Unemployment Benefit Tips

Tips To Collect Unemployment Benefits

Fired after 60 days

by Janina

(Central Florida)

My husband and I had to relocate from South Florida to Central Florida due to his job. Luckily, I found a new job in my new area and promptly gave my 2 weeks notice to my former employer. I started with my new company immediately after the 2 week notice.

I was only there for 60 days.

The first time I even had a discussion about my work performance was when they demoted me and cut my salary by 30%. They wanted me to go through a training program they were going to start to help me get better at the job and I agreed. Three days later I was terminated. They told me that I was not meeting their standards and that it just was not going to work out. That was that.

I was never written up or disciplined. In fact, as I stated I was never even told about any issues until they demoted me.

Because I was employed there less than 90 days, am I still eligible for unemployment benefits? I worked for my former employer for almost 2 years and left only because of the relocation.

Hi Janina,

I’m pretty sure Florida has a provision that finds the employer non-charged if they terminate within 90 days, but that doesn’t really matter to you right now.

Florida does not have a provision giving good cause to quit to follow a spouse except for “certain military spouses”.

What might be in your favor though is that their disqualification for voluntary quits is to return to work and earn 17 x your weekly benefit amount. They must also have a provision that allows for “Separation preceding the most recent separation may be considered when employment or time period subsequent to separation does not satisfy potential disqualification” I just can’t find it in the statutes. I found that information at the DOL. To see it click here, then on the Nonmonetary link go to Table 5-4 (it’s #2 in the footnotes below the table.

Florida, like most states establishes your base period (a base period is the timeframe for the wages looked at to determine your weekly benefit amount) by using the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters. So there will be very little if any wages used from this last employment to determine how much you will get.

I’ve focused on the job you had to quit because that is where most of your wages lie.

It is true that the state will be looking at your most recent work and determining whether you were fired with good cause, but from what you’ve told us, they will not be able to prove that it was for willful misconduct. Heck, you could have quit with good cause when they reduced your pay by 30 percent.

So add up those wages you earned in the 60 days. Apply for unemployment telling the state you were fired for poor job performance, report all employment just like they ask you to and wait for the determinations.

One last thought, the number one way people are wrongly denied unemployment is with a monetary issue. Once you know your weekly benefit amount, times it by 17, compare it to the gross wages earned in those sixty days. And make sure you protest any discrepancies between what you know you have earned and what the state says you’ve earned.

Chris

Comments for Fired after 60 days

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by: Betsy


I just saw your post and we also are in central florida (daytona) and we just relocated from Miami to here. My husband worked for TruGreen for 6 weeks and he was wondering if he could file, so your post is interesting to us. Everyone is telling him to apply because they can only say “no.” To tell you the truth the application is easy to fill out, just 30-60 minutes tops.

I was also let go for “poor job performance” after working at a doctor’s office for 12 wks (84 days and no warning). I had written to Chris and he was a “huge help.” I went ahead and filed so we will see. I just did the math he was talking about. They say the most you can get is $275 a week, so times that by 17 and look at what you made in the 8 weeks (before taxes) of working there and see. I made $5502 and the math came out to $4675 so hopefully this will qualify me but they had me on 90-day probation. Heck, I have never filed before so this is all a suspence to me. LOL Good Luck.

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by: Anonymous


How did this work out for you???

I, too, am in Florida. I was unemployed for approximately 40 weeks. I finally landed a job and thought things were looking up. I was fired today. They gave me one reason, but I know it has more to do with other reasons. I had worked there approximately 16 weeks. I tried to reopen my old claim but I went over the days allowed. So, I had to start a new claim. The woman on the phone told me that most likely I do not qualify because of how they calculate your base. Since I was unemployed, I had little earnings for them to figure out what weekly benefit I am eligible for. Although I’ve earned more than the 17 weeks of what my benefit would be, she lead me to believe I would not be eligible for any benefit.

How could the state do that? It’ like telling the unemployed not to look for work because if it doesn’t work out, you lose your claim. Am I mssing something here??? It just isn’t right.

Hi,

I doubt Betsy will replay because that was last year.

I think your problem is the combination of the base period and the fact that your last benefit year expired.

The difference between a benefit year and a base period can create a lag of 6 months of wages that are not included in the base period. States made sure that to touch those wages for benefits a person was required to return to work earn x amount of wages and only if they suffered a qualifying separation from that subsequent would could access those wages .. maybe.

To understand the problem we have to look back a couple years and remember that it used to be that claimants did not exhaust benefits .. back to the time when there were hardly ever “extensions”.

It use to be that someone was probably only unemployed for 40 weeks if they wanted to be .. Not so, nowadays.

Extensions, extend the same claim and benefit year.

If a benefit year expires .. a new base period is looked at. The base period along with the fact that you had been unemployed for 40 weeks is the problem.

Beginning at the bottom of page 7 of this publication by the USDOL you can find the requirements to qualify for a 2nd benefit year.

I have no Idea if a person can reopen an extension ..

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