I feel i was terminated for a different reason.
I work for a cafe in Maryland (baltimore county), on Friday 3/29 I called a co-worker at 3:30am and informed them that I was going to be late because I had to take my partner to the emergency room for a knee injury which occurred at work (we work for the same employer). My shift started at 5:30am and I was not able to come in until 9:15am. I called work several times to keep them updated of the situation and that I was going to be in later than I thought (there was a chance that my partner needed immediate surgery and wanted to know what was going to happen before proceeding to come in to work). When I finally came in, I handed the store manager a letter from the doctor excusing my partner from work until further notice. The next day I ended up missing work and failed to call due to oversleeping and not waking up until after the store was already closed. I had very little sleep the previous 2 nights due to what was going on at home with my partner.
2 weeks prior to this my department manager learned that I had a job offer from a customer who opened his own restaurant which is about 14 miles away from where i work now. I was confronted by my manager about this and I told him that I was not sure if i wanted to take the offer. Then last week I asked my manager about the possibility of switching part time because I wanted to start a 2nd job (but stated that it was an offer from a different person for a different type of job in hopes of avoiding any problems because the customer that offered me the job was a friend of my employer). I don't think my manager believed me in any case.
Then today when I came into work (after failing to call out yesterday) I believe my manager suspected that I may already be working for the other restaurant that made me an offer. I told him that I was going to work for someone else but only on a temporary basis and that I wanted to work part-time so that I could come back and keep my salary (we are paid time and a half of sundays...but recent new-hires are now only paid an additional $2 on sundays). So I asked him this morning if he thought it would be a good idea for me to ask a store manager about changing my availability to part-time or wait due to the fact that management may be upset with me because I missed work the day before and failed to call. I did explain to him (my dept manger) as well as with the asst store manager that I was unable to call because by the time I woke up the store was already closed...and that I had very little sleep in the past 2 days.
my department manager told me not to say anything now and that he would talk to upper management about it. Then at the end of my shift I was called to speak to the asst store manager. When i came into his office the first question i was asked was if it was true that i had another job. My response was that there was a chance that I may have another job but nothing was confirmed yet, and that I informed my manager about it because I did not want to quit my current job and wanted to continue working part time because the job offer was only temporary and that I was taking it purely for experience and not for a higher salary as well as having full intention to return after it was done. Then after I explained this I was then told that I was being fired due to failure to contact a manager regarding my absence...to which i explained that i was unable to call due to the store being closed.
I was told that it was not for that one incidence, but because I had missed work days in the past or have come in late as well. The reason i think it might not have to do with those previous incidences is the fact that they had happened so long ago and I had never missed a day of work without a doctors note, although there were 3 or 4 occasions that I came in late due to oversleeping. Also, the fact that I was first confronted with the question "is it true that you have found another job?" made me feel that the true reason was that my manager informed him of this.
I have yet to know whether or not I will be working at the new job...I will not find out until next week and there was still the question of benefits so I had not accepted, but i was just informing my department manager of the possibility.
Was I wrongfully terminated? I cant afford not to work, I live pay check to pay check and after meeting with a credit counselor a few weeks ago I am already constantly $500 short each month of what i need to make to pay my bills...I was going to file for bankruptcy.
Do I have a chance of getting unemployment insurance? I filed a claim online today, but I am nervous about not qualifying.
***********background info**********
I wanted to add some info in case it would make any difference. In the past I was asked to be the department manager, but I had turned it down because I was only offered $1 raise for taking on the manager position with significant amount of added responsibility. after declining the offer I was given the silent treatment by some of the upper management. After 3 months a new manager was hired which was then fired after 2 months. A few weeks later a new person was hired which I suspected was going to be our new manager. I decided to submit my resignation at that point. I was then offered the manager position a 2nd time by the owner...he had upper management make the offer to me in hopes of having me stay. However, management offered me only a $0.25 raise, so I declined and left after 2 weeks. After a month the owner insisted I come in for a meeting and offered me my job back with all the benefits because he wanted me back and that he received so many customer complaints about me not being there. I was already working at a new job (3 doors down) and was training to be a store manager, however I decided to return due to the better insurance benefits. I add this because I feel that they were happy with me as an employee and even asked me to return, but perhaps now they are upset because I was considering another job.

