I just had my PA UC appeal hearing last week and wanted to share my experience while it's still fresh! My employer definitely showed up - it was my former supervisor plus someone from their legal department. The whole thing lasted about 90 minutes. Here's what really stood out to me: the referee spent a LOT of time asking about their progressive discipline policy and why they didn't follow it. Your case sounds incredibly strong - a 5-minute lunch extension after 3 years of perfect attendance with zero warnings? That's exactly the kind of situation where referees question whether the employer was looking for an excuse to terminate. A few things that helped me: I had my timeline written out with specific dates, I stayed calm even when they made claims I disagreed with, and I asked them direct questions about their policies when it was my turn (like "Can you show me where in the employee handbook it specifies exact lunch timing?" or "What progressive discipline steps did you take before termination?"). The referee seemed really focused on whether the policy was clearly communicated and consistently enforced. If you know of coworkers who regularly took longer breaks without consequences, that inconsistent enforcement could be huge for your case. One last tip - bring up your 3-year perfect attendance record early and often. It shows you were a model employee, which makes their willful misconduct claim much harder to prove. You're going to do great - your case honestly sounds like a slam dunk to me!

I'm scheduled for my first PA UC appeal hearing next week and this entire thread has been incredibly helpful! Reading everyone's experiences has really helped calm my nerves about the process. @Kyle Wallace - Your case sounds very strong given the circumstances. A 5-minute lunch extension with no prior warnings after 3 years of perfect attendance? That's going to be really difficult for them to justify as willful misconduct. I'm dealing with a similar situation where they're claiming policy violations but never documented any issues with my performance. One thing I've learned from reading everyone's advice is how important it is to focus on the burden of proof being on the employer. They have to show you knowingly and willfully violated a clearly communicated policy despite warnings - which it sounds like they absolutely cannot prove in your case. I've been preparing by organizing all my documentation chronologically and practicing explaining my situation out loud. The mock hearing idea someone mentioned is brilliant - I'm definitely going to try that this weekend. Thanks to everyone who has shared their experiences here. This community support has been invaluable during such a stressful time. Wishing you the best of luck with your hearing, Kyle!

I'm in exactly the same boat! Started having this issue two weeks ago when I reported income from a temporary gig. The hold times are absolutely insane - my longest wait was 3 hours and 12 minutes before I finally got through, only to be told my case needed to be escalated to a specialist who would call me back "within 72 hours" (spoiler alert: no call back yet). What really gets me is that the PA UC website has zero helpful information about what to expect when you have an open issue. I had to learn from this thread that I should keep filing weekly claims! The system is completely broken and it feels like they're hoping people will just give up. For anyone still waiting, I found that calling on speaker phone while doing household chores helped pass the time, and I keep a bottle of water and snacks nearby because you literally can't leave. It's dystopian that we have to treat calling unemployment like preparing for a siege!

I feel like I'm reading my own story here! I've been dealing with the exact same nightmare for the past 10 days. My payments stopped after I reported earnings from a weekend catering job, and I've made six separate attempts to call with wait times ranging from 75 minutes to over 2 hours. The worst part is that twice I got disconnected right when I thought someone was about to pick up! Thanks to everyone sharing their experiences and tips - especially @Natasha Volkov for explaining the "Issues and Determinations" section. I checked mine and sure enough, there's an "employment information" issue pending. At least now I know what's happening instead of just wondering why my payments vanished into thin air. I'm going to try the early morning calling strategy again tomorrow, armed with snacks, water, and a fully charged phone. This thread has been more helpful than the entire PA UC website! It's ridiculous that we have to crowdsource basic information about how their own system works.

I'm going through this exact same situation right now! Filed my transitional claim 8 days ago and it's been "under review" the whole time. Like many of you, I was on unemployment last year, worked for about 10 months, and now I'm back to filing again after my position was eliminated. The anxiety is real when you're waiting for benefits to come through - especially with rent due next week. But reading through everyone's experiences here has been incredibly reassuring. It sounds like the 10-14 day review period is completely normal for transitional claims, and most people seem to get approved without major issues as long as they worked enough between claims. @Javier Morales thanks for posting this question! It's so helpful to see others going through the same process. I'll try to be more patient and stop obsessively checking my portal every few hours. Going to keep filing my weekly certifications and hope for good news soon.

