Do I have good grounds to win my unemployment appeal?

by James E Jones, Jr
(Louisville Ky)

I worked for a trucking company for two years as a solo driver. On July 29th 2008, the CEO of the company called me and stated that he had signed contracts for me to start running a UPS contract account in Chicago, and asked where I was at the time. I was in Massachusetts at the time and headed back to Ky.

When I got there I was told by a dispatcher on August 6th that I was to be put on team run with a driver who hadn't been at the job in two weeks. When you run teams your pay is cut in half.

I talked with the VP and Accounts Manager and it was known that I was suppose to relocate to Chicago.

I'm going back and forth with this dispatcher to no avail, we can't see eye to eye. I go back and talk with the Vice President, and Account Manager and we agree on me heading up to Chicago on the 8th.

When I get settled in Chicago waiting for the Account, I see on the News that My Company has shut down Due to a 10 million dollar lawsuit.

I file for unemployment and get three checks, and then I get notified that I'm not eligible to receive benefits because I quit !!!!

I filed an appeal and have a hearing coming up soon. Yes, Its been Since October 1st, Do I have good grounds to win my appeal?


Hi James

I can't really say, I have more questions about your account of what happened than I do answers.

You're all over the board. An appeal really should be as tightly focused as possible. You said things that give me pause...about your account of how things happened.

What did you do when you saw that your company had shut down due to a 10 million dollar lawsuit?

Did you call the VP? Did you call the account manager? Did you call the dispatcher?

Did anyone from the company tell you "Hey, sorry James, we have to shut down, you're out of a job."

I think your chances of winning this are dicey at best, but of course what we're missing here is what the employer is going to say about the whole situation. We already know they told the state you quit and if you took the word of a news broadcast saying your company had shut down without following through by contacting someone at the company to verify....they're right.

Chris