My Employer Lied At My Hearing… And I Lost

I totally understand where this guy was coming from. My employer did have a handbook, and I also supposedly broke lots of rules, but they are ridiculous stuff like we were not allowed to speak to customers and this is a small home cleaning company. It sucks when someone lies and gets away with it. I have not had my hearing yet, I won my claim, after she tried to dispute it originally, now she appealing it, and I am just worried about paying it back if I lose. I am in Seattle. I just got a job, so no skin off my back if I lose as far as future payments, but does anyone know if they can take your Federal Tax return? I really hope all the people here are having a great day and I wish a happy new year to you all!

The answer to your question about federal tax returns being redirected to pay for overpayments of benefits is a simple matter of checking what Washington State provisions for recovering overpayments allow.

You can check that out right here.

Happy New Year to you as well.

Chris – Unemployment-Tips.com

PS For anyone else who may have an upcoming Washington unemployment hearing coming up. The state does not require a hearing rep to be an attorney. Also, WA typically conducts appeal hearings by phone, so it’s never been hard for me to find an experienced non-attorney rep if you need a referral.

Attorneys are not only more costly, a claimant is lucky to find one.

A non-attorney will do in many states .. and the ones I work with have tons of experience at hearings.

I refer Florida cases and those I send cases to .. have abundant experience and first conduct a free initial evaluation. They have all represented not only employers and employees .. but some have even been an appeal hearing referee/officer.

Sorry to hear about your experience .. and sorry it’s now sounds like a board level appeal is in order.

Hopefully your written argument will be good and on point for a reversal .. or remand for a new hearing with a fair and impartial Florida unemployment referee.

And thank you.

In this state (Florida) always,always consider an attorney to represent u at a unemployment hearing..
Appeals Referee (E.Loschi) was so rude I couldn’t believe it..did not let speak about the facts and told me to shut up and do not object…wtf!!..Im about to file a complaint on Him with my Attorney..where’s the impartial people in this state???

Chris awsome site u have…very knowledgeable information for those of us in the dark…Reading is
Comprehensive….

Seriously, that you’re asking that rhetorical question at all, makes me think you might be an “employer” who refuses to acknowledge that good cause to quit can be present and most often, when fault for quitting can be attributed to an employer.

Why should you get unemployment if you turned in notice that you were quitting??

I hope it goes well for you. Remember to object to anything you feel is not quite right, so it is on the record.

As for my case, if I was so insubordinate, why did my employer keep me for 2 1/2 years and only fired me AFTER I gave my two weeks’ notice? That alone seems suspect. There was NO documentation regarding insubordination, just 1 sentence from my first warning over 2 years before I quit stating I completed a task out of order. That is not insubordination… possibly poor job performance but at that point I had only been there two months. She presented my yearly evaluation (got raises both years) as a warning.

Other than that, she just kept using the word insubordination but provided no dates or examples, except for my last day of employment, which I refuted. Her own evidence contradicted her testimony.

Basically, I got a moron of a hearing officer.

DEANNA,

If you have evidence or a witness to something your employer “springs on you” during the hearing, ask for a continuance to get your evidence. You can’t know in advance to defend yourself against something you don’t know you’ll be accused of… that’s what happened to me. She claimed in her appeal letter that she wanted to appeal because I had a disagreement with a co-worker, not because I was insubordinate. Good luck!!! And object, object, object…

Bekah

I’ll assume you’re referencing the original question here.

We have one version to go on and I’m not so sure there wasn’t any paperwork to prove insubordination.

But let’s say there wasn’t any written warnings relevant to insubordination, or the final incident of it at the hearing.

That would make the employer’s and the employee’s testimony at the hearing .. something along the lines of he said / she said.

I for one, would want to avoid that type of scenario if at all possible because that would mean you have to leave the hearing decision up to the W-I-D-E discretion of the hearing officer to decide who told the most credible story at the hearing.

That would make me nervous .. because there is no accounting of just how impartial the hearing officer might be who hears an unemployment appeal case. And if you don’t object on the record of the hearing to protect your rights to due process from that hearing officer .. the question is .. what do you hang a board level appeal on .. if you lose the first hearing.

Proof (or, if you prefer documents that become submitted evidence) serve the purpose of adding weight to what someone testifies to.

When there is an absence of evidence about job separation facts .. who’s telling the truth (or the most credible version of events leading to the end of a job) is now left up to the hearing officer who has the responsibility and the authority to decide who did tell the truth so ..

Yes, although I harp about proof and know it is important, I also know what it really can do if testimony sounds a bit crazy and improbable, is weight the words as being credible .. and maybe even irrefutable.

According to most all I have read ( I have an appeal coming up tomorrow) if she did not have any records/documented papers/etc… then it seems to me you should have won your case. If she could not prove anything of which she was saying, how did they side with her? If all what you said was true, I would have pushed further also.

“Sounds like a smart ass. Doesn’t Florida have one of the lowest paying ue compensation benefits out of 50 states? Slam dunk? If she,was as great an employee as is her writing details no wonder…”

Is this why you posted under the name anonymous? I have no idea what point you are trying to get across. You just come across as a troll.

Thanks for your help, Chris. Nothing I can do about it now except wait. My former employer responded to my brief. It was quite hysterical. The point is all she did was shout out words like “confidential”, “insubordinate” and “agitated” etc. No concrete evidence. I just denied it (on account of it’s not even the slightest bit true).

I will update you when I get the decision but it will likely be a long while from now.

Again, my thanks.

I wasn’t much help Bekah, but still, “you’re welcome”.

Chris – Unemployment-Tips.com

It’s pointless now, for you to want me to answer/discuss what the employer claimed to be true, that you broke every policy.

What would be the point .. is what you did to rebut that contention during the hearing.

Sounds like a smart ass. Doesn’t Florida have one of the lowest paying ue compensation benefits out of 50 states? Slam dunk? If she,was as great an employee as is her writing details no wonder…

I know you’re not trying be rude. You’re trying to help and it’s hard without all of the facts. But please keep in mind some people have had 2 hour hearings and it’s hard to sum some stories up (ha ha) in just a few brief sentences. That’s why I offered to answer any questions. Really though, I think my tangent got confusing. When I am passionate about something I can be all over the place. No worries though, I was calm and way more organized during my hearing 😉

Thanks again!

Sorry but I did go off on a tangent. I didn’t want to overwhelm you with details since the brief has already been filed and it’s the hands of the RAAC now.

My main question was about a policy handbook. Apparently, I broke every rule in it but no such handbook was submitted by the employer, nor submitted into evidence. This to me, just shows she is a liar. Who could possibly break EVERY, SINGLE policy? And what are these policies if she didn’t even submit any type of handbook? How could she possibly prove it just by stating that in a hearing???

I hope I was a little more clear now. I can still answer your other questions but I don’t want to waste your time.

Thanks again.