If I am fired and I am in school can i draw unemployment?

I have a job in Kansas as a maintenance technician and after being there for one year I got a bad score on my yearly review. Other techs there and the machine operators think I do my job just fine but my boss says that my trouble shooting skills are weak and not improving and I have a bad attitude which no one else sees. I have 2 more months to make my improvement or they will let me go. I believe the team leaders there dont like me and this is there way of letting me go no matter what I do. I am starting college in a few days and plan on attending for two years. If I am let go and I am enrolled and attending school full time can I draw unemployment to help support my family while I attend school even if I was let go due to not performing my job as they say I should. For the record I have been keeping all the logs on the machines that I work on just to show what all I do fix compared to other techs. I dont know that this will help anything but I figured that it would not hurt.


Hi Anonymous,

If you can prove that the discharge was not for misconduct and you have been concurrently attending school full-tiime while working full-time .. the yes, it seems possible that you might be able to collect unemployment while attending school as long as you show yourself able, available and seeking another job.

Please find Kansas in Table 5-12 for why I believe it is possible.

As far as proving the discharge being without merit .. it's not the trouble shooting skills that would worry me .. If this is your first review .. it will be more difficult to prove neglect vs. "INABILITY".

It's the bad attitude part. Not having a "bad attitude is something that can be considered misconduct quite easily. You should focus your energy on proving (collecting documentation) that you were being more than cooperative with the employer and that you are making every effort possible to meet their expectaions .. and then at the hearing .. you at least have "something" to argue that despite working to your best ability .. the employer chose to terminate due to "inability" .. period.