Fired after 60 days

by Janina
(Central Florida)

My husband and I had to relocate from South Florida to Central Florida due to his job. Luckily, I found a new job in my new area and promptly gave my 2 weeks notice to my former employer. I started with my new company immediately after the 2 week notice.

I was only there for 60 days.

The first time I even had a discussion about my work performance was when they demoted me and cut my salary by 30%. They wanted me to go through a training program they were going to start to help me get better at the job and I agreed. Three days later I was terminated. They told me that I was not meeting their standards and that it just was not going to work out. That was that.

I was never written up or disciplined. In fact, as I stated I was never even told about any issues until they demoted me.

Because I was employed there less than 90 days, am I still eligible for unemployment benefits? I worked for my former employer for almost 2 years and left only because of the relocation.


Hi Janina,

I'm pretty sure Florida has a provision that finds the employer non-charged if they terminate within 90 days, but that doesn't really matter to you right now.

Florida does not have a provision giving good cause to quit to follow a spouse except for "certain military spouses".

What might be in your favor though is that their disqualification for voluntary quits is to return to work and earn 17 x your weekly benefit amount. They must also have a provision that allows for "Separation preceding the most recent separation may be considered when employment or time period subsequent to separation does not satisfy potential disqualification" I just can't find it in the statutes. I found that information at the DOL. To see it click here, then on the Nonmonetary link go to Table 5-4 (it's #2 in the footnotes below the table.

Florida, like most states establishes your base period (a base period is the timeframe for the wages looked at to determine your weekly benefit amount) by using the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters. So there will be very little if any wages used from this last employment to determine how much you will get.

I've focused on the job you had to quit because that is where most of your wages lie.

It is true that the state will be looking at your most recent work and determining whether you were fired with good cause, but from what you've told us, they will not be able to prove that it was for willful misconduct. Heck, you could have quit with good cause when they reduced your pay by 30 percent.

So add up those wages you earned in the 60 days. Apply for unemployment telling the state you were fired for poor job performance, report all employment just like they ask you to and wait for the determinations.

One last thought, the number one way people are wrongly denied unemployment is with a monetary issue. Once you know your weekly benefit amount, times it by 17, compare it to the gross wages earned in those sixty days. And make sure you protest any discrepancies between what you know you have earned and what the state says you've earned.

Chris