Jobless fraud wreaks havoc on woman

Victim grateful to staff of former Sen. Dean Tran

LANCASTER » Elizabeth, who wishes to remain anonymous, said her life has been turned upside down since a fraudulent unemployment claim was filed in her name last year.

“It has been hell, and it is still continuing,” she said. “This has impacted our lives significantly,” which is why she preferred remaining anonymous out of fear it could happen again.

Elizabeth, 54, worked in a school system last year doing ABA therapy with special needs students after moving from Marshfield to Lancaster in November 2019.

“I am a big advocate for special needs, my daughter has special needs,” she said.

Her contract with the school was ending in June last year. A week before it was up, Elizabeth got a call from human resources in the district office asking if she had filed for unemployment benefits.

“I thought, this is not good,” she said. “The woman told me there was a big unemployment fraud thing going on.”

Human resources recommended she file an unemployment fraud claim, which she immediately did and froze all her accounts.

Prior to that she got a call from a school official indicating that paraprofessionals at her school were being laid off, and that she had the option to be moved to another position at a local high school.

Elizabeth said the new job would not work with her being a

single mom and taking care of her adopted daughter, who is a high school sophomore remote learning.

She needed to file for benefits with the state’s Department of Unemployment Assistance, but she found out a fraudulent claim had been filed in her name and was not able to.

“I had the fraud team calling me all the time, saying they were working on the case,” Elizabeth said. “They were sending messages to my unemployment inbox about the status of my case, but I was locked out of my account and could not get in. I could not see any of them.”

In addition, she was told by the state that she was not going to receive benefits because she had quit her job.

“I did not quit, I have all the paperwork and texts from the principal sent back and forth and I sent it into unemployment,” Elizabeth said. “I didn’t quit, I worked the last day of school when my contract was up.”

“I was desperate,” Elizabeth said, adding that she has gone through all of her savings.

It was suggested that she contact her local state representative and senator. She called former state Sen. Dean Tran’s office in Fitchburg, and that is when her luck changed. Elizabeth spoke with Tran’s then-aide Laura Sapienza- Grabski, who contacted the Department of Unemployment Assistance on her behalf.

“Unemployment called me within five minutes,” Elizabeth said.

She was able to apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which was backdated to June.

“Thank God I caught up on my bills,” Elizabeth said. “The stress has been unbelievable.”

Weeks later PUA suddenly stopped coming in.

“I called Laura again and she called (DUA) and it started again immediately,” Elizabeth said. “Laura has a presence; when she speaks, I get service. If it was not for them, I would probably not be getting PUA.”

Elizabeth said Sapienza- Grabski and Tran have been “wonderful” to work with.

“They were so nice and have helped me so much,” she said.

Sapienza- Grabski said she was happy to help the people who called Tran’s office looking for assistance, including Elizabeth.

“I tried to assist the many callers seeking help with pandemic related issues while I worked for Senator Tran, as best I could,” she said. “I spoke often with several of the callers that had more complicated matters. Liz was one of those calls. Her humor and appreciation for any step forward to addressing her complicated unemployment issues and other matters was incredibly rewarding. I am glad that I was able to assist her. I talked to Liz so often that she has become a friend that I have yet to meet.”

Elizabeth said working with the DUA was a pleasant surprise.

“One woman from unemployment called me several times to check on me, even when she was off duty,” she said, adding that Sapienza- Grabski has also called her after work hours to see how she is doing.

“She did not have to do that. She and Senator Tran went above and beyond. Laura checked on me the other day, they still care about me,” Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth said she cannot work until the pandemic is over because she needs to continue home schooling her daughter.

She has not received PUA since the last week of December, when the Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act of 2020, which extends benefits under the CARES Act and provides new qualification requirements, was signed into law. She is hoping it kicks in again

soon.

“I just got my stimulus check, thank God, because I was behind on my rent again,” Elizabeth said. “I got a letter Jan. 11 saying they were going to continue PUA but not saying when. We need to know that kind of information, we need to let our landlord know.”

She said that while she understands all of this is unprecedented and that there is no manual for what is happening during and because of the pandemic, she cannot understand why unemployment fraud is so rampant across the state and around the country.

“How is this happening in Massachusetts, how is this happening while you are still working?” Elizabeth said. “This is so wrong; something is so screwed up on the state level. You would need to know my mother’s maiden name, passwords, Social Security number to file a claim. How is that easy to do and get on these sites? That is crazy. It is still affecting my life, almost a year later.”

On top of her ongoing unemployment saga, Elizabeth had COVID-19 last March.

“The day school shut down I was getting sick,” she said. “I had laryngitis for two weeks and no one knew what it was.”

She recently lost two friends to COVID-19.

“I think of the nurses and doctors and everyone dealing with all of this,” Elizabeth said. “My problem is very small at the end of the day.”

She is grateful for the help she has received from the unemployment office staff members and Sapienza- Grabski and Tran.

“I want to reiterate how awesome certain people were at unemployment,” she said. “The majority of them were amazing. There are great people in everything, and there are horrible people in everything. If it were not for Laura, I think I would be homeless. They were all amazing. We are still in the same boat and I am not sure how this will end up, but we are healthy, and I am trying to stay super positive with the kids. It is kind of a nightmare right now, but we will get through it.”

‘Thank God I caught up on my bills. The stress has been unbelievable.’

– Unemployment fraud victim Elizabeth