Im going to appeal, but I was fired for absences...any chance? OH, and it's like..6 months later.

by RB
(GB, WISCONSIN!)

Alright...Hey, I was terminated from my job on 11/26/2008. I just filed for unemployment on 5/24/2009, and just received a letter from them today about the determination.

First of all, it states in the letter: THE PREVIOUSLY ISSUED MONETARY COMPUTATION IS HEREBY SET ASIDE.

what do they mean by "set aside???"

Okay, so heres what happened:
I started work on 11/19/2007 and worked full time until 11/26/2008. At this particular job, we had a point system for being absent//tardy. If you miss 2+ hours in your shift, you are considered absent and lose 1 point. If you are late within 2 hours, you just lose half a point. And you get 8 points for the rolling year.
Alright, so my first tardy was probably a month after i got hired, someone hit my car with theirs on my way to work..and i got a police report and everything. after that, i missed 2 days in january due to other car problems, 2 days in april due to personal//sick reasons and also some in july for medical reasons. Now I was told by my manager (at the time) that if I brought in a note from the doctor, they would not take off ANY points, no matter HOW MUCH work I missed. Well I ended up having to go to the emergency room on 9/12/08, called my work, left a message for my personal manager, and told him what was going on. I then received a letter from the doctor stating that I should not work for the next three days, so i brought that back

to work with me.
well another manager in my department saw that i was absent for medical, but took off a point anyways--disregarding what my manager told me, and my doctors note.
after that, I made sure to watch the clock and make sure i was on time...until one day, 11/23/08, I was coming back from my lunch, and happened to be running a few minutes late, and they decided to terminate me for that.

NOW. (sorry, this is very long) My year at this company I had 4 different managers, all under the same employee handbook, all supposed to be following the same guidelines, but of course...this place isnt very communication friendly, and so everyone was on a different page. I WAS warned, about my attendance becoming an issue, but not every time. 3/4 of my managers did not keep track of my attendance as well as the last one, who added up all of my tardies and absent days and realized i should be let go.
i had that manager for 2 weeks out of the year that i was there.
I will admit, I was warned, but not to the extent I should have been. So I was just wondering what YOU think about the whole situation, i'd really appreciate your feedback before I have to have this appeal hearing!

THANKS!
RB--- WISCONSIN!

Hi RB,

Set aside .. just what it sounds like.

Before I go into point systems and absences beyond the claimant's control again why don't you let me know WHAT the determination you are planning to appeal actually says.

Comments for Im going to appeal, but I was fired for absences...any chance? OH, and it's like..6 months later.

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May 18, 2017
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DannyBoney
by: Chris - Unemployment-Tips.com

I don't get how people who work for an employer who uses a point attendance system to boot, wouldn't keep track of how many points they have accumulate themselves. Of course the reason is .. if an employer ignores their own system that may call any absence, no matter the reason, they have some idea of what to write on a termination notice to explain why their absenteeism shouldn't be called misconduct .. for later, when they apply for unemployment, or .. when they have to appeal an initial denial.

But I guess that would just be me.. being me .. if I'd ever missed more than two .. three days a year tops in the thirty eight years I worked as an employee full time.

Here's how I would write an appeal.

How to win an appeal hearing? Well that's another question and I don't know enough about a number of things about your terms and conditions of employement to answer you specifically, but you might want to read some of the other Q&As I've answered over the years about getting benefits after getti9ng fired for violation of an employer's attendance policy.

What I think makes it possible to rebut an employer's burden your poor attendance at work was work related misconduct. hasn't changed all that much over the years.

May 18, 2017
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Absenses an pointed out how I appeal this and write my appeal to win
by: DannyBoney

I was absence and they pointed me out.

But they did not tell me how many points I had until I had 9 points.

How I write this appeal and win

Jun 18, 2009
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thanks!
by: rhonda

ahhh! thank you sooooo much! i really appreciate all your info and this website in general!

it has seriously helped me understand a WHOLE lot more about unemployment! i really really REALLY appreciate it!

Jun 17, 2009
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re
by: rb

The letter I received states:

application WI law: 108.04(5)
THE EMPLOYEE WAS DISCHARGED FOR MISCONDUCT WITH HER EMPLOYMENT.

the employee was discharged for attendance reasons. the employer provided documentation showing that the employee had been written up and warned that her job was in jeopardy for attendance reasons and then she was tardy after getting the warning. the employee's actions showed a willful and wanton disregard for the employers interests.

although the employee was discharged for attendance violations, disqualification under S. 108.04(5g) for failure to notify the employer of absenteeism or tardiness does not apply.

so that's all i got, after that, it just says that it has been set aside.

RB,

It's set aside until at which point you win your appeal.

Point systems that do not take into consideration the reason for the tardiness or absence are difficult policies for employers to always be successful with when it comes to unemployment, but "the final incident may have a lot to do with whether you can get unemployment or not.

In your case the final incident isn't something that was out of your control. So you will need to focus on the absences and tardies that were beyond your control and use the documentation you have that proves this point.

Then you can focus on the fact that your discharge would not have happened if the employer's point system took into account the "reasons".

You can read WI decisions regarding absenteeism here.

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