Jobseekers’ outlandish excuses for missing Newstart interviews

FROM “the dog ate my iPhone” to “I was giving birth”, these are jobseekers’ weirdest excuses for missing appointments.

JOBSEEKERS are skipping their appointments with employment services only to offer outrageous excuses, with one even faking childbirth.

Others have sent in impostors in their place, or even used the 21st century equivalent of “the dog ate my homework”: a chewed-up iPhone.

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But a crackdown on job-dodging dole claimers has seen hundreds scrambling to make-up work appointments after the Government paused payments for those going missing.

Newstart payments for jobseekers who skip compulsory monthly appointments were halted in January – with money only flowing again when the person attended a follow-up.

A massive 4.8 million meetings were missed in 2013-14.

The crackdown prompted a rush of people keen to attend make-up appointments between January and July, with 90 per cent now turning up compared with 65 per cent previously, figures released to The Courier Mail show.

Those who do “reconnect” are now doing so faster, taking three days to appear after a missed appointment, instead of more than five days before.

There were also fewer missed appointments under the new rules, down from 35 per cent of all appointments missed to 31.5 per cent.

Of those caught up in the crackdown, one in five missed their appointment because they didn’t feel like going, 16 per cent forgot and a similar number blamed a manageable or unproven medical issue.

Sarina Russo Job Access chief executive Dianne Fletcher said the majority did the right thing but others used poor or ridiculous excuses not to meet employment services.

“A jobseeker had rung to advise that they were in labour and therefore unable to attend their appointment,” she said of one case.

“Unfortunately at their previous appointment they were slim and were not showing any signs of pregnancy and when they turned up to their following appointment they’d actually forgotten they’d used the excuse and there was no baby with them.”

Ms Fletcher said one jobseeker sent a substitute along, who fled when asked for ID.

“Sometimes there are some amusing parts to the day,” she said.

Other invalid excuses were: the dog chewed up my phone and destroyed its calendar, missing the bus or sleeping in, she said.

Valid excuses include casual work or job interviews.

From this month people who missed the first appointment without a valid reason were hit with a financial penalty, with payments previously being backpaid from the date of pause.

Assistant Minister for Employment Luke Hartsuyker said the reforms were working, with less time being wasted.

“This means less downtime and costs for providers and at the same time more jobseekers are benefiting from the taxpayer funded help on offer to find and keep a job,” he said.

Originally published as Jobseekers’ outlandish excuses for missing Newstart interviews