in so that clients can get assistance right away.
My advice
Avoid going to this office on Monday’s all together, and if you can Tues. If you do need to file a claim, go as early as possible to beat the lines. If you stroll in there between 11 and 12 in the daytime, you can plan on parking it therefor a while.
Once the checks start rolling in, it’s pretty sweet. Just sit back, chill and get your money. You are entitled to it because your employer paid insurance on it. Don’t tell them if you have a cash paying job.
Finally, if you are registering on line, or calling in for benefits, I would highly recommend you answer every question the same way you did on the application you filled out at the office. Any changes to your answers will stop you from collecting, and hold you up in getting cash.

I was laid off from my job on March 23^rd. That day i went to the Evanston I.D.E.S. office. I was surprised that there wasn’t a long line and I was treated with courtesy. They asked me to return the next day with my W2 forms for ’07 &’08 and my wife’s ss# if I wanted to claim her as a dependent, which I did. Soon after they contacted me and told me I was eligible for benefits which would start at a certain date and with instructions on how to use their «TeleServe’ system. My former employer did NOT contest my eligibility. To make a long story short five months later I get a phone call from a Woman in their Northern District office asking me about the numbers on my W2 forms which I again provided. She thanked me and said that they match the info my former employer provided. One week later i received a letter from I.D.E.S. informing me that they were reducing my benefits! Reason:“REFINDING» No explanations no nothing. I managed to contact the Woman who called me and she told me that due to an ERROR MADE BY SOMEONE IN THE EVANSTON OFFICE I WAS «OVERPAID» FOR THOSE FIVE MONTHS and not only will my six weeks left of benefits be reduced to tw0 and a half, THEY WILL EXPECT ME TO REPAY MY OVERPAYMENT!!! I than received a threatening letter demanding repayment. I called the number on the letter to ask a few questions and a very, very hostile Woman answered the phone who acted as if I had importuned her even asking her to do her job! She very condescendingly told me to go to the Evanston office and file an appeal before hanging up on me. I went to the office, filed an appeal and now i have a «telephone interview» with a «hearing referee» set for Friday. It took these mindless bureaucratic lame-​brained poor excuses for affirmative action FIVE MONTHS to notice THEIR ERROR and now they want ME to pay THEM back. Isn’t that pathetic? I’ll bet the person who commited thjis «error» isnt even disciplined! If I made an error that cost that much on my old job I would have been FIRED! Never mind how frustrating it is trying to find a job in this Republican caused recession!
If you ask me I think that If this isn’t an act of bumbling incompetence they intentionally do this to people. Doing some research on the Internet about this problem I have noticed that this is not only a problem confined to I.D.E.S it occurs in other ststes as well. Here an honest person loses his or her job through no fault of their own, goes to a state agency which is supposed to be mandated to administer funds to the unemployed in a fair efficient and timely manner and they have to contend with bureaucratic B.S. that is a pathetic example of not only betraying the public trust but merely typiefies the way America treats it’s citizens! The reviewer who said «the system sucks» is SO RIGHT! But don’t worry Chicago just might get the Olympics!!! Who will benefit NOT YOU OR ME FOLKS!!! Have a nice day! If YOU are collecting «unemployment compensation» from the Ill-​annoy Dept of Extreme Stupidity go to your local office and MAKE SURE THEIR FIGURES ARE CORRECT!!! Don’t call on the phone. You’ll either hear a bunch of recorded messages featuring a moron who can’t even pronounce English correctly or you will be treated badly by some jerk who’s angry you interrupted «Oprah». Go to the office and DEMAND a status check. You just might avoid the unfair stupidity I’m now putting up with!!! As I said before this is truly pathetic to say the very least. If it were possible to award negative stars I’d give ‘em a million!

If you have the misfortune of being laid off and using unemployment insurance, pray you never need to visit the physical office.
The workers seem to have forgotten it’s unemployment INSURANCE, not handouts. I paid for it, jerks, so give me some service.
I arrived at 2:30 p.m. and stared an several cryptic signs with boxes of papers lined up beside them. After about 10 minutes of sign-​reading (and I’m a fast reader), I ascertained I should fill out a form with a number on it, then drop it in a box across the room, then wait to be called by name, not number.
SAY WHAT?
Needless to say, several other people whose English or cognitive skills rated lower than mine were completely lost and subsequently chided for holding things up or not being prepared.
Thank goodness I took a book, otherwise the only form of entertainment was a five-​minute video loop of information on how to file for unemployment and what benefits you could receive. It looked as if it had been shot by a public TV crew and made me laugh no less than a dozen times. Awful.
Anyway, one station was staffed, which created an immense backlog of people waiting for answers to questions. Most of the questions made me realize Illinois has a completely jacked up unemployment system.
«Did you register online then certify by phone? Was it a land line? Did you then certify for the two week period prior to the initial claim date? What color is the square root of the third Wednesday in May?»
So I finally got some answers around 4 p.m. Here’s what I was told:
«There’s nothing wrong with your claim. Teleserve didn’t register your certification because you hung up the phone too early.»
Eat. Me.
I paid thousands of dollars into the unemployment insurance system to get this kind of crap service? Think about my tale of woe the next time you vote for or support government taking over any more services. And think about how hard it must be for someone less articulate or computer-​savvy.
Our system sucks, people.