Options few for jobless with flawed work histories

By Susan Gordanier, The Hillsboro Argus
December 24, 2009, 4:30AM

Tylina Tillett may be falling through the cracks of the social network, but she isn’t going down without grasping every possibility of breaking that tumble.

In August, Tillett lost the job she’d held for three years, behind a McDonald’s counter. She was fired, accused of theft when the till at her drive-up window came up $13 short.

Business managers have discretion in such situations. They can weigh past performance … or fire at will. When Tillett applied for unemployment, she was told she did not qualify because she had been fired from her last position. Tillett appealed, but that ruling has thus far stood.

Tillett has little to say about her work history at the restaurant. It’s in the past, and what matters to her now is that, because she was terminated with cause, she also cannot qualify for cash assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. She is also excluded from job retraining until at least August 2010.
Tillett has no income at all. What she does have is Christian, her 9-year-old son. He often has to care for his elderly grandmother, with whom they live, when he returns from school and his mother is away. Tillett, herself, walks almost everywhere, including to the workforce placement office to apply for jobs.

Tillett and her son receive food stamps, but that $367 payment must stretch to feed three people.

Tillett’s main concern is how hard the system affects women in her situation. “The new law (tying cash assistance to unemployment) does not make it very easy for a single mother like myself to get a job,” she said.

There are other options available to Tillett and others like her, said Patty Carr, of Hillsboro Self-Sufficiency, which is under the Department of Human Services. “But those other places are just swamped,” she said, because of the state of the economy.

Velvet Russ, of the Housing, Employment LInk Program, says many offices may have programs for which Tillett may qualify, but they are hard to identify. Her best option is to call 2-1-1, she said. That is the one-stop advice line for all community resources.