PA UC keeps putting claims in review because of small Rover dog sitting earnings - need help!
So frustrated with PA unemployment right now! I've been picking up occasional dog sitting jobs through Rover to try and make SOME money while looking for full-time work. I maybe make $75-90 a month doing this, definitely not enough to live on. But every single time I report these small earnings on my weekly claim, my benefits get thrown into review status and everything stops! I'm currently on week 3 of waiting for someone to call me about my latest "issue." The dashboard just says "pending review" with no explanation. How is trying to follow the rules and honestly report minimal side income causing so much trouble? The ridiculous part is that if I just sat at home doing nothing, I'd actually get my benefits on time. This system literally punishes people for trying to work a little while job hunting! Anyone else deal with this? Any tricks to actually get someone to review these issues faster?
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Noah Torres
OMG same thing happened to me but with instacart! I made like $50 one week and my claim was under review for almost a MONTH. no explanation, nothing. its like they want us to just give up and go away 😡
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Natalie Wang
•A MONTH?? I can't wait that long. Did they ever call you or did it just randomly start working again?
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Samantha Hall
yep welcome to PA UC! they do this all the time with part time earnings. its literally the system working as designed to frustrate ppl
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Ryan Young
This is a common issue with PA's partial benefit calculations. The system flags any claim with reported earnings for manual review, regardless of how small the amount is. The key detail most people don't know is that you're still supposed to receive benefits for weeks where your part-time earnings are less than your weekly benefit rate minus the partial benefit credit (usually about 30% of your weekly benefit amount). For example, if your weekly benefit rate is $350, you should still receive reduced benefits for any week you earn less than $350, with the first $105 or so (30%) not even counting against your benefit amount. Have you tried calling the special Partial Benefits unit instead of the main line? They sometimes can process these claims faster.
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Natalie Wang
•Wait there's a special Partial Benefits unit?? I had no idea! Do you have their number? The main UC number just keeps giving me the busy signal every time I try.
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Sophia Clark
i just stopped reporting my side gig. not worth the hassle tbh
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Ryan Young
•I strongly advise against this approach. Not reporting income is considered fraud and can result in having to pay back all benefits plus penalties, and in serious cases can lead to criminal charges. The state can easily find out about unreported income through cross-matching with IRS records, especially for platform work like Rover that issues 1099s.
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Katherine Harris
I was stuck in exactly the same situation with my DoorDash earnings back in January. Here's how I finally got it resolved: First, try using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to someone at UC. They have this service where they'll call PA UC for you and connect you once they get through. Saved me hours of redial hell. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/CEPETxZdo9E?si=WL1ZzVZWG3KiHrg2 When you do get through, specifically ask for a claims examiner who handles partial benefit reviews. You'll need to have all your Rover payment statements ready to verify the exact amounts. Also, make sure to keep filing your weekly claims during this review period! I made the mistake of stopping, which just complicated things further.
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Natalie Wang
•Thanks for the suggestion! Hadn't heard of Claimyr before. Did it take long for them to actually resolve your case once you got through to someone? And yes, I've definitely been continuing to file every week even though nothing's being paid out.
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Katherine Harris
•Once I actually spoke with someone, it took about 5 business days for them to process the review and release my payments. They had to verify all my DoorDash earnings for the weeks in question. Make sure you have documentation for exactly what you earned each week from Rover ready to go.
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Madison Allen
All these reviews are computer-generated flags in the system. ANYTHING that looks different triggers them. The REAL problem isnt the review but the fact that PA UC is SEVERELY understaffed to handle all these reviews!!! When i worked in the unemployment office back in 2018 we had 3x the staff for half the claims. Now its a skeleton crew. You should file a complaint with your state representative's office! They have special channels to escalate unemployment issues. My sister got her issue fixed in 2 days after waiting 5 weeks because her rep made some calls.
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Joshua Wood
•I tried that state rep route and got nowhere. They just sent me a form letter saying they'd "look into it" but nothing ever happened. Maybe depends on which district you're in?
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Madison Allen
•Yeah it definitely depends on the rep and their staff. Some are MUCH better than others at helping with unemployment issues.
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Ryan Young
One more thing: make sure you're correctly reporting your Rover income. You should be reporting the gross amount you receive from clients BEFORE Rover takes their service fee (usually 20-25%). Many gig workers incorrectly report only their net earnings, which creates discrepancies when UC verifies income with quarterly wage reports.
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Natalie Wang
•Oh shoot, I've been reporting what actually hits my bank account after Rover takes their cut. Could that be part of the problem? Should I try to correct this somehow?
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Ryan Young
•Yes, that could definitely be contributing to the review flags. When you speak with an examiner, explain that you've been reporting post-fee amounts and provide them with both gross and net figures. They can help you correct the previous reports. Going forward, always report the pre-fee amount on your weekly claims.
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Noah Torres
Does anyone know if there's a minimum amount you can earn before having to report it? Like if I just make $20 walking a dog do I even need to tell UC about it?
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Samantha Hall
•nope, PA makes you report EVERY dollar. its stupid but thats how they do it
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Katherine Harris
Just checking back - were you able to get through to UC using Claimyr or any other method? Curious if your situation got resolved yet.
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Natalie Wang
•Yes! Finally got this sorted out yesterday. I tried Claimyr and was connected to UC within about 15 minutes. The claims examiner said the review was triggered because my Rover earnings were irregular (some weeks $0, other weeks $75, etc.) which the system flags as suspicious. They cleared all the pending weeks and said my payment should arrive within 3 business days. They also noted my account so future Rover earnings shouldn't trigger automatic reviews. Such a relief after nearly a month of stress!
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Dmitry Ivanov
That's fantastic news @Natalie Wang! Thanks for updating us - it's so helpful to know that Claimyr actually works and that there's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm dealing with a similar situation with my Uber Eats earnings (also irregular amounts week to week) so this gives me hope. Going to try calling them tomorrow. Really appreciate everyone who shared advice in this thread!
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Oliver Becker
•@Dmitry Ivanov Good luck with your call tomorrow! Just a heads up - when you do get through, make sure you have all your Uber Eats payment records organized by week. The examiner will want to verify the exact amounts for each week that s'under review. Also, if you ve'been reporting your net earnings after (Uber s'fees like) I was doing, be prepared to explain that and provide the gross amounts too. The whole process was way less scary than I expected once I actually got to talk to a real person!
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Ethan Moore
This is such a common frustration! I went through something similar with my TaskRabbit earnings earlier this year. The automated review system seems designed to flag ANY irregular income patterns, no matter how small. What really helped me was keeping a detailed spreadsheet of all my gig work - dates, amounts, platform fees, etc. When I finally got through to someone, having everything organized made the call go much smoother. Also, don't give up on the state rep route entirely - I had to contact three different offices before finding one that actually followed through. The staffer who helped me said UC cases are unfortunately very common right now and some offices have dedicated people just for unemployment issues. Hang in there!
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Paolo Longo
•@Ethan Moore That spreadsheet idea is brilliant! I wish I had thought of that from the beginning. Having everything organized by week would have saved me so much stress during my call with the examiner. For anyone else reading this who s'just starting to deal with gig work + unemployment, definitely start tracking everything in detail from day one. Also totally agree about the state rep thing - it really does depend on the office. Some are incredibly helpful while others just give you the runaround. Thanks for sharing your experience!
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