Not meeting sales quotas in Texas

by Shannon
(Texas)

When hired for this company I was never given quotas to meet. I have worked for this company for almost 6 years. Due to the economy things have slowed down a lot. Six months ago we were handed out quotas to meet and were told after first 3 months and quotas not met we would be placed on probation then after the second 3 months we would be given 30 days to meet quotas. The first three months went by and no warnings or anything. Now the second three months are here and I have been given 30 days to meet all quotas for both quarters or I am terminated. OK IF I could have met my quotas to begin with you think I would have not already done it? I work in Solid Waste sales and many many companies are shutting down or doing away with their service all together. I have proof of bids turned down due to prices being to high as well as sales that are being turned down due to customer's current company holding them to contract. I live in Texas and as a right to work state will I qualify for unemployment?
Thank you for your time in advance.


Hi Shannon,

What is up with this "right to work" stuff that people think it may impact whether they can even receive unemployment benefits?


Yes, you would be eligible to file an unemployment claim. The issue the state will examine is whether you were fired with good cause or not, for performance issues regarding not meeting sales quotas during an unprecedented economic downturn. It's a built in valid argument .. even in Texas, one of the strictest states in the country.

In fact, when I use to get a hearing notice and I saw it was based on performance issues .. I groaned and then I started looking for something that would make a viable argument for "neglect of duties".

Being fired for inability or anything beyond the control of the employee generally spells doom for an employer's case. If they hope to have a chance of winning they must focus on something the employee could have done that was within their control to improve. They also may luck out when the claimant doesn't show up to the hearing or babbles on and provides self disqualifying testimony like "the employer provided unattainable goals .. so I just gave up".

Everything would have been fine for the claimant up until the point they said "I gave up" because that was within their control.

You will find the Texas Precedent Manual under Resources on the bottom left of this page.

This page gives some pretty solid advice for Texas unemployment claimants.