performance reasons/not meeting my sales quota

by Elissa
(San Jose, CA)

Hi there,

I have not quit yet, although I will be fired within the next month if I do not meet my sales quota. I would much rather not have a "quit" on my record. At the same time, I need to collect unemployment. Should I just wait to get fired or can I quit and let unemployment know that I was about to be fired anyway?



Elissa,

Go to the CA Eligibility Guide .. click on voluntary quitting and then look for "quitting in anticipation of discharge.

You will find that if you do this it is almost guaranteed that you will be denied benefits.

So my advice is to counter document the performance issues while you still have a job and or try to work out an agreement that will allow you to quit instead of being fired when the time comes. This is called a "quit in lieu of discharge". That will allow you to offer your well phrased resignation letter which should say that you are resigning in lieu of being fired for performance which is not based on intentional misconduct, but an "inability" to do the job.

And try to get the employer to sign an agreement that they will not protest your unemployment benefits. They are sometimes open to that .. because they know claimants usually self disqualify during the UI phone interview anyway.

By the way, I've answered so many questions about not meeting sales quotas .. I'm sure you can find some of it by typing "sales quota" into a search bar.