[Koko2]

I've recently began receiving weekly unemployment benefits for the first time in my long life, and applied online for a professional job through a temp agency. The temp agency recently contacted me about another job that pays about the same as my last job but isn't the job that I applied for. If I don't turn in the orientation paperwork to the temp agency and decline further proceedings with them, is this considered a refusal of job offer even though it wasn't the job I applied for and I haven't gone through their orientation?

[Bluesday]

No, if you never reported applying to this particular job. Chances are almost zero that they would ever check anyway, especially since it's your first time on it. I know somebody who actually accepted and worked 2 different jobs (for just a few days) while he was on unemployment. He never reported the jobs b/c he knew he was going to quit.

[hvert]

It is refusal of work, but like Bluesday said, the chances are slim that you would be caught. If you reported applying with this temp agency, I would not risk getting caught, but my state is really going after this.

[Koko2]

How exactly would it be refusal if it isn't the original job that I applied for? I would think they would require you to only consider job offers for jobs you actually applied for, and also what constitutes a job offer? I read online that they had to provide the specific day to show up for work, etc., and I don't even know what company I'd be working for, and by the time I'd turn my application in, the particular job may have already been filled. Since I haven't turned in my paperwork and I.D. to the temp agency, I'm not sure I've assented to their role as my job headhunter. I'd rather do my own job search.

[hvert]

The rules may vary in your state. Where I live, you have 8 weeks to turn down a job because it doesn't come within a certain % of your salary. After that, you have to accept any offered work, no matter the wage, even if you didn't apply for it.

Your employer could call you back and offer you a reduced wage. If you said no, they could call the unemployment office and turn you in. I worked for a company that did that, so it's made me a bit paranoid.

It sounds like this wasn't so much a job offer as a solicitation to submit your application for a job, in which case you aren't turning down work - you are just choosing not to apply.

I wouldn't list it on the paperwork with the state, just to be safe, but like I said, I'm paranoid

[Koko2]

I understand the paranoia. It would be financially ruinous for me, possibly bankruptcy, to be required to repay the benefits. My original contact was sending a resume online for a specific advertised job, and it is recorded on my search log to fill my weekly quota. Their subsequent phone call was for another job that I didn't apply for and which I have questions about my suitability, or success with the job, since I have a physical disability (but the disability isn't legally recognized yet).

[hvert]

You are probably fine. There is a risk, but it is tiny.

And I think you are right that this is sort of ambiguous - declining an interview is not the same as declining a job.

[brainhi]

When you have to lean on the government..they get to make the rules - whether they make sense or not. Which forces many good people to lie. And there are those that totally abuse the system. Hate being held hostage by the government. Good luck on your search.

[bigblackdog]

In my state, a comparable job is based on duties, responsibility, location, pay (and I would include benefits, since they are part of compensation)

If I accept a job with same duties, responsibility, location and pay, but no benefits, it's hardly comparable, since bennies can be between 15-20k a year for me. That's a big pay cut.

If it's not a position that you applied for and you've not gone through the hiring process, then you should not have to accept it. However, I assume that you submitted a resume and the agency looked at it and thought you'd be a better fit for that job. It might be worth investigating.