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  1. #1

    Question Laid Off, But Employer Claims Termination For Breaking a Rule

    My question involves unemployment benefits for the state of: california
    here's my situation:
    on june 5, the company I was working for closed down 12 of their 21 offices nation wide. The company also forced all employees to take a 4% pay cut. because of the office closings, I was told that my office, which takes telephone surveys in both english & spanish would be doing more spanish calling. As a result, the spanish manager from an office that was closed down was moved here to my office in san diego to be my "co-manager."

    about a month later, my district manager was in the office and asked me to come speak with him in private. He called corporate (hr I think), and I heard a woman ask him if he could handle it on his own. He replied, "yes" and hung up the phone. He then turned to me and said, "I hate to tell you this, but we've got ti let you go." I asked why and was told, "we're going to be doing ore spanish calling and corporate wants me to take a more hands-on role... There's really no place for you." I then asked about severance pay & was told that he needed to talk to his boss and to call later. He thanked me for the job I had done, told me I could use him as a reference & gave me my final paycheck.

    I filed for unemployment and told edd that I was laid off. I got my 1st check, but when it was time for the 2nd, I got a notice for a phone interview. My employer told edd I was fired for breaking a rule. I've never had any issues with breaking rules with the exception of a warning I got for chewing tobacco on company grounds a year ago. I've never even called in to work in my 3 years.

    I've been off for almost 2 months now & they're not even sending me claim forms.

    the letter edd sent me asks things like, "were you warned?" & "why did you give incorrect info on your claim form?"

    my interview is this week and I'm scared. Can they just make something up & get away with it? I have no documentation (wasn't allowed back into my office), is it just my word against theirs? What info should I include? Will I get back pay if I win?

    sorry about the novel. Please help

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Default Re: Laid Off, But Employer Claims Termination For Breaking a Rule

    If your employer has formal disciplinary and write-up policies, the fact that they wrote you up for something minor three years ago, and nothing since, could help you argue that they're lying about their reasons for firing you. Unfortunately, I don't know at this point what your employer is going to claim about your actions, whether they've manufactured documentation of prior warnings or disciplinary action, or whether they misconduct they're planning to attribute to you is sufficiently severe that they could argue that no warning would be necessary.

    Do you have any sense of what your employer may be planning to say?

    I don't see that EDD offers the Continued Claim Form, DE 4581, online, so to protect your right to claim benefits you should get copies from them to complete and file.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    California
    Posts
    666

    Default Re: Laid Off, But Employer Claims Termination For Breaking a Rule

    Quote Quoting justgotcanned
    View Post
    I've been off for almost 2 months now & they're not even sending me claim forms.

    the letter edd sent me asks things like, "were you warned?" & "why did you give incorrect info on your claim form?"

    my interview is this week and I'm scared. Can they just make something up & get away with it? I have no documentation (wasn't allowed back into my office), is it just my word against theirs? What info should I include? Will I get back pay if I win?
    There is never a guarantee on what EDD will decide, but the questions listed on the letter you received is what they will want to talk about. In the interview you should emphasize that you were told you were being let go because they were changing the office to Spanish only which eliminated your position (assuming that this is a correct representation of what you said). And, that there was no mention of any misconduct or breaking rules on your part. Yes, it will be their word against yours, but there is a heavier burden on them to back up their words with evidence. Words do make a difference, so how you present your case is important. As far as the two questions are concerned, the answers would be something like. (1) I was not warned of any problem with my performance; I was just told that the office was being converted to the Spanish language. (2) The information on the claim form was correct, based on what I was told. I don't understand why they are saying something different now. Keep your cool, be polite, and I think you will prevail (but, it isn't my opinion that counts).

    If you prevail, EDD will send you all of the back claim forms in separate envelopes. You should receive them all at once about a week after the interview. I recommend that you complete them all and return them in a single envelope to insure that they are all processed by one person in the correct order. You should get the full back payment about a week after that.

  4. #4

    Thumbs up Re: Laid Off, But Employer Claims Termination For Breaking a Rule

    thanks for the advice! I don't have any idea what they might say or if they'll try to forge something. The company is currently being investigated by the ca ag & the federal trade commission for deceptive practices & lying (this can be verified online through the .gov websites).

    if I find out that they've manufactured docs or just straight out lied, do you think it would be wise to bring this up? Tactfully, of course.

    again, thx 4 the help

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    California
    Posts
    666

    Default Re: Laid Off, But Employer Claims Termination For Breaking a Rule

    EDD doesn't care if the employer did anything wrong. Their concern is whether or not you are unemployed "through no fault of your own". So, if the interviewer indicates to you that the employer has provided information or documents about reasons for your termination that are false, you should politely but clearly state that the information is false, not weasle-word it in the assumption that the interviewer will understand what you are hinting about. Beyond that, I would not say additional things, like the investigations you mention, hoping to discredit the employer in the eyes of the interviewer.

    IF the employer has done a "good" job in falsifying records, you may not get it resolved in one interview. But, there's no reason to speculate; you'll find out in the interview and hopefully will be able to react and handle it.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Laid Off, But Employer Claims Termination For Breaking a Rule

    it all worked out. thanks for the help!

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