Unemployment Appeal

[sslinky]

My question involves unemployment benefits for the state of: CA

I am appealing a decision to suspend my unemployment benefits.

On my Unemployment Insurance (UI) form I claimed that I was Laid off. However, my employer is claiming I was fired for unsatisfactory job performance. (Normally a legit cause to receive unemployment anyways)

Now I am appealing section 1257(a): Did the claimant willfully make a false statement in order to obtain benefits.

What evidence can I present to demonstrate that I did not willfully make a false statement?

I don't have any paperwork stating that I was "fired" or "Laid off," only terminated. Also, no one was ever hired for my ex-position.

Thank you gratefully for any help or ideas.

[SChinFChin]

Though I'm in NY, I claimed UI once, 20 years back, claiming I was laid off, but the employer claimed otherwise.

Because the position was never filled months after I filed my claim, when the hearing took place, I said I was laid off "because the positon was terminated". There were some preliminaries held over the phone, the hearing examiner told me that the company claimed they were "reorganizing", and there would have been a spot for me had I stayed.

Actually, I was tired of the politics of the place, and I left when they started to re-organize figuring I'll be collecting while I look for something else.

The company never showed up at the hearing, so the examiner ruled in my favor agreeing with me that the "position was terminated". In your case, if it was bad performance, then, they would've already hired a "go-getter" who can perform far better, obviously. In this job market, they should've found someone in 10 minutes.

In that case, either you or the examiner could ask the company what efforts they made to fill the spot. Then again, if it's such a "hard" spot to fill because they can't find someone with the right qualifications, then obviously, your bad performance may well have to do with the extreme difficulty of the job, where they can't be pleased.

I'm thinking over ideas here. Right now, at my agency, on the employer side, we're handling an employee appeal that she's laid off, we said she "walked off", with a few hearings already, and I had to come up with arguments as to why she's not laid off. The fact that we had a 3 month gap for the replacement didn't help us.

With all of this, our UI rate went up well over 50% already. Sigh!! That's why your employer is fighting hard and mad.

[525601minutes]

At the hearing you say that when the employer told you that you were no longer an employee that they did not tell you what you that your job performance was unsatisfactory. You can also point out that because you were not replaced you thought you were laid off.

Then the EDD will ask the employer for their paper trail showing that your work was not up to par and for proof that they had warned you about what you were doing wrong so you could correct the issue. If your former employer did a good job of keeping records and you are not being upfront about the situation then you can expect to the original denial to stand.

[SChinFChin]

If the OP had some foresight, he could've indicated to the employer that he would want to make this a "friendly separation", and then asked for a letter of recommendation, while still there. He didn't mention if there was a final HR meeting where the circumstances of the separation was discussed, but usually, companies are a bit sloppy in documenting bad work, and shy about mentioning it at the final meeting, preferring to rush the employee out the door.

With such a letter in hand, the company cannot later say that the work was deficient.

If the OP wanted to play hardball, he could raise the stakes, get an attorney and go after the employer for harassment, discrimination, and a whole host of other issues, to be determined. Companies usually opt for a friendly separation to avoid a messy affair.

The employee who is appealing her UI denial, that we are having problems with right now at the agency, got herself a lawyer too.

And seldom does an employer spend the time to come up with corrective plans of action. I did that only once with an employee I fired, I had weekly meetings with him where I wrote up his deficient work, and my boss was critical that I even wasted all my valuable time on it, saying the man should've been fired much earlier, and a replacement on board that much sooner.

Even so, he said he was laid off, and when called for a job references, we simply told employers he was laid off, that we re-organized. The employee is Hispanic, with a family to feed, and we didn't need a discrimination lawsuit on our hands.

Often, being fired, and being laid off, is a matter of degree and tone, and it's easy to confuse one with the other.

In one exceptional case, though, where a line executive two steps above me was fired, allegedly for malfeasance, he was carried out by both arms, by several beefy security guards to the front door, given a shove to the parking lot, for good measure. In that case, there's no mistake he was fired.

Of course, he got himself a lawyer, filed a federal lawsuit, and claimed he was trying to expose fraud at our firm, and higher-ups retaliated. It's one of those lawsuits where you collect a percentage of the fraud you exposed, and the company spent a ton on legal fees, pay fines and penalties if found guilty.

Didn't I say a friendly separation was far better??

[sslinky]

Thank you for those insightful responses.

To clarify, I was indeed terminated in a quick, unclear manner. There was a final HR meeting, but that was only to discuss final pay and they offered COBRA.

The company has indeed not hired anyone new for months now. However, the company explored transferring me to another position before termination. Does that help or hurt my cause?

Thank you once again for any ideas.

[SChinFChin]

It should help you.

If you were as incompetent as they now claim, why consider you for another position, unless it's a big demotion? In fact, you can now claim that your impression was you were laid off when that new position fell through.

I also doubt there's any write-ups of what you did wrong either. Operating managers usually have better things to do, and too busy, than to write-up employees.

Now, if you had annual reviews, and the comments were critical, they might have something. Often, those reviews are wishy washy, I know, as I write them for those in my department, and is for purposes of giving pay raises, or lack thereof.

Had you given them as references, and I wonder what their comments were to potential employers if any??