My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Missouri
Hello, I have a VERY small business. As in, I had one employee. I had to fire this person after numerous tardies and a refusal to be available throughout the workday (they would schedule appointments or plan errands without telling me, and then get mad if I had a full workday for them). Since it's a small operation, most of the records are via email and text message. This person was aware of the attendance and punctuality policy (outlined in the employee handbook). Tardiness had been an issue for about 4 months. I remember one day, I thought this employee was a no-call no-show, and had to rearrange my schedule to fit in this employee's work as well. They called me almost 2 hours after the start of the workday to tell me they had an appointment I forgot about. Of course, there was no proof brought to me this appointment even happened.
So, when that happened, I asked the employee please bring any sort of documentation of appointments if they are going to cause her to be late. She only did this once, and the timestamp on the documentation shows the employee showed up for the appointment a mere 9 minutes before the scheduled shift. I told her if she is going to be late, but has proof, I can excuse the tardy; otherwise, I cannot.
The person was fired last week for excessive tardies and refusal to provide any documentation for appointments. Said employee filed unemployment. I've sent about 13 pages of evidence in to contest or whatever: copies of phone records, text messages (asking if she's going to show up to work at all), the employee handbook's attendance policy, the document the employee signed acknowledging having read the handbook, a final written warning, a record of verbal warnings and action plans to prevent tardiness in the future.
Basically, I'm wondering if my protest to the filing will go through? I've scoured unemployment websites, and I'm pretty sure it will end up in my favor, but I'm paranoid.
EDIT: I forgot to add that I received a call from some state office on Saturday morning. This employee told the state office I fired this person for having too many doctor's appointments (employee was/is pregnant). Is that some misinterpretation or miscommunication on my part? Most of the tardies were from court dates/drug testing/P.O. meetings, not doctor's appointments.

