Professional licensing entity screw up has delayed renewal of professional license subsequently leading to termination because of inability to work due to expired license

As long as I could prove I had done everything properly to renew my license in time, and the glitch is provable as being a mistake beyond my control and that of the state licensing agency, I would apply for benefits and even appeal if that became necessary.

I don’t know if this would be a non-charging occurrence for the employer (in OH they call non-charging “mutualization”), but it ought to be .. however, this does not mean it will be.

So be prepared .. whether they are waiting to hire you back when you get your license, or not.

You might want to look into the OH abstract as well to find out if they could use a refusal of work at half pay as an argument that you should be prepared to guard against with criteria regarding suitable work.

So, I guess entitled is a relative term .. because my view of getting unemployment benefits .. is you’re best off if you think of the process as “earning the benefits” through relevant and arguable evidence and focused testimony.

The “glitch” was that the licensing entity when preparing the information for renewal online entered the wrong information under my license number. They had my license number linked to a person that had placed their license on inactive 5 years prior, which automatically would have stopped the renewal because of the time the license would have been inactive. Yes my employer could have offered me work that did not involve the need for my license to be active. It would have been for half my hourly rate but nonetheless I could have done it. I actually contacted my employer and inquired about doing that and that is actually how I found out that I was actually terminated and would need to go through the rehire process again, which also puts me back at the bottom with regard to seniority and I loss all pay raise I have earned over the last 3 years.

I’d be curious to know more details about the “glitch” you say occurred with the online renewal of your professional license.

Are you telling me you did renew prior to 8/31, but it failed because of a technical glitch?

And if so, did you receive and save any confirmation the licensing authority would likely of given to you after submitting the renewal application and any associated fee?

If I were going to claim the thermination of a job was due to circumstances beyond my control, I would indeed think that to receive unemployment benefits, I would have to prove those circumstances made the discharge for something other than negligence amounting to misconduct .. or possibly a constructive quit.

Clearly, I have no reliable argument against why it is understandable the employing unit would terminate your employment if the license was necessary to let you continue in the work you had been doing, legally.

But, it raises a question about possible alternative to a termination that always means for purpose of UI that the employer would either have to prove misconduct, or fight your right to collect benefits conceptually that this was a constructive quit giving the employer no choice except to terminate.

Basically, either way they might go would mean, they need to show negligence on your part to fail to get that licensed renewed by the deadline. They will use of course the fact you were made fully aware of the time frame.

But, I’m also wondering if the employer was aware the expiration of your license was beyond your control and if there might not of been something they could of offered you in the interim .. not requiring a license to maintain the employment relationship?

Ohio does have something that may help you to find a legitimate argument .. You can find the link at the bottom of the UI law page.