Can I collect unemployment if I have been fired for failure to follow orders, rules or instructions or failure to perform the duties for which employed?
by June
(Atlanta)
My company began layoffs in November, 2008 and again in March of 2009. I was fired in Feb 2009 because they say there have been multiple customer complaints about my attitude since my start date of 3 years ago. I have never had an evaluation or performance review with this company. Also, I have never been reprimanded or given any indication (written or verbal)that they were unhappy with my work performance. The first I had heard of any of this was on the date that I was fired. My boss stated that he could no longer afford to pay my salary because of a drop in business and also said that he had received a customer complaint earlier that same day. My boss was not present at the "incident" but it was witnessed by 2 other employees. These two were shocked that I was fired as they said that I did nothing wrong. As a matter of fact, one of the other employees helped me with this same customer! I believe that my firing was economically motivated and the customer complaint exagerated. The determination form stated "failure to follow orders, rules or instructions or failure to perform the duties for which employed" and "actions showed a willful disregard of my job duties". I have worked very hard for this company, especially since the initial layoffs in November. He allowed me to work through the hell of Christmas in retail, then fired me the first of February. My hearing is
Hi June,
Words of wisdom. Hmmmm.
Just stay focused on the fact that the employer never warned you in any way for anything in your three years of employment.
If it was a customer complaint that prompted the discharge .. good luck to the employer proving it especially without documentation and only hearsay testimony.
Does this employer have a policy handbook? When an employer fails to adhere to their own rules a claimant should use pages from that handbook to show what the employer was supposed to do and if he is unable to provide proof he followed his own policy .. generally he loses.
Have you requested a copy of the state file? Have you submitted pages from the employee handbook as documentation to support your position that you were never warned at all therefore you had no idea your job was in jeopardy?
Understand June, this whole situation could be reversed. You could have quit and told the state what they needed to hear to find good cause for quitting, but when it comes to a hearing .. you have to prove it by a preponderance of the evidence.
Please let me know how it turns out and relax. If things are exactly as you said .. I have high hopes for you.
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