Please read the following and respond..this is for real, and you or someone you know may be next. This could follow into your state as well!
Labor Department declares bowling "work";
Buffalo bowler appeals case to Supreme Court
Amateur bowlers of New York State, pay attention! Unless you help, a law may soon be entered on the books that will impact you, if and when you apply for, or receive, unemployment benefits.
The New York State Department of Labor considers you to be employed on any day that you participate in the recreational activity of league bowling, merely on the fact that you will receive some "income" from your league's prize fund at the end of the season. It does not matter to the Administrative Judge, or to the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board that the amount of money you get back at the end of the season will (most likely) be less than the sum of your entry fees, resulting in a net loss.
As far as the Department of Labor is concerned, if you bowled in a league, or in a small local tournament (for amateurs), where you had the potential to make any money at all, however small, in their distorted view you were "not totally unemployed" on the day(s) that you bowled, and, therefore, you were not eligible to receive unemployment benefits on those days. If you received benefits for those days that you bowled, you will be required to pay them back.
Furthermore, if you neglected to mention at the time of initially filing for a claim for benefits that you are engaged in an "activity" which, in their view, brings in income, or which may bring in income, you will be guilty of making a "false" statement for the purposes of obtaining unemployment benefits.
Similarly, during your claim, if you certify weekly via the Tel-Service phone line that you did not work during the past week, even though you did go bowling during that past week, the Department of Labor will interpret that you were also making "false" statements when you re-certified for benefits. Not only will you have to pay back your benefits, but the Department of Labor will also use your own responses to their vague questions to prove that you were making "false" statements — a somewhat circumspect way of calling you a liar, a cheat, and a fraud.
As a consequence, you will face severe penalties that will result in your being ineligible to receive unemployment benefits again until a (quite prolonged) penalty phase elapses.
But all is not lost - not yet anyway.
The New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division (3rd Department) will soon be reviewing my appeal. I, John-Michael Battaglia, am a western New York bowler whom the Department of Labor has singled out in its attempt to establish new case law that will ultimately affect millions of New York State's bowlers.
As a long-time amateur bowler who participates in league bowling and in an occasional local tournament, I continued to engage in bowling activities while receiving unemployment benefits several years ago, never realizing that, in the eyes of the Department of Labor, I was allegedly "employed" every time that I bowled, thus making me "not totally unemployed," and therefore not eligible to receive benefits, on those days that I bowled.
By accusing me of making "false" statements to obtain unemployment benefits, the Department of Labor was able to examine my old records and issue a Re-Determination that declared me "ineligible" to receive benefits on all those days that I bowled.
If the Department of Labor wins its case against me, I will be ordered to pay back those benefits and to suffer a penalty for alleging making "false" statements to obtain benefits in the first place. At a Hearing, an Administrative Judge sanctioned the Department of Labor's findings; at an appeal to the Unemployment Insurance Board, the Board rubber-stamped the Judge's ruling, without commenting on it in any substantive detail.
On my own behalf — as well as on behalf of all the millions of bowlers, lottery ticket buyers, bingo players, and others who participate in similar recreational activities that have the potential to bring in "income" and thereby render themselves ineligible to receive unemployment on the day they bowled, bought a lottery ticket, went to a gambling casino, or played bingo — I am taking my appeal to the New York State Supreme Court.
I have written a legal Brief stating my case, but would greatly appreciate it if I could include, as an Exhibit, letters from other bowlers who share my belief that bowling in a recreational league as an amateur does not constitute being employed, being self-employed, or going to work. It's something we, as amateur bowlers, do for fun.
I maintain that I could not possibly have made a "false" statement when asked by the Department of Labor whether I had "worked" in the past week, or whether I was engaged in any "activity" that brought in income, because I do not consider bowling a job, nor as an activity that brings me any positive cash flow.
If you, too, believe that bowling is not work. If you, too, think that you would have answered "No" to the questions asked by the Department of Labor on its application form and via its Tel-Service phone line as to whether you would think of bowling as "work", then you can help to prevent this bizarre perception by the Department of Labor from turning into case law that will be a precedent for other abusive interpretations of the Labor laws. If you, too, are shocked to learn that the Department of Labor wants to consider that you are "working" when you are bowling in a recreational league with your friends, then you need to make the Supreme Court hear your voice now.
Write a letter, or send me an e-mail, that I can include with my Brief to the Court. Write as if you are talking to the Court itself. Explain in your words how you view your participation in the recreational activity of league bowling. Do you believe that going bowling as an amateur is a form of employment or not? Indicate how you would answer this question on the unemployment application form: "Do you have any business or are you engaged in any activity that brings in or may bring in income?" (Mention whether the idea of bowling would even come into your mind at all when answering that question.)
Also, indicate how you would respond to the question posed by the automated voice on the Tel-Service phone line: "Did you work, including self-employment, in the week ending ...?"
To win this case and to stop the Department of Labor from establishing case law that could open up a flood gate that will impact millions of bowlers (and others) across New York State, I need your letters and emails to prove that I am not alone in the belief that my participation in bowling did not constitute "work" that rendered me "not totally unemployed" and ineligible for unemployment benefits.
Send your letters to:
John-Michael Battaglia, 53 Montrose Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14214.
Send your emails to: jmbattaglia@adelphia.net, with the words Bowling Brief in the subject line to distinguish your e-mail from junk e-mail.
Time is short! I need to receive all your letters and e-mails by Friday, December 12th to include them with the Brief. Bowlers interested in reading the Brief should send me an email request.
Thank you for your help,
John-Michael Battaglia
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