Hello /c/adulting
Location: Overland Park, KS, United States
My wife was fired recently without warning. She has filed for unemployment and had an initial interview with the unemployment office today. They claim that her former employer told them that she was “not doing her job” but I have never heard anything from her regarding performance issues. They also claimed that they “talked to her about her performance” and she claims that they never made any attempt to correct her performance and was unaware that they were unhappy with her.
What does this mean for her eligibility for unemployment? Is there any recourse?
Many times employers will do this. And she will need to appeal it. I think the limit is three and then they give it to you. But I am not a lawyer. Luckily our unemployment is low here and hopefully she’ll find something better.
Is the appeal process literally just resubmitting the application multiple times?
Would it be helpful to reach out to her former manager and ask why/if they made those statements or is it just best to keep our heads down and hope the appeal works?
I’m not sure for the appeals. But her former employer will not want to help you with this.
lol, well that much I already knew
More specifically, her former employer will end up with additional expenses if she gets unemployment because it’s a form of insurance - paid claims result in increased premiums, basically. So they’ll actively work to avoid her claim being paid.
That does not change the legitimacy of her claim, nor mean she shouldn’t/can’t appeal. YMMV by state, of course.
I don’t know about that state but I had an employer in my state (I mean the llc was from a different state) who challenged my unemployment. The same employer (the guy who owned the small business really) had a severance package I could have gotten if I would have signed a statement an action I took on his orders was my fault. Well I didn’t. He tried to say it was with cause to the unemployment office. Well long and short of it is I challenged the challenge and he had to respond with proof which he did not but it delayed getting any checks until I had another job and the unemployment checks that came were not meaningless they did just go toward paying late bills and again having some of a savings for emergency. Overall I lost money because if I had gotten the unemployment in a timely manner I would have been able to prevent late payments on bills. I would compare the process to challenging items on your credit report. The employer has the onus (at least in my state) to show proof.
Check the unemployment laws in your state. Where I live, “performance issues” isn’t a valid termination reason for denying unemployment, although filing an appeal letter to a judge is necessary to ensure you can collect unemployment in those cases. Each state is going to have different rules though.
Will do, appreciated!
We’re going to need to know what state this is in before we progress.
Sorry about that, updated my post.
I don’t know enough about their specific process to weigh in, but it looks like you’re perhaps headed in the direction of some kind of legal battle.
First steps for those is always the same–collect ammo. Start compiling all records you have of all communications with the company. Anything, email, phone records, whatever, that might support the fact that you are telling the truth.
Someone more knowledgeable will have to take it from there.
Would it be smart or even useful to try to reach out to her former manager to get info or try to trap them in a lie? E.g. “Hello Mr.X, I had a call to determine my eligibility for unemployment today and was told that you stated that you gave me verbal warnings prior to my termination…” And so on
They stated that “her behavior did not necessitate a written warning but verbal warnings were given” which sounds completely asinine to me given that they fired her without giving her a written warning.
I just don’t know enough to field that. You could consider consulting with an attorney that specializes in labor disputes. I know lawyers often offer free consultation, but I am not one, so this question is problematic for me.
Understandable, I appreciate your input all the same.
I run a business in CA so I’m not sure how different the UI laws are there, but that’s not a valid reason to deny UI benefits here. I fired someone for having a pattern of sitting on their phone and not working but the unemployment office told me the exemployee is still qualified for unemployment. At least CA you have to do something malicious to be denied unemployment.