I'm in the exact same boat as many of you! Filed my transitional claim about 5 days ago after being laid off from a job I had for 7 months following my previous unemployment period. Seeing "under review" status has been keeping me up at night worrying about whether my former employer might be contesting it or if there's some issue with my claim. But honestly, reading through all these responses has been such a huge relief! It's reassuring to know that the 10-14 day review period is totally normal for transitional claims and that it's mainly just wage verification. I was starting to panic thinking something was wrong, but it sounds like this is just how the system works for people like us who are filing again within the same benefit year. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - especially knowing that most people get approved as long as they worked enough between claims. I'll try to stop checking my portal every hour and just be patient for another week or so. At least we're all in this together!

I'm dealing with the exact same situation right now! Just switched to paper checks 5 days ago after my bank flagged my account for suspicious activity. My payment shows "issued" from Monday but still no check in the mail. Reading through all these responses has been both stressful and reassuring - it sounds like 7-10 business days for the first check after switching is unfortunately pretty standard. I'm definitely going to sign up for USPS Informed Delivery today based on all the recommendations here. That seems like such a simple way to at least know what mail is coming instead of obsessively checking an empty mailbox every day. Also planning to call PA UC tomorrow to verify they have my current address since I moved about 6 months ago and want to make sure there's no mix-up causing extra delays. The information about that 3-4 day delay between "payment issued" and actually mailing really explains why the timing feels so unpredictable. It's frustrating when bills are due, but at least now I know this wait is normal and not a sign that something went wrong. Definitely switching to the Money Network card once this first paper check ordeal is over - sounds like everyone agrees it's much more reliable!

I'm currently in the exact same situation! Just switched to paper checks 6 days ago after my bank account got compromised and frozen. My payment shows "issued" since last Tuesday but still nothing in the mailbox. This thread has been incredibly helpful for setting realistic expectations - I had no idea that 7-10 business days was normal for the first check after switching from direct deposit! The tip about the 3-4 day delay between "payment issued" status and actually mailing the check is really eye-opening. That explains why checking the status online doesn't give you the full picture of when to actually expect it. I'm signing up for USPS Informed Delivery right now based on everyone's recommendations - seems like a much better way to manage the daily anxiety of wondering if today's the day. Also planning to call PA UC first thing Monday to verify they have my correct address since I moved about 10 months ago. Better to double-check now than deal with potential address-related delays on top of everything else. Once this first paper check finally arrives, I'm absolutely switching to the Money Network card - the consensus here seems unanimous that it's way more reliable than paper checks. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it really helps to know this frustrating wait is completely normal!

This thread has been so helpful! I just started my PA UC claim last week and was fortunate to come across this discussion early. Based on everyone's experiences, it sounds like switching to paper checks after account changes is basically inevitable. I'm going to proactively screenshot my direct deposit settings now and bookmark the reactivation steps so I'm prepared if/when this happens to me. It's really disappointing that PA UC doesn't provide any guidance about this - you'd think they'd at least mention in the portal that account changes can affect your payment method. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences and creating this valuable resource for the community!

This entire thread has been incredibly enlightening! I'm currently dealing with this exact issue - had direct deposit working fine for my first month of benefits, then suddenly started getting paper checks three weeks ago. I couldn't figure out what went wrong since I hadn't made any obvious changes to my account. But reading through everyone's experiences, I realized I did update my emergency contact information around that time, which must have triggered their fraud prevention system. It's absolutely ridiculous that PA UC doesn't warn you that literally ANY account modification can switch you to paper checks! I'm going to try the online reactivation steps right after posting this. Really grateful for this community - without threads like this, I would have been completely lost trying to figure out why my payments suddenly changed format. The lack of transparency from PA UC about these policies is truly frustrating, but at least we have each other to share solutions and experiences!