Voluntary Termination as last resort

Hi.  I have a few question regarding UE compensation.  I worked for my company for 6 1/2 years.  After my first year there, I became pregnant.  The company is a 1 & 1/2 hr drive one way from my home.  I intended to quit when my son was born because working there would mean I would be gone from 7AM-7PM and I could not find child care or afford it for that many hours and did not think it would be a responsible decision to have my child under someone elses care for 60 hours a week.  They offered me a schedule to work from home 3 days a week and I was able to work it out with my mother in law to watch my son for the 2 days that I went into the office.  That schedule was working out, but my son had to start grade school in September from 7:50-2:30, 5 days a week.  My mother in law switched jobs and could no longer watch him during the week.  I asked my employer if i could work from home full-time or switch to a schedule that would allow me to get my son to and from school.  My request was denied and I saved the email stating their reply.  I looked into before and after school care, which was only available until 6:30 PM and that would not work for me.  I had no choice but to quit and gave them 2 months notice.  My son is required to go to school and my options were exhausted.  I planned to begin a carreer in a new field that would allow me to work from home, but it has not picked up yet.  Approx 2 weeks after my last day, my former manager contacted me asking me to come back for a 7 week contract job where I could work part time from home.  At this point, I already had a prospective job lined up in a new career which could lead to full-time employment later in the year, so I denied the request of my former employer.  I did some work for the prospective employer, but only for a few hours as casual work.  I have been continuing to file UE claims, but for nearly 9 weeks my claim status has said that there is an issue that is being reviewed.  My questions are, will I be denied benefits because I quit and did not accept their offer to come back?  Also, how long can a claim be reviewed before a decision is made?  Is there anything I can do?  I am bleeding my savings account and need an income while I continue to work on getting my new carreer moving.

"will I be denied benefits because I quit and did not accept their offer to come back?"

Most likely yes.  Voluntarily quitting a position and then turning down viable work that you are capable of doing are the kiss of death in collecting UI benefits.  The first key element of collecting is that you lose the job through no fault of your own and you didn't you resigned.  Your child care issues are not your employer's problem.  It was your choice to quit when you could not work it out. 

You also were doing some work for the prospective employer.  Even if it wasn't full time work it does have to be reported to UI as well and it does offset any benefits that you might collect. 

"Also, how long can a claim be reviewed before a decision is made?"

As long as the state needs.  They are the ones who have to pay and if they need more information than they take all the time they need.  With the large numbers of people out of work and collecting.

"Is there anything I can do? "

See if that contract work is still available.  It would pad that savings account.  It doesn't appear you are eligible for UI benefits.

Thank you for the reply.  The contract was only until the first week in November to finish up a project that I was working on before I left.  I did report the amount that I made as casual work in my beneft claims.