Can I collect unemployment if i have been fired for using company letterhead

by Samantha
(Maryland)

I was on maternity leave and was needing assistance from social services. I took an unsigned letter to social services on company letterhead. This is what happend: They needed a letter stating I was not being paid and my last day of work. I went into my office where i was an Ophthalmic technician and got a letterhead from the administrator. I typed what the state assistance said they needed and was going to have my boss sign it. When I was done the letter she was in a meeting with two of the doctors so I didn't want to interupt. My son was still in the hospital after giving birth to him a week before. My husband called and said the doctor wanted to talk with me so I left the office to go to the hospital. After getting home that night I realized I did not get the letter signed. I called to the next day to have her sign it and she was not in that day. I had to go to social services that next morning. I took the letter and told the worker I did not have a chance for her to sign but gave her the letter since it had all the offices numbers and asked her to call them, she did and left a message while I was sitting there. The letter was unsigned and had no false information. They didn't even use the letter since it didn't have everything they needed and was not signed. I was fired because they said I was trying to be sneaky and fraudulant. My boss told me she would of signed the letter, so I dont know what the big deal was. I have 2 kids to raise i would never do anything to loose my job on purpose. Plus I was still on maternity leave when I was fired. please help
Samantha Maryland


Hi Samantha,

Your case is iffy at best in my opinion. Whether you were intentionally trying to be fraudulent or not, because "misconduct" does not necessarily require proving that you did something intentionally wrong, but that you committed a volitional act that any "reasonable" person might think could jeopardize their job.

You should focus on the fact that you told the social services personnel to call the employer and the fact that the employer told you "she would have signed".

I think your hope lies in the fact that your action did not cause harm to the employer .. by their own admission to you and that it was a mistake in judgment .. although I noticed that the inadvertency ended at the point you actually handed it over to social services instead of following up with the employer first.

Here is the link to the Maryland Unemployment Decision Digest.