Are you collecting unemployment and blogging? Be careful, it could cost you.

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If you are collecting unemployment benefits, you are probably looking for other ways to help make ends meet. Unfortunately, if one of those ways is making a few bucks using Google AdSense or Microsoft adCenter those unemployment benefits could be at risk. Why? Well one reason could be antiquated state unemployment rules and processes, which appear to be remnants of the days before technological advancement, telecommuting and the prevalence of multi-national (or multi-state) enterprises.

Recently New York State Department of Labor stopped issuing unemployment benefits to an unemployed lawyer who was earning $1.38 a day from Google AdSense. NYSDOL began an investigation into these “earnings” to determine if the lawyer was still eligible for benefits. First off, I admire her honesty with informing the state that she was earning this minor income stream from her blog. Secondly, why would New York stop her benefits completely for such a minor amount of income? After repeatedly contacting the NYSDOL, Karin (no last name given) was informed that her unemployment benefits would be stopped:

Karin called the DOL again and says this time she was told that the state considered her self-employed, which would require her to claim earnings each time she received an AdSense check. She called back to get another opinion, and Karin says this time she was informed by yet another state official that she needed to declare that she was working every time that she updated her blog.

Meanwhile, New York State has informed Karin that she is ineligible for unemployment benefits while its investigation is ongoing. ………….

Karin, meanwhile, has pulled AdSense from her Web site. "It's frustrating that nobody seems to have a straightforward answer," she says. "It's even more frustrating that trying to work and generate additional income, while being straightforward and honest about that income, is treated with suspicion and punished."

Her total AdSense income: $238.75.

Lawyer's Unemployment Benefits Yanked Over $1 A Day From Blog

This story shows that you must be cautious when sharing information with your unemployment office because being honest about minor earnings could jeopardize your unemployment benefits. What’s disturbing about this story is that no one in New York’s Labor Department has any idea of how the world currently works and yet they gallingly stop benefits without due process. If someone were found to be making $500 a week and collecting unemployment benefits, then I can understand the state stopping benefits immediately, but that’s not the case here.

Trillions of taxpayer dollars are shoveled at corrupt banks without any repayment obligations, but honestly earning $1.38 a day will end a truthful person’s unemployment benefits. Sadly, as Wall Street, K Street and now Karin can attest, honesty is not always the best policy.